Page 83 of The Dating Game

“Sydneyinvited you, huh?” I smirk knowingly at him. His cheeks redden. “You two dating?”

“We may have gone out a couple of times this week,” he admits, and he can’t keep a smile off his face. The sight makes my heart pang. I’m happy for Corbin, and I know Amy would have wanted him to move on, but the fact that he has still makes me miss my sister all over again.

“That’s great, man.” I clap him on the shoulder. No need to share feelings that are my own to weather. Corbin looks immensely relieved by my acceptance.

“Yeah,” he agrees. “It is. Listen, man, there’s something I should tell you,” he goes on, but he’s cut off by Luke’s appearance at his side.

“Will!” He pulls me into a hug. “What a nightmare.”

“I’ll say. Thanks for coming.”

“Of course. Hannah and Jill were extremely determined to get here. Hannah said something about Brooke not using any exclamation points in her text to tell them all she was okay, and how that meant she was most definitelynotokay.” He shrugs. “I don’t know, but I figured it would be good to get down here, check on you and the kids. There are a lot of frantic parents back in Tucson.”

“Yeah, so I’ve gathered. Brooke spent half of last night fielding phone calls for me.”

“Brooke fielded the phone calls for you?” It’s my turn to have knowing eyebrows raised in my direction.

“Uh, yeah. She offered since she has lots of experience with parents from running her own dance studio.” I shrug like it’s no big deal, but Corbin and Luke exchange a look that tells me they don’t buy it. In truth, the mere memory of her insisting on doing this for me gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.

“Well, she must’ve done a good job, anyway,” Luke goes on. “So far as I know we’re the only ones who hopped on a plane down here.” Hegives a rueful chuckle. He’s right. Brooke must’ve adequately soothed the parents’ anxiety. The fact that Max has a friend from whom he can borrow a helicopter is not actually all that unusual for the people of Grace Canyon. If their fears hadn’t been assuaged I have no doubt many of them would’ve hopped on private planes or bought tickets for commercial flights to get over here.

“We brought food, by the way,” Luke adds. “Figured you all would be hungry. It’s on the helicopter waiting to be unloaded. After we eat, we thought we would head over to the neighborhood you were in and serve some of it there too. Really try and help in any way we can.”

“Yup,” Corbin agrees.

I smile at them both. “That sounds great.” Even if it is a little crazy that they hopped onto a helicopter to be here, I’m really happy to have my best friend and brother-in-law here.

I sense someone’s gaze on me, and when I look to see who it is I find Sydney staring at me, her gaze narrowed. She looks angry.

That’s weird.

An ominous feeling settles over me, but before I can give it any more thought Silas pops up next to me.

“Did someone say food?” he asks.

Chapter 31

Brooke

“So,howarethingsgoing with you and Will?” Hannah nudges me in the side as the four of us face the aquarium bathroom mirrors. Bless all of their hearts, in addition to food they brought a bunch of toiletry items for us too. It has never felt so good to wash my face and brush my teeth.

I actually feel semi-human again.

All of the girls have already had their turns in the bathroom, so it’s just us in here. Once we’re finished we’ll head back over to the food bank neighborhood to help with cleanup and hand out supplies to people who need it.

“Things with Will are pretty good, I think,” I say cautiously. If I’m not careful with my words, Hannah will take any favorable adjectives I use and run with them all the way to the wedding chapel. Meanwhile, I don’t know how Will actually feels about me. Sure he likes me, but just because I love him doesn’t mean he loves me.

Outside of my dad, no man has ever said they loved me. Then again, I don’t think I’ve ever truly loved a man before either. I may havethought I loved Van at the time, but I’ve since learned that what I felt for him was only infatuation.

“He’s such a good guy,” Jill pipes up, pulling the clip from her hair and re-positioning it. “Best guy you’ve ever dated, Brooke.”

“Definitely,” Hannah agrees. I glance at Sydney. She’s oddly quiet given she was the one who wanted me to date him in the first place.

Correction: the one who made me date him.

“You okay, Sydney?” I ask.

“I’m fine.” Her voice comes out rough and hard and immediately draws Hannah and Jill’s attention her way too.

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