Chapter 12
MAE
“It doesn’t hurt, but it’s itchy,” I said, blissfully drowning myself in coffee.
We gathered around a plate of cinnamon buns, apparently a specialty at the cutest bakery on Main Street in Kitchi Falls. After returning to Boots and Brews post-tattoos and showing them off to Mazzie, we closed the place down.
“When you take off the tape later,” Jules said, “just be sure to use the balm to keep it moisturized.”
“And keep out of the sun and hot tub?” Delaney asked.
“Who has a hot tub?”
She scrunched up her nose. “I mean, no one. Just in case.”
Jules and I laughed. At least she was smart enough to have drunk water in between drinks last night. I, on the other hand, was so excited about the tattoo that responsible all-night drinking flew out the window. Shots to celebrate, way too many vodka sodas, and I was paying the price.
“So what did Pia say about getting one too?” Jules asked, popping a bun into her mouth. She’d already eaten eggs, saying she needed protein to start the day. For me, carbs would do just fine.
“She just laughed, so not sure if she’s on board or not.” Delaney looked at me. “What did Beck think?”
“How do you know I told him?”
“Because you tell him everything. Or was that picture for your parents?”
Jules laughed. “Wonder what Mr. and Mrs. O’Malley will say?”
I was more concerned about the way Jules was looking at me when she asked the question. I knew her. That was a very suspicious-looking expression.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Jules?”
I was going to kill her. Delaney was looking on with interest, and this was not a discussion I wanted to get back to Parker.
“Fine. I know you. Something is… off with Beck.”
Yep. She was dead.
“Is he okay?” I asked innocently, trying to deflect.
Too late. Delaney was also now looking at me as if I was the latest installment of a relating dating show.
“I don’t know. You tell us.”
I wiped my sticky fingers on a napkin, dredging up my most nonchalant tone. “I think so. I mean, the whole selling O’Malley’s thing was a shock to him. And to me too, actually. But he’s seriously considering buying and I hope he does.”
“Not what I’m talking about, and you know it.”
I looked pointedly to Delaney and then back to Jules.
“If you want this convo in a lock box, just say the word,” Delaney said.
I had the subtlety of a marching band. So much for my spy career.
Jules raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been smiling at your phone like it holds the meaning of life since last night.”
I sipped my coffee slowly. “Maybe I just like cinnamon buns.” I leaned back, trying to play it cool, but the truth was apparently broadcast through every text notification.
Jules wasn’t wrong. I reached for a bun, despite vowing not to eat any more. Now it was just stress eating.
The two of them waited.
Screw it. My life was complicated enough without trying to figure this all out on my own.
“Lock box?” I asked Delaney.
She inserted an invisible key in the air, turned it and tossed it into thin air.
“I have no idea what’s going on but it probably has to do with my life blowing up in my face. But with Beck and I working side by side…” I shrugged. “I don’t know. Something’s… weird.”
“By ‘weird’ do you mean you’re attracted to him?” Delaney asked, her voice lacking judgment, which I appreciated. Because honestly, I would judge me. Nothing could be a worse idea than being attracted to a guy like Beck.
“I guess?”
Jules sat back, as if she was about to deliver a UN speech.
“Okay, here are the facts for the uninitiated,” she said to Delaney.
“The two of them have been dancing around each other since middle school. When his family moved outside of town, she was devastated. Cried for a week. And then Beck’s family went from well-to-do to high society, and he hated it and rebelled.
About that same time, all the other girls started to notice him too, and he’s been a man whore ever since, totally turning Mae off to him as anything but a friend.
Then he was off to college, she was off to CIA and later France; never the twain shall meet, for any extended period of time, until now.
Obviously Beck is still hot, and charming, if you like that sort of thing. You’re welcome.”
I’d have loved to argue with Jules’s version of events, but that was pretty accurate.
“If you like that sort of thing?” I focused on the part of her story not involving me. “Who doesn’t?”
“Me,” Jules said. “People who smile too much make me nervous.”
I laughed. “How many times have you said my positivity is your favorite thing about me?”
“You’re different.”
“Hold up,” Delaney interrupted. “I think we’re getting off track. Thanks for the background, Jules. But we’re missing a major piece of the puzzle. Namely, Beck’s feelings for Mae. The whole ‘never date the neighbor’ thing.”
I froze. Put down my coffee mug. Stared at her.
“The whole… what, now?”
Delaney’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh my God,” she said, her words muffled behind her hand but still clear enough. “Shit.” Heard that too.
“Delaney?” My pulse raced.
Her hand dropped. “You obviously know about the bachelor pact. I thought you and Beck were”—she crossed her index and middle finger—“like this.”
“I do know about it.”
“And the rules?”
“Yes, I know about the rules. All three of them. Never stay the night. Never fall in love. Never say ‘I do.’”
Jules watched us go back and forth as if watching a ping pong match.
“Four of them,” she whispered.
This couldn’t be happening.
“I am so sorry. I had no idea you didn’t know. Parker never told me not to mention it to you.”
“He is a guy,” Jules offered. “Details aren’t their strong suit.”
Delaney didn’t appear mollified. In fact, she seemed properly horrified so I tried to reassure her.
“It’s fine. Honestly, you didn’t do anything wrong. Lock box, remember?”
She exhaled, clearly not convinced. “Beck will kill me.”
“Not before I get to him first,” I teased. “Tell me what you know.”
“Weeell.” She took a deep breath. “Just that one of the four rules is ‘never date the neighbor’ which was made specifically for Beck who, let me see if I remember what Parker said exactly… something about the fact that if you were ever into him it would be ‘game over.’ Which I took to mean Beck would break the pact.”
Not possible. “I don’t… this doesn’t make any sense. Beck doesn’t see me like that at all. He’s always treated me like a sister.”
“Wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that you’ve been saying,” Jules added, “since high school you wouldn’t date him if he were the last guy in the world?”
I had been known to say that.
“Only because he’s slept with every pretty girl in Cedar Falls. And not to mention most of its pretty tourists. And has a thing against commitment, hence the pact and all.”
“Not to state the obvious”—Delaney shifted in her seat—“but Mason and Parker took the pact too. Things change after college.”
“For most guys,” I said. “Not Beck.”
“And the other one, Cole. He’s still all in, I assume?” Jules asked.
“You haven’t met Cole?” Delaney asked her.
“No. Not yet.”
“Now that one probably won’t ever fold. According to Parker, it was his idea in the first place. But Beck?” She shrugged. “I just think he has a little maturing to do.”
“A lot of maturing to do. Emphasis on a lot.” Jules didn’t seem as shocked as me by this fourth rule revelation. I said as much.
“Eh. I always thought he had a thing for you.”
“You did?” I asked, incredulous. “You never mentioned that.”
“Didn’t seem to matter. I always just took the two of you as good friends at face value. Until now. I could tell something was up.”
She seemed very proud of her investigative prowess.
“Is something up?” Delaney asked.
As if on cue, my phone buzzed. It was upside down on the table.
“Get it,” Jules said.
“No.”
“Go ahead,” Delaney prompted. “Now I’m fully invested.”
They were looking at me like I was about to crack open some long-buried secret.
I sighed and flipped the phone over. One new message. From Beck. I opened it, expecting a meme or some dry sarcasm after I’d sent him a selfie of the three of us in front of the bakery.
Instead:
Kitchi Falls looks good on you.
Short. Casual. But my stomach did that annoying swoop anyway.
I didn’t respond right away but just stared at the message a little too long. And then looked up.
“Damn,” Jules said, watching me carefully. “That bad?”
I shook my head. “No. Just… Beck being Beck.”
But even I didn’t believe that anymore.