Page 73 of The One I Love
“Gross,” Luke says while also making a gagging sound. “I take back everything I said. I’m not a fan.”
We look up to him, and he might have said that, but the smile on his face says otherwise.
Yup. Everything is going to be just fine.
Chapter 22
Amelia
“Betsy,I know we just met, and I know you have a man and don’t swing my way, but I think I love you.”
Betsy laughs at Kendra as she hands her a glass of sangria. “As a woman who thought for two seconds in college she might be bisexual, I appreciate that.”
“You did?” Whitley asks. “When?”
“I took a women’s studies class. Things got confusing.”
We all laugh as the four of us lie back on our loungers around the pool at Betsy and Wes’s. When Betsy called, asking if I wanted to come over and lay by the pool with her and Whitley, I hated saying no, but I had made plans with Kendra. Since we hadn’t been on the same shift in weeks, I would have felt bad canceling. Betsy fixed that problem by telling me that the more the merrier and once Kendra heard the words “drinks” and “pool,” our once-urgent errands didn’t seem so time sensitive.
“Well, thanks again for inviting me,” Kendra says as she holds up her drink. “To good drinks, good people, and hopefully a good suntan.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Whitley says as she and the rest of us hold up our drinks. “It really is the perfect day for this.”
“It is. Just sucks Izzy isn’t here,” Betsy says.
If things weren’t weird enough for Oliver and Izzy with that whole wedding thing, Izzy got a call that her dad had suddenly passed away. From what Oliver told us, she and her family don’t really get along, so he had no idea what to expect.
“I love how casually you say his name now in conversation. Like we don’t all know that he was telling you this lying naked next to you in bed.”
“He was not!” I say to Betsy, who is smiling from ear to ear.
“Where was he when he told you this bit of information, then?”
“Um…” Well, I walked right into that one, didn’t I? “In bed. He just wasn’t naked.”
“Ha!” This gets a laugh from Betsy and a round of applause from Kendra and Whitley.
“Wait! Is this a safe Shane space?” Whitley asks. “Betsy! How did you not tell me you knew?”
“Because I didn’t know you knew! It was supposedly a secret.” She shoots me a glance and I look away.
“And I’ve known from the beginning, because I don’t know any of you so it was safe for me to know.”
“So we all know?” Betsy says, double-checking with everyone. “Good. Now we can dish.”
“No, we can’t,” I say, looking toward her house. “Wes doesn’t know.”
Betsy waves me off. “Let’s be honest, if any of the guys were to find out first, wouldn’t you rather it be Wes?”
That’s true. “Yes, but I want to tell all the guys together. It just feels right.”
“I get that,” Betsy says. “I just want to point out that for thewoman who didn’t want anyone to know, I find it odd we all know.”
“I know,” I groan. “I’m really the worst with this.”
“It’s okay. You’re happy. And it shows.”
“Thank you, Betsy. We’re going to start telling people soon. The kids found out.”
