Page 148 of Mr. Flirt

“Why, yes.” I nodded. “I think it’s something we’ve all noticed and mentioned over the years.”

“So, what about you?’ Winter asked, and I froze.

I didn’t actually have to look at the paper to know what I wrote or whom I wrote it about, but I certainly wasn’t going to reveal that bit of info or I’d fall entirely into their plan.

I took a deep breath and read the words aloud, “I hereby swear I will never marry a man named McKenzie.” I sucked in a breath. “I vow to never marry a bad boy or a rebel.”

Arie’s eyes widened. “You wrote yours about the McKenzie boys? The brothers?”

“One brother,” Samantha corrected.

She obviously remembered too.

Darn it.

“I only knew one.” I folded my paper back up and prepared my best lying expression. “I don’t even remember his first name.”

Another lie.The thought of Morgan McKenzie still turned my insides into a wild roller coaster ride of forbidden teenage lust.

“Okay, so let’s see.” Arie sucked on her bottom lip and nodded slowly. “I think Winter and Samantha might be onto something because you have an awful problem of dating only preppy boys, and I meanboyswhen I say it. I don’t think you’ve ever dated arealman.”

“I do tend to date very clean-cut men with—”

“An appreciation for matching sweaters and socks, loafers, and a ton of letters and numbers after their name,” Winter interrupted me with no sign of slowing. “I mean, think about your ex-fiancé.”

“Do I have to?” I teased.

“He looked like he stepped out of an eighties frat house complete with plaid sweaters and too much cologne doused on him.”

“Well, I wouldn’t pick him now, which was why I wasn’t heartbroken when he left Fireweed to pursue his career.”

“As a school teacher,” Winter added. “On the fast track to an administration role. Wasn’t that what he’d announced to us all at the last dinner we’d had at your house?”

I’d put that night out of my head almost as soon as it had happened. My ex had already grown distant and had absolutely zero thought about anyone but himself. He didn’t care that I’d loved Fireweed or that I had dreams too. It was always him, all the time, which was why when he announced that he’d accepted another position off the island, I didn’t follow. I’d had enough. It was actually relief that filled me right up, not sadness. So, when he held a dinner party to announce to his group of friends, with a few of mine thrown in, that he was leaving for a promotion, everyone turned to see my reaction. And it was pure shock. Because he hadn’t told me yet. I learned with everyone else, and yet, I couldn’t wait to help him pack.

Winter started up again. “Anyway, I think you absolutely need to quit dating such goody-two-shoes types. You just always ignore the guy with an edge or someone who has—”

“Tattoos?” I giggled. “Should we just switch dating types? You go for the clean-cut, goody-two-shoes, and I’ll go for the bad boy rebel.”

“You said it. I didn’t.” She chuckled. “No, I just think you should go for someone who isn’t so straitlaced. Maybe you’d have more fun than you realize. Maybe date a guy who wouldn’t mind jumping out of a plane with you or hang gliding off some mountain.”

I let out a thoughtful sigh as I thought back to why I had written that pledge.

My mom’s sister had just been dumped by her boyfriend of ten years, whom she’d had three children with. My aunt and her children had to live with us off and on over the years because she could barely make ends meet. She’d given him everything emotionally, and he’d left her broken to go play in a band that never took off, but it gave him plenty of reasons to sleep around and stay out drinking.

Seeing the devastation that man caused my aunt and cousins left a scar, and it happened to be at the same time I’d run into McKenzie, alast-name-onlykind of guy. He was seventeen and somehow managed to have more tats than I’d ever seen, probably using his fake id at the time to talk his way into the tattoo studio for an appointment. He lived only a few houses down the street, and his band always practiced in his garage. One day, the garage door was wide open, and he blew me a kiss. From that moment on, I avoided him like the plague.

Why?

Because he bleweverygirl a kiss.

And I didn’t want to wind up like my aunt.

I glanced at Winter, who was observing me, and I nodded slowly. “I think you guys are onto something here.”

“And haven’t you ever wondered who kept leaving you that white rose week after week your entire junior year?” Arie asked me.

I laughed nervously, wishing my friend had a better case of amnesia, but I’d always wondered who left those roses for me.

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