Page 62 of The Scars I Bare
This was what I had been waiting for. This was what I’d been looking for.
Her.
Dear God, please don’t let me fuck it up.
“You need what now?” Jake asked as he sipped on his coffee in the wee hours of the morning.
I’d hustled liked crazy to be the first one to get here, trying to beat the ever-punctual Cora, so I could have a few minutes of alone time with my best friend.
So that I could badger him for help.
“Dating advice.”
“And you’re asking me? The guy who’s currently engaged to his high school sweetheart?”
Unfortunately, Molly must have been in a hurry to get to the inn this morning because there were no special deliveries today. No pastries. No doughnuts. No hot-from-the-oven scones.
Just plain old, boring clinic coffee.
But nothing could deter my good mood today.
Nothing.
I was currently over the moon. No, if there was something greater than over the moon, I was that. I was fucking euphoric.
I’d kissed Cora Carpenter.
No, I’d made out with Cora Carpenter.
I stood by the coffee pot, grinning like a damn idiot, and poured a cup. “Yeah, but you do remember, there was a significant gap between high school and that proposal. I figured you had to have gained some experience in there somewhere.”
He made an amused sound deep in the back of his throat as he leaned against the counter. “Between med school and my residency, there was time for one thing, Dean, and I doubt you came here, seeking information on one-night stands. You’ve dated. Why don’t you use some of your own practical knowledge? Hell, what did you and Molly used to do?”
I thought back to that time in my life and gave a half-shrug. “Sat around and watched movies mostly. Maybe played some board games.”
A sly grin spread across his face. “And, to think, it didn’t work out.”
“Hey! I was the one who dumped her!” I said, unable to hide the amusement written all over my face. “You’re welcome, by the way.”
His smile only widened.
“Cora thinks this is weird.”
“What’s weird?”
“The dynamic of our relationship. How okay we are with everything—the past, I guess. How easy it is for us to talk about it.”
He shrugged. “I guess it would only be weird if we weren’t over it.”
I nodded in agreement. “That, or if we shared pointers.”
His eyes looked up at mine in horror.
I chuckled under my breath. “Molly still like that thing with her ear?”
He pushed off from the counter, his head shaking back and forth, as if he were trying to dislodge a picture from his head. “Not cool, Dean.”
“What about that sound she makes when she—”
