Page 104 of The Love Wager

But then... he never came back. He didn’t call her and he didn’t send a single text.

In her wildest dreams, she wouldn’t have imagined he would just disappear from her life.

She missed him so much it was almost unbearable. She closed out of her spreadsheet and texted:It’s 6pm and I’m swamped and trying to finish so I can leave.

Before she could add to that, her phone started ringing.

“Son of a bitch,” she whispered, just before she answered with a terse, “Hello?”

“Hey. How’s work?”

How could the sound of his voice be so overwhelming? She looked at the wall clock and said, “Great. What’s up?”

“Do you maybe want to get some food tonight?” He sounded serious, and she hated that that was what they’d become: serious people who didn’t talk anymore. “I was hoping maybe we could eat and kind of figure out what’s going on with us.”

Her brain screamed,Where the hell have you been for two weeks?!

She sighed. “I’m behind and have to play catch-up. Sorry.”

“What about tomorrow night?” Jack asked.

She wasn’t sure why she said it, but she said in her breeziest voice, “I actually have a date.”

“Oh.” She heard him clear his throat before he said, “Through the app?”

“Yeah.”

“Still trying to win the bet, then?”

As if.As if she even felt like dating again. And how dare he tease her, like they were friends or something. She tried sounding lighter still when she said, “Of course I am. I need a vacation, Jack.”

“Not as much as I need that World Series ball. Want to get Taco Hut afterward?”

Are you freaking kidding me?She powered down her computerand said, “Sounds good, but I think this date might be a good one, where tacos won’t be necessary.”

“Is that right?” His voice was deep.

She swallowed. “Yes.”

The silence felt loud and slow-moving, and she opened her mouth to say something, anything, when he said, “I guess we’ll play it by ear, then.”

“I guess so.”

“Where’s the date? Charlie’s?”

“Yes, but—”

“See you tomorrow, Hal,” he interrupted, and then he was gone.

She hung up the phone and cursed loudly since her office door was closed.Dammit dammit dammit!Had she lost her mind? She’d agreed to meet Alex to talk, but it wasn’t a date, and she definitely didn’t want to see Jack.

Shit.

She should’ve just told him no, but her brain had shorted out the minute she’d heard his voice.

Jack

“Oh, my God,” Olivia screamed, staring at him like he’d sprouted a second head. “So you haven’t talked to her since that night?”

---