Page 70 of Second Chance for the Single Mom

A funny expression came over his face. I opened my car door and helped Bran inside, then slid the door closed.

“Did I say something wrong?” I asked. “You’re not jealous of Lucas, are you?”

Shay shook his head. “Not at all. But… can you tell me what this is, Haley?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are we just having fun, or is there something more here?” Shay shoved his hands in his pockets. “If this is just meaningless sex and naughty texts, that’s fine. I make a great fuck-buddy. But if you want something more, I’m interested in that, too.”

“Oh,” I said. “I don’t know…”

He put a hand up to stop me. “Don’t answer right now. I’d love to get dinner with you, but before we do, I need you to answer that question. Sorry for the bluntness, but I wanted to make my intentions very clear.”

He knocked on the car window and waved at Bran inside, then smiled at me and went to his own car.

I thought about what he’d said the entire way home.

What do I want?

35

Jordan

“Thanks for having such a late lunch,” Shay said while joining us at the table at Chipotle. “It’s been a busy day.”

“Glad you could make it,” I said. “You look like you just got out of court.”

Shay bit into his burrito and nodded. “And I was at the Worthington Academy before that.”

“The place Haley wants Bran to go?” Lucas asked.

“Mmm hmm. Fancy rich place.” He swallowed his burrito. “My old firm has done a bunch of work for them, so I have a non-zero amount of sway. We’ll see if it’s enough.”

Damn. I thought I was getting on Haley’s good side by teaching Bran to play baseball, but if Shay got him into the most prestigious private school in the Pacific Northwest? I couldn’t compete withthat.

“That’s as good a segue as any,” I said, turning to Lucas. “Now that Shay is here, we wanted to talk to you about something.”

Lucas froze with a spoonful of rice halfway to his mouth. “Why do I feel like this isn’t going to be a fun discussion?”

“Because it’s not,” Shay said, wiping grease from his mouth with a napkin. “This is kind of an intervention.”

“I told you, I only smoke meth on the weekends,” Lucas said. “I can quit anytime I want, I swear.”

I laughed, but Shay’s expression was still serious.

“Tough crowd,” Lucas muttered. “What am I doing that requires an intervention?”

“It’s what you’renotdoing,” I said. “You still haven’t told Haley the real reason you moved back to Vancouver.”

“There is no secret reason,” Lucas insisted. “I was sick of Detroit, and was able to find a job at Nissan.”

Shay and I exchanged a look.

“It’s us, dude,” I pressed. “If you can’t be honest with your best friends, how can you eventually show Haley that you’re a new man?”

I could see Lucas’s barriers fall, one by one. His eyes softened, and then he gazed down at his plate of food.

“Am I really that obvious?” he asked in a small voice.

---