Page 25 of The Problem with Perfect

“See? Told you.”

“Told me what?”

“Don’t let the guy break your heart, Bells. That’s all I’m saying.”

I let out a long dramatic sigh and decide to just agree so we can move this conversation on to something else. “Fine. I promise. I won’t let him break my heart. Happy?”

Bishop pauses. “I’m happy as long as you are.”

My shoulders fall, and I pull my knees up and wrap my arms around them, putting the call back on speaker. Our conversation goes on for only a little while longer before my brother says he has to go. Apparently this camp has a firm lights out policy and he doesn’t have much time before he has to call it quits for the night.

“I love you, Bells,” Bishop says, his voice warm. “Let me know how things go with Pruitt and Rus.”

I nod. “Yeah. Love you, too.”

We disconnect, but I stay out on the dock for a little while longer, thinking over my brother’s words. Maybe I should look at them more like a warning…a warning against allowing myself to develop any kind of feelings for Rusty, though I can’t help thinking that’s laughable.

My heart has only ever belonged to one man, and that man is the one we’re trying to convince that I’ve moved on.He’sthe one who broke my heart.

And I don’t know if I’ll ever fully recover.

* * *

I’m thankful that my parents had plans with another couple on Thursday night so they’re not home when Rusty shows up to collect me for our double date with Connor and Stace. My mom was quite surprised when I came home last night from my date with Rusty, having heard about it from a friend of hers who was also dining at Dock 7 while we were there.

“Rusty?”

She said his name like it was a question, and I told her I wasn’t ready to talk about it yet then headed down to the dock. When I returned, she had gone to sleep, not that I wanted to talk to her about it anyway.

I try to be a lot of things for my parents. I strive to be an honest, helpful daughter as often as I can, but that doesn’t mean I want to tell my mom everything. If anything, I keep a lot to myself so I don’t burden her, and this whole story of what happened with Connor last summer and what’s going on with Rusty now…it would just upset her.

I smooth out my dress in the mirror of the entryway then tuck my keys in my purse and head outside to wait for Rusty. I’m nervous about tonight, about going to Connor’s house and essentially performing for him. There’s a part of me that thinks it’s not worth it, thinks I could just avoid him all summer until he and Stace leave to go do whatever is next for them in their happy married life.

But then I try to imagine the lengths I’d have to go to in order to avoid them. I mean, I work at two of the busiest places in Cedar Point during peak tourist season. Connor and I share plenty of overlapping friends who I’m sure are also returning to town for the summer. The reality is that, for most of the people from our graduating class at Cedar Point High School, this might be the very last summer they return home before beginning their real-world jobs. The last thing I want to be forced to do is hide away at my parents’ house for three months.

No. This thing with Rusty should be great. He can be my emotional buffer, and in a few months, I hopefully won’t have to see Connor on a regular basis ever again.

When Rusty pulls up out front and I hop into his Chevy, I’m immediately assaulted by the warmth of his cologne, a delicious scent of honey and hops and something else I can’t place. It stokes feelings of comfort and makes me want to snuggle up in a big overstuffed armchair with a cup of tea and a good book.

He barely looks at me as he turns around in our large front drive, but my eyes do a perusal of him while he’s focused on something else. It’s his signature look—black jeans and a long-sleeved flannel—but the vibe looks different tonight. The pants look more crisp, and his shirt looks like it received an extra tumble on a wrinkle-free setting.

“You look nice,” I say as he turns left onto the main road, heading toward the Pruitts’ large property tucked into the hills in the northeast part of town.

He glances at me, his eyes doing a quick flick up and down over my outfit then back to my face. “Thanks” is all he says before returning his eyes to the road.

I look out the window, ignoring the niggling feeling of disappointment that he didn’t have anything to say about how I look as well. It’s not a real date, so…I guess it doesn’t matter.

My stomach dips as we pull onto the dirt drive that leads up to the Pruitt house, memories assaulting me from the last time I was here. It was the best night of my life, one I thought was the start to an incredible future.

I was wrong.

When we come to a stop behind Connor’s BMW, I swallow my feelings down. Tonight isn’t about me continuing to pine for Connor. It’s about me proving to him that I’ve moved on, just like he was so easily able to do. I might not have much of an ego on most days, but everyone has their limits, and the idea of Connor continuing to look at me with pity about mylittle crushis enough to make me sufficiently desperate to pull something like this off.

“You ready?” Rusty asks, his voice quiet and gravelly.

I turn to look at him, prepared to say yes, but for whatever reason, the word gets stuck in my throat when I find his green eyes watching me. They really are such incredible eyes.

Rusty reaches out, places his hand on mine, and gives it a squeeze. “We’re gonna be fine,” he says, mistaking my silence for nerves. “Connor’s an idiot for letting you go, and tonight, we’re going to show him what he’s missing.”

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