Page 7 of The Love Wager

He wouldn’t have told anyone else, but he’d always been able to be completely honest with Livvie when he screwed up. “Got hammered and had a sleepover with the bartender.”

Her mouth dropped open. “You did not.”

He shrugged.

She looked at him like he’d just declared himself a cheeseburger, and then she took his plate and set it beside hers on the buffet table before grabbing his arm and pulling him toward the back of the restaurant.

“Livvie—”

“Just come on.”

She led him to a spot right beside the kitchen door, and when they stopped, she blinked up at him and said, “Jack, you were ready to propose twelve hours ago. How in God’s name were you able to sleep with a bartender?”

“Do you mean, like, the mechanics of the act?”

She growled and said, “No, I mean that Iknowyou were upset about Vanessa last night. I saw your face after you came back in from the parking lot.”

He didn’t want to think about that, dammit. “So?”

“So a random hookup is a terrible idea that isn’t going to help your loneliness.”

“I’m notlonely,for fuck’s sake.”

“Really.” She crossed her arms and gave him abullshitlook. “You didn’t rush everything with Vanessa because you were sad and didn’t want to be alone?”

“Shut up, you nosy little shit,” he muttered, giving in to a smile when she rolled her eyes and pinched him.

“Listen, you tool,” she said, dropping her hand and looking serious. “We both know you loved the idea of a relationship so much that you forced it; you admitted it to me when you were drunk at Billy’s a couple weeks ago, remember?”

He wished he’d never shared that little morsel.

“Well, it sucks the way things went down, but I think this is a blessing,” she said, taking her phone out of her jeans pocket and looking at the display. “Now you’re free to find someone you actually have something in common with. Someone you havefunwith.”

Just to mess with her, Jack said, “Well, I had a lot of fun with the bartender last night.”

“Spare me the details and let me give you the log-in for the dating app for which you’re now a paid subscriber.”

“What?” He groaned and glared at his sister. “What did you do?”

“Nothing, really.” It was her turn to shrug and smile. “After you said what you said at Billy’s, I might’ve set up an account for you and paid the fees, just in case.”

“In case...?”

“In case you and Vanessa crashed and burned.”

Jack sighed.

“Instead of making a fuss and pretending to be mad,” she said, looking pleased with herself, “just say ‘Thank you, Liv.’ ”

“Butt out, Liv,” he replied.

“I’ll butt out,” she said, “as soon asyoulog in.”

Hallie

A week later

“You have to be kidding.” Chuck stabbed one of the Swedish meatballs on his plate and gave Hallie a look. “This could not have actually happened.”

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