Page 36 of The Wrong Date Deal

August stared at her. “Does he have a bad reputation?”

“Not at all.” She laughed. “He just likes to pretend he’s all cool and stoic and snarky—well, he is snarky, but so are most of the Brits I know. Pretty sure that’s a love language there. It is for Hermes, at least.”

August laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind if I meet him then?”

“Probably. And he’s very eager to meet you, so, you know, anytime you want to…”

“He is? Why?” August could not wrap her head around Hermes, but maybe he’d prefer it that way.

“Oh, uh, our friend group is kind of like a family, so, you know, when any of us gets a new friend, the family wants to meet them.”

August was again left wondering about the friendships in her own life. She wasn’t sure she’d ever had a friendship like that. Sure, she had friends and she was close with them, but there seemed to be something different about Piper’s friendship group. Being around them, being part of that group, even in a tiny way, sounded like something August wanted to experience. Without even knowing them, they were already stepping up tohelp her and Ford. That was a kind of love she felt like she’d been looking for in her life.

She nodded slowly. “I’d love to meet them too.”

“Right now?” Piper asked with a laugh. “Because I’m sure they’d come charging through the door if I said you wanted to meet them right now.”

“Uh. Maybe notright now.But soon. I really want to thank Hermes.”

“I’m sure he’s going to love that.”

August nodded again, breathing in. Maybe Ford wouldn’t go for it, but just the fact that someone cared enough to offer was amazing. “Wait. Hermes does know Ford’s a student, right? He won’t be able to pay… expensive rent.”

Piper waved her hand. “I’m going to leave the details to Hermes to tell you, but he knows what it’s like to need a hand in life, and he knows what it’s like to get that. He’s never stopped being grateful for the breaks he was cut, and he cares a lot about the people who helped and loved him. He’s not going to screw Ford over.”

As if August didn’t think Piper was interesting enough on her own, now she came with this whole group of fascinating people. She realized she couldn’t imagine anyone else surrounding Piper.

None of this was what she’d been expecting when she’d signed up for Hummingbird Dating but she was unbelievably grateful for it.

“Okay,” she said, blowing out a breath. “We should probably talk about something else before I’m sobbing uncontrollably in a café and people have questions.” She looked intently at Piper. “Thank you, though. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you.”

Piper gazed back and, understanding August’s need for a change of tone, wiggled her eyebrows. “So, you’re saying thatmeeting me through Hummingbird is better than meeting some guy asking about fruits?”

“Oh, my god. This again?” She shook her head. “Yes.Yes, meeting you is infinitely better than that.”

“Well, you know, there isn’t an infinite supply of sapphics in the area, maybe one day we’ll actually meet on the app.”

August laughed. “You know, I had thought about that. Interesting that it’s not profiled us as two people it wants to connect.”

Piper hummed, a far-off look entering her eyes. “Maybe it knew we were destined to be friends instead, and maybe we’d have missed that if we’d just been matched together.”

“Yeah, maybe.” August shot her a look. “Or, maybe, there’s something horrifying in my profile that you’ve made perfectly clear you hate.”

“Oh, you’re assuming it would be that way around? Not that I might be a secretly horrifying monster?”

“Weird way to come out as a vampire.”

She raised her eyebrows. “I just touched you. You don’t think you’d have noticed if I felt ice cold?”

August shrugged. “Hey, I’m not up to date on vampire technology. Maybe you can stay warm these days.”

Piper laughed. “Actually, did you ever watch that showMoonlight? It had a vampire private eye in it and I don’t think he was cold to the touch. Did sleep in a freezer, though.”

“I did not, but I’m not the vampire expert here. Clearly.”

“I’m not an expert either. I just had a tiny little vampire phase as a teenager.”

August smirked. “Oh, just ateeny, tiny, littlephase?”

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