fitted red sweater and designer jeans, boots, and a festive scarf.
Kaylee could be heard clearing her throat from the doorway to Fiona’s room. “Going with the PTA mom look at the pub crawl tonight?”
“You know what? Let’s not do the pub crawl.”
“What? We always do the pub crawl on Fridays.”
“I mean, I just want to go somewhere else. Somewhere where nobody’s going to snitch on me. Where nobody knows me.”
Kaylee laughed. “You mean like nowhere in Castle Hill or Shoreline.”
“Let’s have an adventure. What about some place down by the docks?”
“Whoa, Nelly. Are you insane? That’s, like, sex trafficker central.”
Fiona made a dismissive noise as she applied her makeup. “That’s what the newspaper says, but my dad said they exaggerated. He increased police presence down there, like tenfold or something. And he says that developers have been buying up all the abandoned properties and making it really nice.”
Kaylee clucked. “You do know what that’s called? It’s called gentrification. They buy up property and charge so much rent nobody in the neighborhood can afford it.”
Fiona made a mental note to look that word up later.
“Okay. So are you coming or not?” Fiona asked her friend.
Kaylee bit her lip. “You’re asking for more bad press, I feel like.”
“It’ll be fine,” Fiona said. “Maybe Pete will come with us.”
“Pete never goes anywhere without Zach, and Zach is persona non grata, correct?”
Fiona nodded. “Yes, he is. If he comes, he comes. Either way, we’ll be fine.”
Kaylee, finally giving in, blew out a breath. “Fine. Let’s go. I’m getting sick of the bars on College Street anyway. Every guy I hit on already has a boyfriend, and frat parties are just getting grosser by the day. I’m tired of having to send my clothes out with my rich bestie’s dry cleaning.”
Fiona crossed over to Kaylee and squeezed her friend’s shoulders in a side hug. “Consider it my last outing as a Castle Hill student, officially. I’m dropping out.”
She thought her best friend would be upset, but she was relieved to see she simply shrugged and sighed. “Probably for the best. Your dad is going to freak, though. You think skinny dipping got you bad press? That’s nothing compared to being a dropout.”
“Well, I just won’t plan on telling Daddy until after the big Christmas party on Saturday. I’ll let him have a good night.”
The two of them agreed on the plan, and Kaylee texted their whole crew.
Fiona flipped on her Bluetooth speaker and blasted her favorite “getting ready to go out” music while she worked on her makeup.
While she was redoing her eyeliner for the fifth time, Pete popped in the door. “A biker bar in Dockside, huh?”
“It’s not that bad, I don’t think. Why, is wittle Petey scared?”
Pete puffed out his chest. “No. I’ll come. I gotta keep an eye on you.”
She smoothed her gloss onto her lip and puckered in the mirror. “Zach’s not invited.”
“I heard,” he replied with resignation.
She lifted an eyebrow. “Peeking out from under Zach’s protective wing, are we?”
Pete rolled his eyes and moseyed out to the main room to continue his architectural aluminum feat.
Guys were so lucky they didn’t have to do anything to get ready.
Huh. Maybe Pete would suffice as my date tomorrow to Dad’s party.
She had no interest in Pete as a potential boyfriend, but he might be suitable enough as a fake date for one night.
However, the loud, long belch that emanated from the living room told her otherwise.
Never mind.
Chapter Three
Levi
* * *
“When are you gonna meet a nice girl and give me great-grandchildren?”
His tiny grandmother gestured him away from his oven where she removed the egg casserole. Levi’s mouth watered.
He loved living above his grandmother’s garage for many reasons, one of which was her cooking.
Today, though, his grandmother had decided to start in on him about his personal life. Maybe she’d spotted the faraway look in his eye when he was drinking her diesel fuel coffee.
“Nice girls don’t want me, YaYa.”
He wished she would let him cook sometimes. It was all he could do to convince her to let him pay rent on the garage apartment. She was already irritated that he spent most weekday mornings before class having donuts at Crow Bar with the rest of the boys. Friday mornings belonged to YaYa.
“Malarkey,” she said as he handed her the serving knife.
The last thing Levi wanted to think about was a nice girl. Or a good girl.
All he could think about was the wide-eyed woman with a wild streak and a mouth so sexy