Page 51 of The Love Wager

When they were finished at the shelter, Hallie said, “I’mso glad you came, Jack. Obviously we couldn’t have done this without you.”

“Yeah,” Alex added, smiling at Jack even as they both shared a knowing look about what was really going on.

“No problem,” he said as she looked at her cat through the kennel door.

“We’re going back to Hallie’s for Chinese takeout,” Alex said, stepping marginally closer to her. “Want to join us?”

Hallie looked up from the kennel and right at Jack, grinning and making a funny face. He wasn’t sure if it was meant to conveyPlease come and save meorDon’t you dare; I want to be alone with my date.

“I’ve got plans, but thanks,” he said.

As Jack walked to his car, he cursed his sister and her stupid ideas, because there was no way his visit to the shelter did a damn thing to derail Alex’s progress with Hallie, or to put Jack in some better position—not that he necessarily wanted to be in a better position.

But a few days later, when he wanted Hal to meet him at Taco Hut but she couldn’t because she and Alex had fancy dinner reservations, he lost his damn mind. He heard Olivia’s voice in his head, dialed the fancy seafood bistro, and said, “I need to cancel a dinner reservation.”

Chapter

THIRTEEN

Hallie

Hallie closed her apartment door and hit the dead bolt. As she kicked off her shoes and dropped her jacket on the floor, she realized she was still smiling. Alex had left her at the door five minutes before, yet the smile was still on her face.

She didn’t see Tigger—he’d been with her for a week now, and every time she came home he was asleep on her pillow—but that was easy to fix. She walked over to the kitchen, opened the utensil drawer, and took out the can opener. From the bedroom she heard the telltalemrrreowbefore heavy paws landed on the wood floor and he hightailed it in her direction.

Yes, Tigger’s superpower was that he could literally hear the clicking sound of the can opener from anywhere on the planet.

“Hello, Tiggy,” she said as she crouched down and petted his fuzzy orange head. She still couldn’t believe she had a cat, but she was grateful to Ruthie for the whole weird moving-outdebacle, because she was head over heels obsessed with Tigger. “Let’s get you some tuna.”

She opened the can and poured the contents into a saucer. Her phone buzzed in her pocket as she turned to toss the container. She expected it to be Alex, but it was Jack—who’d been weirdly quiet over the past few days. But perhaps he was as smitten with his PhD girl as she was with Alex and didn’t have time to text.

Jack:How was dinner?

She took the phone into the bedroom and plopped down on her bed.OK, so listen to this. I told you Alex made reservations at the Aquarium, right?

Jack:Yep—so fancy.

Hallie:Well, we got there, and there was no reservation and no tables. Alex’s face got all red and he looked pissed.

Jack:Did Jekyll become Hyde over expensive fish?

Hallie:No, Jekyll became fucking Romeo.

Jack:He poisoned you?

Hallie:He went outside and made a phone call, and then asked if I minded going on a walk for a bit.

Jack:So he called his mom to talk him off the rage ledge.

Hallie:Shut up and wait for it. We took a walk, and then after like thirty minutes he led me to an igloo in the park. We went inside and there was heat, twinkling lights, and a picnic blanket on the ground with to-go burgers and fries.

Jack:Shut the fuck up.

Hallie laughed and still couldn’t believe it.Right?!

Her phone started ringing as she looked at it, and the second she raised it to her ear she heard Jack say, “Are you telling me that when your reservation fell through, the blond clown arranged a burger picnic in the park?”

“That is exactly what I’m telling you!” Hallie flopped back on her bed and closed her eyes. “Can you believe how charming that is?”

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