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Jason nearly laughed out loud. Galen, with his wild black hair and bristly beard, always looked like he’d spent the night curled up under a pile of leaves in the forest. Good to know that didn’t make him immune to teenagers’ crushes. Those hormones were really something.
“Are you really supposed to be telling me about your friends’ crushes? Isn’t that a HIPAA violation?”
“Ha ha. But it’s a good point. I wouldn’t tell anyone except for you. Because you know I can kill you in your sleep anytime I want.”
“Damn, Holly. Are all teenage girls this bloodthirsty?”
“Welcome to the future. We’re going to run this world. You’re lucky I have your back.”
Galen beckoned at him, looking impatient. Out of the corner of his eye, Jason saw the speedboat carrying Gretchen ease away from the dock. With any luck, it would be long gone before they made it onto the lake.
“I’ll see you later,” he told Holly.
“Much later.”
“Right. Much later.”
Crap. Maybe he should crash at Galen’s. Or at the firehouse. Or at Gretch—Dammit. He wasn’t ever going to sleep at Gretchen’s again.
He wasn’t going to be able to avoid her, either, he realized. The speedboat was lingering near the dock. After he slid his phone back into his pocket, he steadied the canoe so Galen could get in, then slid in after him. By the time they got their paddles out and their strokes synchronized, they were heading right toward the snappy red boat.
“Ahoy there, Jason,” Gretchen called over the low rumble of the twin 500 horsepower engines. Who needed that much horsepower for a lake it took fifteen minutes to cross? Her new husband, Jack Corsi, was at the helm, ignoring their lowly canoe.
“Hey, Gretch. What are you doing back in town?”
“Oh, Jack bought this new boat and wanted to try it out on the nearest lake.”
The nearest lake? He wasn’t buying that for a second. Had they driven all the way to Lake Bittersweet to rub his face in their newfound bliss? Gretchen had warned him that she wouldn’t wait forever for a proposal. He hadn’t listened.
Or maybe he had, and just…didn’t really want to propose to her.
“It’s a beauty,” he said cordially.
“Did you really call it the Retch?” Galen called to her. “Weird name, but okay.”
“It’s the Gretch, you idiot.”
Jason bit back a smile. Gretchen never had liked Galen much. It had probably started the night he’d shown up with a deer strapped to his roof rack and a bloody field-dressing knife he wanted to wash in the sink.
Galen steered away from the boat, toward his favorite fishing hole where the walleye hung out.
Jason waved at Gretchen over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of her stepping to the wheel to wrap her arms around her new husband. Quickly, he looked away.
“You’re better off,” Galen growled. “I hope you’re not eating your heart out over her.”
“Me? Nah. I’ll be okay.”
Galen threw a dark glance at him over his shoulder. The deep green waters of the lake whispered past the hull of the canoe. “You sure? You’re not yourself lately.”
“We weren’t even together when she met Jack. We’ve broken up about twenty times since high school. It wasn’t meant to be.”
He didn’t want to admit to Galen that it hurt like hell to watch her nuzzling Jack in that cozy way she used to snuggle with him. He’d taken her for granted, he knew that. They’d had such an easy relationship. More like best friends than lovers. He still had the urge to call her up when he was bored. She’d always been up for something fun—let’s drive to Braddock and go bowling. Let’s ice skate down Grant Creek. Let’s fill the rookie’s car with Cheetos. Now she was having fun with a rich guy with a speedboat, and she deserved every bit of happiness.
They paddled a few minutes in silence. “How do you do that?” Galen asked.
“Do what?”
“Say goodbye to one woman and be so sure another one’s going to show up.”
