Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 83586 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83586 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
“Jasper! You know that’s not what your daddy means,” Sherry said.
The table was thick with tension that wasn’t coming just from me. Bob cleared his throat and changed the subject…kinda. “What’s new with you, Lacey? I know you’re workin’ with your daddy, but you still doin’ that volunteering?”
They went back and forth for a while, basically praising Lacey for how perfect she was, and again highlighting all the things she and Jasper had in common.
I didn’t say anything else through dinner, didn’t look at Jasper, except once when Lacey laughed at something he said and put her hand on his arm. For her, there was no reason she shouldn’t do that, but it felt like a knife to my gut.
It had hardly been two months since Jasp and I got together, and lying about it was already breaking my damn heart.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Jasper
My folks were putting it on thick tonight. My small outburst didn’t matter none. The rest of dinner ended up like the first part, and when we went into the living room to talk afterward, there was more of the same.
Sutton was hurting. I’d have to be a fool not to see it. If I tried to move closer to him, he moved away. I couldn’t stop thinking about how this had to feel to him, how I’d feel if I were in his place. I didn’t know that I wouldn’t lose my damn mind. That wasn’t something I was proud of, but it was true. I couldn’t handle the idea of someone wanting Sutton with anyone other than me, of someone he’d slept with touching him the way Lacey did to me.
It didn’t make things any easier that he wouldn’t even glance my way. Look at me, look at me, look at me. Let me know you’re okay.
“How about some dessert?” Mama said. “Jasper, we have three pies in the fridge in the garage. Will you and Lacey go get them?”
Because that wasn’t obvious at all. In any other world, she would have asked me and Sutton. She never would have asked a guest. Did she think we’d fall in love on a romantic walk to the fridge? “Yes, ma’am,” I replied, Lacey saying the same thing. When my eyes wandered over to Sutton, he was looking down at the couch, picking at the seam.
I’m sorry, Sutt. Look at me.
But he didn’t, and I went with Lacey to get dessert before they noticed anything.
Lacey said, “I think our parents really believe they’re setting up a love match or something. There a reason they’re tryin’ so hard? Mine have been bugging me for years. They want grandbabies.”
Yeah, there was a reason, and a part of me wanted to tell her so damn bad, wanted the whole fucking world to know I loved Sutton and he loved me, but I didn’t know how to make the words come out. “Just how they are, I reckon.”
“Is everything okay? You seem a little down. Sutton too. You guys have some kinda fight?”
“No. Just a strange night, is all.” Shame immediately washed over me. I could tell her, I thought. I could trust Lacey. Sutton had Kendra to talk to. A few weeks back, she’d made it clear she knew, and Sutton talked to me about it. “Let’s get this pie. Sutt and I gotta go home soon.”
Lacey frowned slightly, but I ignored it. I opened the fridge and grabbed two pies, leaving the third for her.
I plastered a smile on my face when we went back in. The seven of us had dessert together, and not long after, the Prichards were ready to leave.
“We’ll have to do this again sometime. Wouldn’t that be nice, Lacey?” Olivia asked.
Instead of answering, Lacey said, “We’ll see you all real soon.” She hugged me, then Sutton.
We said our goodbyes. When the door closed, I went to the window and watched them head to their car.
“She’s such a lovely young lady!” Mama said. “I think she likes you, Jasper. I mean, she must if…”
“You’d do well with someone like Lacey,” Dad said.
I turned and looked at Sutton, at the way he stood in the corner, hands shoved into his jeans pockets. I thought about how special he’d made my birthday. How he’d dealt with tonight no matter how hard it was, as my folks went on and on and on about me and Lacey and…
“Stop it.”
“Stop what?” Mama asked.
“Don’t do that again. Don’t try and set me up. I don’t like Lacey that way, and I never will.” Though maybe I could if there wasn’t a Sutton, but there was, and that’s all that mattered.
Mama went on as if I hadn’t said anything. “I don’t know what’s wrong with you anymore. You haven’t been right for a long time. You used to go out, have fun, go on dates, but now you’re always locked up in that house, don’t go nowhere unless it’s the two of you. You need to figure out—”