Page 42 of The Best Book Boyfriend
Hattie:And he’s SMOKING HOT!
Hattie:Shall I send him a message for you?
“Everything OK?” Luke asks.
“Yep, just Hattie sending me a load of dating profile stuff.”
“Her latest targets?” he jokes.
“No, um, she’s setting up a profile for me. I have no idea what I’m doing, so she offered to make me look good.” I click on the link she’s sent me, but I can’t see anything without logging in.
“Oh.” He takes a step back from me and wraps his arms tightly around my books. “I didn’t know you were doing online dating.”
“I’m notdoingonline dating. She’s just setting it up, I can’t even log in.“ I shove my phone away and feel my chest tighten. I can’t wrap my head around there being a version of me that’s out there with a dating profile and matching with strangers when I’m also right here having the loveliest day ever with Luke.
“Well good for you, Kara,” he says, taking the wagon handle from me and walking ahead. “That’s a big step.”
“I know.”I feel sick.I skip a little to catch him up. “It’s weird, let’s not talk about it.”
“OK. We won’t talk about it.”
And just like that, the morning is ruined. We don’t talk as much while we browse the rest of the stalls, and I’ve lost my enthusiasm for it anyway. I find a few old curtains that aren’t the right size, but I can probably repurpose the fabric for something, so I buy them anyway then tell Luke I’ve had enough. We’re quiet when we load the van, and even more so on the drive home. I feel awful.
My phone dings again just as I park outside Luke’s house. I glance at it before he gets out.
Hattie:THREE MATCHES NOW.
Hattie:Where are yoooooou?
“Hattie again?” he asks.
“Yup.” I toss my phone into the side compartment of my door and stare down at my lap. The silence that hangs between us is agony. I don’t want my time with him to end yet, but there’s no good reason to keep him here.
“You don’t need Hattie’s help to make you look good, you know. I don’t think you’ll have any problem finding a date, Kara.” He steps out of the car and I watch him walk off down his path and into his house without looking back.Shit.
Chapter 17
Luke
Karaisdating.
Kara is dating and I feel like shit about it. I know I don’t have the right to feel any which about it at all, but I do. And I’m confused. She told me she swore off men, but now she’s off out there matching with all of these random men in her phone. She’s probably about to meet her future husband and I’m here skulking about the house, wishing I was more than just her friend.
If I was a shitty friend, I’d tell her how I feel and suggest a date with me, but if I push it and she says no, then I’ll have lost her as a friend too. That’s the last thing I want. Her friendship has been one of the best things to happen to me in a while.
This fucking sucks. The worst part is, I don’t even feel like I can talk about it because Rob will just try to make me join a dating app too. Or drag me out with him as a wingman, or set me up with women he’s already hooked up with and rejected.
I’ve been keeping myself busy with sorting out the garden and focusing on work so I don’t think about Kara too much, but she’s got me reading this bookUnder Our Starsabout two best friends on a camping trip so it’s doing nothing for my ever inflating feelings, or libido. This morning I took it out on an overgrown hedge, hacking it back with an old pair of shears that I found in the little shed tucked away at the end of my garden. By the time I was done, my hands were raw, my arms covered in little scratches, but I didn’t care.
We’re not texting as much, and I don’t know if it’s because she’s busy, or because I ended up being cold with her at the weekend. Worst-case scenario, she’s off out on dates every night. All I know for sure is that I’m losing sleep over it.
And now here she is, appearing in the doorway at my workplace, which is weirdly sort of a place she now works too. Beautiful and poised, her hair hanging loose, a sweet smile across her face. I have to physically restrain myself from hugging her tight and not letting go, but she’s not here for that. She’s here to catch up before the next book club, so I keep my hands to myself and my mind on her order.
“Claude loved everything you found last weekend, by the way,” she says, her face just begging to be cupped in my hands. I shove my hands deeper in my pockets.
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“She says you have to come and visit once the job is finished.” Knowing that she talks to her client about me lights a little fire in my belly.
