Twisted Up (Taking Chances #1) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,60

also had a pretty good idea why.

Gigi grabbed the bottle of beer the moment the waitress set it down and took a long swig. She swallowed with a satisfied “Ah,” then looked back and forth between Jake and Avery. “So you two are heading things up, huh?”

Jake nodded. “With Max and Bree and Dillon and Kit.”

Gigi nodded. “Sounds like a good team. Things going well from your perspective?”

“Very well,” Jake said. “Avery and I are pretty great together.”

He felt her try to elbow him, but they were sitting so close that it was really more of a nudge. But she’d clearly caught his innuendo. He smiled and took a long drink of his Twisted Sister.

Gigi looked intrigued. “Is that right? Is this the first time you’ve been great together?”

Jake fought the laugh that threatened to escape. Was Gigi onto his second meaning as well? It wouldn’t surprise him.

He cleared his throat. “Actually, no. We’ve definitely been great together before,” he said.

He felt Avery tighten her fingers on his in warning.

“I mean, Avery and I have known each other for most of our lives,” Jake said before Avery could reply.

“I know you graduated high school together,” Gigi said.

This was Chance. Nearly everyone who lived here had gone to school together since kindergarten.

“Yes. But we knew each other way before high school. Avery was my savior when we were kids.”

He knew that would get Gigi’s attention. Avery’s, too.

“How so?” Gigi asked, clearly intrigued.

“Avery spent a lot of time with my mom when we were little. They hung out together in the house while I ran wild outside.” Jake gave Gigi a grin. “Mom was so caught up in the craft and cooking projects she and Avery did together, she barely noticed I didn’t get all my chores done and left the back door hanging open and borrowed her good silverware to dig in the dirt.”

Gigi smiled. “I know you were close to Heidi,” she said to Avery.

Avery was nearly vibrating now from holding herself so tight. Jake tried to pull her closer, but it was like trying to cuddle up to a two-by-four.

“Heidi babysat me while my grandmother worked,” Avery said with a nod. “She was always very . . . nice . . . to me.”

Jake felt the frown he’d fought earlier slam his brows together.

Nice? His mother had been nice to her? His mother had loved Avery. Heidi had practically adopted Avery. To hear her refer to their years of time together as “babysitting” made him frown even harder. What the hell was that?

“Did you have a crush on Jake?” Gigi asked.

“Not exactly.”

“Are you sure?” Jake said. Surely he’d flirted with her. At least.

But for the life of him, he couldn’t come up with any concrete memories between just the two of them before the night he’d asked her to prom. And that had been his mom’s idea. He’d been planning to go as a bachelor with Max and Dillon, who’d also sworn off girls, knowing they were heading to basic training a month after the dance.

He remembered praising her cooking almost constantly. She’d gotten even better than his mother. He had a hard time recalling a time when Avery wasn’t present in his parents’ kitchen after school. She’d helped make nearly every dinner he’d eaten growing up.

He’d noticed she was cute, in a sort of passing way, like he’d notice if the weather was nice that day. But she’d been quiet and seemed to like being in the background. She’d smiled much bigger when Jake’s father had praised her cooking anyway, so Jake had always figured she didn’t care what he thought.

Which was also why, when she’d looked up at him at the river on graduation night with hope in her eyes and said she’d never been kissed, he couldn’t resist.

He’d been addicted ever since.

“I’m sure,” Avery told him. She looked at Gigi. “He barely noticed me. Until Heidi told him to ask me to prom.”

Jake looked down at her, surprised. “You knew that my mom suggested I ask you?”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course. You never would have asked me otherwise.”

“That’s not—” But it was. “I didn’t know you knew that.”

“She never told me,” Avery said. “But she and I had just been talking about prom, and she’d been upset that I’d never been and didn’t plan on taking my last chance to go. Three days later, you asked.”

And he thought he’d been so sweet and suave, making her feel special and like he was happy to be