great special tonight. There’s baked fish coated with lemon and steak with your choice of sides each only eight-ninety-nine.”
“That’s great,” Harp says. “I think I’ll take both once you’re back.”
I laugh and the waitress nods with a large smile. “I’ll be right back with your drinks.”
“I feel nauseous,” Harper says after the waitress has walked off. I look at her, puzzled, and she sighs, leaning her back against her chair. “Be honest with me. Do you think he’s cheating on me?”
“No, Harper.” I grab her hands and she looks at me beneath her eyelashes. Her eyes water but she forces herself to blink quickly to get rid of the tears. “Harp, I don’t think Dawson is that way. It could have been anyone. When he comes back, you can talk to him about it. Just don’t think negatively. He loves you. He watches your every move. I always catch him staring at you when you aren’t looking.”
“I know,” she nods. “I just . . . I don’t want this to end. No offense, but I see how unhappy you are that you and Nolan are taking a break but I don’t want a break. I don’t want him away from me or with anyone else but me.”
My chest tightens as she brings Nolan up. I release my grip from her hands, taking a glance at my phone sitting on top of the table. Not even a text message. I wonder what he’s doing in California right now. Does he miss me as much as I miss him? Has he thought about calling me just as bad as I’ve been dying to call him? To distract my mind of annoying relationship problems, I turn to look at Harper who is picking at her cuticles.
“Is it bad I met someone today?”
In an instant, she looks up at me and her eyes are as wide as golf balls. “Nat! What about Nolan?”
“Nolan hasn’t called me in three days.”
“Yeah because you weren’t answering. I would have stopped calling, too. That shit is really frustrating.”
“He doesn’t call sober, Harp. I have my reasons.”
She flings her hand, her head shaking negatively. Harper’s blonde hair is longer and reaches her shoulder blades again, just like it used to be back in high school. “Whatever. So, who’s the guy?”
“He said his name was Tyler Stokes—”
“What?” she screeches, interrupting me. “The Tyler Stokes.”
“I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean,” I say through a dry laugh, “but it’s the name he gave me.”
“Tyler Stokes throws some of the wildest parties here in Miami. His mom has a lake house on the far end and he throws a party there every time she’s out of town. I heard there’s supposed to be one this weekend—oh shit, Nat, we should definitely go.”
“Um . . . I don’t think that’s such a great idea.”
Her eyebrows draw in. “Why not?”
“Because I kind of . . . blew him off.”
This time she frowns. “What the hell? Why would you blow someone like him off? He’s too hot for words and if he’s interested in you that makes you one lucky bitch. Tyler’s only had one girlfriend and that was back in tenth grade. He doesn’t date at all or even bother to ask girls out. They usually go running after him.”
“Well, not this time. He chased after me when class was over.” I narrow my eyes at her. “I could have sworn you were just defending Nolan. Now you’re upset because I blew some guy I know nothing about off?”
“Well . . . he’s just someone every girl goes nuts over. You should be proud of that. It means you’re one sexy chick. If he were to ask me out, I doubt that I would say no. I would say yeah just to get a feel of what it may be like with a guy who isn’t usually up for dating.”
“That’s you,” I sigh. “I told him Nolan and I are on a pause but I’ve decided if things don’t get better within the next few days, I might give Tyler a call.”
“Oh, good,” she says, smirking. “You’re playing the “hard-to-get” game. What guy wouldn’t want a challenge?”
I giggle. “I really didn’t think of it that way.”
The waitress steps back up to the table with our drinks. After we’ve ordered our food, she dashes away again, leaving us ample time to continue our chat until our food is ready. As Harper continues to talk about Tyler, I actually start to become intrigued. He sounds