Page 70 of Pity Pact

“How about you, Chip?” Missy asks. “I hear you’ve already met someone.”

His eyes glaze over with infatuation. “Brittany. She’s amazing.” That’s when I realize Chip is a decent-looking guy when he’s not being annoying.

“She really is fabulous,” I tell Missy. “So is Cami,” I add as an afterthought. I’m fishing to see how Tim will respond.

He smiles benignly while saying, “Yes, she is.” His gaze narrows as he stares at me intently. “I have a date with her on Tuesday night.”

“I have a date with Fielden on the same night.” Take that!

“You seemed very popular at last night’s mixer.” He doesn’t sound very happy about it.

“It was my outfit. Everyone loves Winnie the Pooh.”

“They certainly appeared to. I barely had time to talk to you.”

Remembering Tim’s and my only interactions—the two times he passed me an orange— causes my face to flush hot. “We may not have talked much, but we sure did neck.”

Missy practically drops her juice. “What?”

“We played games last night,” Chip tells her. “They’re referencing the pass-the-orange game.”

“Oh, no!” Missy laughs. “Paige is terrible at those games.”

She’s not wrong, but I still feel the need to stand up for myself. “That’s because they’re stupid.”

“Do you remember the time you hit Mrs. Franco with the piñata stick?” she asks.

“In my defense,” I demand, “who blindfolds a seven-year-old before spinning them around and handing them a baseball bat?”

Tim bursts out laughing. “I would have paid money to see that.”

“It seems you’ve always been a little bit spirited Paige…” Chip offers.

“Very funny,” I grumble. Then I tell Missy, “Yet my team won, so I guess I didn’t do that poorly.”

“They won in spite of you, huh?” Missy giggles.

Once our food arrives, I announce, “Well, it sure was nice of you guys to join us.” Hint, hint, hint. When they don’t leave right away, I add, “I guess I’ll catch you later in the week.”

Chip finally taps Tim on the arm. “I think she’s trying to get rid of us.”

Tim looks at me with feigned surprise. “Surely not.”

“Don’t let the door smack you where the good Lord cracked you,” I tell him.

Tim stands up slowly. “I’ll be upstairs for a while if you want to come up and chat about last night.”

I stare at him, wondering if I should share my feelings about other men with him. Tim hates Fielden and as Fielden appears to be my only shot at a love match here, I don’t want him ruining that for me. On the other hand, I want to hear more about his upcoming date with Cami.

“We’ll see,” I finally say.

Before they leave, Chip tells Missy, “It was nice to meet you.” Then he turns to me. “We still have a truce, right?”

“Yes, Chip, we still have a truce.” I suddenly feel bad about being such a jerk to him.

As the men walk away, I dig into my pancakes and groan in pleasure. After several bites, I tell Missy, “While I’m delighted you’ve found love, I’m even happier that love has been responsible for my finding these pancakes.”

She cocks her head to the side and stares at me like she can see through me. “What are the chances Fielden would move to Elk Lake if you wound up together?”

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