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Scott chuckled. “There you are. Pressure’s off.”
Not really. I was reasonably sure Mr. Ballentine wouldn’t be excited about a flopped fundraiser, regardless of whether or not they still ended up with the same amount of money. But I still forced a smile and dragged a hand across my forehead in an exaggerated motion. “Phew.”
Beckett snuggled his head into Whitney’s shoulder. She looked over at Scott. “We should get him back home before he crashes too hard.”
Scott scooted his chair back and stood. He handed Whitney his half-eaten cone and scooped Beckett into his arms. When the boy was settled, he took back his ice cream. “It was good to see you. Thanks for the ice cream. You’ll send us an invite to the gala, right? Sounds like a fun night out.”
“Yeah. Of course. And hey, happy anniversary of sorts.” I hadn’t had any intention of inviting my friends to the gala. Other than Noah, none of them were really big into supporting what they deemed political causes. Ballentine did so much more than lobbying, but I also wasn’t going to get into it with them. Everyone needed to find the organizations that they could support and then follow through on giving to them. On the other hand? All of them were very gung-ho about supporting members of our group. So maybe invites weren’t such a bad idea.
I watched Scott and his little family exit the shop and sighed. I still had about an hour before I needed to leave for the restaurant.
Although…Season’s Bounty was surrounded by shops. Maybe the better idea was for me to head over now and just wander a bit in Arlington.
Because I was fairly certain if I sat here eating ice cream too much longer, I was going to end up swinging by the bookstore.
Right now, that seemed like a bad idea. All around.
I was never going to get over this little thing I had for Megan if I kept seeking her out.
Resolved, I stood, took one more bite of the ice cream before dumping the rest in the trash, tossing a wave toward the teenager behind the case, and heading out to my car.
I’d be smart. And before I knew it? I’d have everything with Megan back where it needed to be. I glanced longingly down toward the bookstore as I unlocked my car.
I shook my head and got in.
I was officially pathetic.
6
MEGAN
“Happy Friday.” Jenna let the bookstore door close behind her and looked around. “Am I early?”
“A little, yeah.” I grinned and forked up another bite of the salad I’d run over to buy at the café a few doors down. I’d packed a dinner, but couldn’t face it. It’d work fine for tomorrow.
“You’re still eating. I can come back.”
“Don’t be silly.” I picked up my salad and nodded toward the more comfortable seating as I moved from behind the register. “Let’s go sit. It’s not like Friday night is a happening time around here. That’s why the girls hang out.”
Jenna headed over and claimed one of the armchairs. “I appreciate you letting me crash your hangouts.”
“Please. You can’t get out, now. You’re one of us. We’re like the Borg.” At her blank stare, I sighed internally. Why couldn’t I find just one girlfriend who also loved science fiction? “Star Trek?”
“Oh. Right. The blonde in the spandex with the thing on her eye.” Jenna held her hand in an approximation of Seven of Nine’s hardware.
“Yeah, I guess. She’s not really representative of the species.” Why would Jenna know her but not the Borg in general? These were mysteries that were probably better left unexplored.
“I dated a guy who was obsessed with her.”
“Ah.” I guessed we were exploring the mystery after all. Not that it was so mysterious. “Pretty sure the guy-drool factor is why she was added to the series.”
“More than likely. He used to go on and on about her. Tried to get me to dress up like her for a Halloween party, but finally being tall worked in my benefit and we couldn’t find a spandex suit that didn’t look like I was wearing capris.”
“That’s a mental image.” I grinned before scooping another bite of salad. “I’m trying to imagine dating someone who wanted to dress up for Halloween when there weren’t kids involved.”
Jenna shrugged. “It can be fun. I did Civil War reenactments for a while.”
I blinked. That absolutely did not compute. “Why?”
