“You mean like you were flirting?”
I swing my head around at that comment and narrow my eyes on his. “I was not flirting with Jake.”
Grinning, he touches his finger to my nose. “So I guess you don’t like him?”
“I get that some people have nothing but good memories about their first relationships, but I don’t have that problem.” I lift my hand and start to tick off my fingers. “Jake was the first worst guy I ever dated. The first guy who cheated on me, the first guy to make me feel like I wasn’t pretty, and the first guy to make me feel like I wasn’t good enough. And I mean I know my family is bad, but his is…” I let out a deep breath. “His family is worse.”
When he starts to laugh, I raise a brow. “Sorry, it’s just I knew him when we were in school and know him now, and not much has changed. He’s still a dick who thinks with his dick.”
“You’re not wrong about that,” I mumble my agreement, then jump slightly when a small disk sitting in the middle of the table starts to buzz.
“Our food’s ready,” he says, grabbing the buzzer while scooting out of the booth, and I start to scoot out with him but stop when he shakes his head. “I got it.”
“I can help.” I slide the rest of the way out, then feel like an idiot when we get to the counter and he picks up the single tray there. Ignoring the smug “I told you so” look he gives me, I make myself useful by grabbing some extra napkins before following him back to the table.
“So about tomorrow,” he starts while passing me a red plate with my burger sitting on a mound of fries. “Gia and Colton are gonna stop by sometime in the afternoon to help unpack.”
Pausing with a crisp fry close to my mouth, I blink, sure I heard him wrong. “Pardon?”
“Colton and Gia are gonna stop by for a couple hours to help unpack.”
“Oh.” My stomach churns. Like with Tide, I wasn’t friends with Colton, but I do know that he and Tide were close and obviously still are. Which means that if Colton or his wife don’t like me, my friendship with Tide will come to a grinding halt, and that is not something I want to think about. Not when he’s the only person I feel like I have here, no matter how sad that is, since he is only really hanging out with me because I’m paying him.
“They’re cool.” He reaches across the table and places his hand over mine. “And you’re gonna love Gia. She’s sweet, and I think if you give her a chance, you two could be friends.” His thumb smooths over the top of my wrist, the contact making my belly flip.
“Okay,” I agree quietly, hoping he’s right.
“Okay,” he says just as quietly before he lets my hand go. When he picks up his burger to take a bite, I follow suit and sink my teeth into the soft, warm bun, juicy meat, and melted cheese. I can’t say it’s the best cheeseburger I’ve ever had, but I’m pretty sure I’d enjoy just about anything as long as I was sitting across from Tide.
Chapter 7
Tide
“BABE, WHO THE hell packed this shit?” I hold up the box of tampons I just found under a stack of pots and pans and watch Aria’s face turn a pretty shade of pink that quickly travels down her neck.
“I was in a hurry.” She reaches over to grab the box out of my hand, but I hold it up above my head. “Give it to me,” she orders, resting one hand on her hip while wiggling her fingers.
“I have a mom, a sister, an ex, and a daughter. Tampons are not something you need to be embarrassed about.” I shake the box, and when I do, the tampons fly and something hard hits me on the top of my head before hitting the floor with a thud.
“No!” Aria cries, bending down quickly and ignoring the tampons in order to find whatever it is she’s looking for. When the toe of my boot bumps against something, I lean over and pick it up, wondering what the hell it is. It’s about the size of a tube of lipstick, but it’s plastic with a Power button. Curious, I press it, and when I do, it starts to vibrate. “Oh God,” Aria whimpers,