Page 67 of Grumpy Darling

“I mean, do you really want to change the way you look?”

Paige glanced down at her outfit and shrugged. “It’s not about what I want. This is about what I need.”

I was only growing increasingly anti-makeover. And it didn’t sound like she was very enthusiastic about the whole thing either. I was particularly concerned about Bonnie taking charge of the transformation. Their taste in clothes couldn’t be more different, and I feared she’d leave Paige looking nothing like herself.

“I’ll take you.” The words slipped from my lips before I’d really considered them.

“What?”

“I’ll take you,” I slowly repeated.

Paige stopped in her tracks and faced me. “You don’t want to take me shopping.”

“Sure, I do.” I kept walking so she couldn’t analyze my response too closely, and she had to jog to keep up.

“Don’t you have hockey practice tonight?”

“I’ll make an excuse and skip it.”

“But you never miss practice.” She was eyeing me with suspicion. “You didn’t even skip when you were practically dying of flu last month. Plus, isn’t the coach from Ryker coming to watch you this weekend?”

“That’s this weekend. He’s not coming to watch me practice tonight. The team will survive if I miss one session.”

Her brow pinched and she scanned my features, as if she were searching for any sign of what was going on beneath my stoic exterior. She was going to be searching a while if she wanted answers; my expression was completely locked down.

“You don’t want to come shopping with me!” She threw her hands up in the air to emphasize her point. “I know you don’t.”

It was true. There were few things I enjoyed less than shopping. But I didn’t want Paige to feel forced to wear clothes she wasn’t comfortable in just to impress some guy. Besides, my little chat with Damien had made it clear I was running out of time. Who knew, maybe the shopping expedition would present another opportunity to get closer to her.

“As your dating coach, I think it’s pretty important that I’m there,” I said. “Don’t you want a guy’s opinion?”

“I guess.” Her lips pressed together as she considered it.

“And maybe it’ll be fun.” Now she was looking at me like she was worried an alien had transplanted itself into my brain. I’d probably oversold my enthusiasm, so I nodded at the classroom we’d just reached. “This is you...”

“Right.” She glanced at the doorway. “Are you sure about this?”

“I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t sure.”

“Okay...” She still didn’t look convinced and gave me one final look of skepticism before she headed into the classroom. I tried to smile reassuringly, but it probably came out more like a grimace.

Had I really decided to skip hockey practice to go shopping?

Paige must have thought I’d lost my mind. Perhaps I finally had.

Chapter 16

Paige

“I’m never trusting Abby to write up a hockey game again,” Bonnie huffed as she met me by my locker at the end of the school day.

I stopped putting my books away and turned to her. “Oh no, what happened?”

“Well, she got half the players’ names wrong. Then she gave the incorrect final score. And don’t get me started on her general abuse of the English language. I spent my entire lunch period correcting her article. If this wasn’t a high school newspaper, I’d fire her so quick.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Bon.”

“Oh, don’t be, I’m used to it. I bet the editors at theNew York Timesdon’t have to deal with this—” She gasped suddenly and reached out to grab my arm. “Oh my gosh, how could you let me blab on about Abby for so long! How’d it go?”

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