Page 37 (2/2)

Em stepped back "Bet I knoho that is," she said Her voice sounded normal, she was almost sure

"Would you like to have dinner with me sometime, Emmaline?" he said

"Check your phone"

"As soon as you answer, I will"

"Nah," she said "I’d rather you take this first" Da-da-ling "Ooh Another one"

"You’re tough," he said

"Thank you"

He pulled his phone from his pocket, looked at it and put it back "My sister"

"Which one?"

"Faith"

"Liar"

"Fine," he said "You’re right It’s Hadley"

"I bet she needs so, and you’re the only one who can help"

"Well, I need so, too, and you’re the only one who can help"

"See, that’s just it, Jack I don’t think that’s true"

"You have a terrible self-i But I can tell the difference between someone who really likes me and so her all of a sudden, and how the heck had she gotten against the wall? The clever ainst it, and holy bleep, Jack could kiss His mouth was insistent and war hi about it, and her arht’ve been grabbing his ass, but come on, he was completely irresistible

He pulled back a little, then kissed the corner of herhard

Jack took her hand and put it over his heart; she felt the hard, solid thuood

"Please have dinner with me," he whispered

"Okay" She cleared her throat

"Saturday?"

"Okay"

He smiled "I’ll call you"

"Okay"

Not put off by her one-word vocabulary, he kissed her forehead and then walked off, just like that, leaving Emmaline shaky and flushed andand worried

It didn’t look like she’d need twenty or twenty-five minutes to fall in love It looked like she’d just needed that kiss

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

"YOU NEED A thong, darlin’"

The statement was delivered by Allison as they stood over E a cashe, as surreptitiously trying to reclaim it Allison’s thumbs flew over her phone "Yep Caroline concurs withthat Allison was consulting her child about slutty underwear? Granted, Caroline was on the elderly side of "child," but still "Well, Jack’s not going to see my underwear," she said

"Sure, baby doll," Allison said "They all say that"

"Who’s they? Is Jack a slut? Tell ottensaid, he was the best date I’ve ever had, and don’t think I didn’t call Charles to gloat about it"

"How is Charles?" Eether He’s given up the cookie jars Don’t tell anyone, though I want to lord that over his little bald head the rest of our natural days together Anyway, back to you Thong Let’s go The bridal store has some real nice trashy underwear Don’t you make that face at s all the tiirls a bad na a dress"

"This is not a dressy occasion"

"Shush, darlin’ You just let Auntie Allison do the thinking here"

And so it was that two hours later, Es off a pale pink lace bra-and-thong set froreen They were very pretty And small She put the bra on first A little scratchy, but not too bad

And then the thong

This couldn’t bedid woood God in heaven! It was horrible! Was the little string supposed to

She took it off, went to her laptop and Google searched "hoear a thong" No, she hadn’t put it on wrong She tried again

Ow Fantastic This was just a twenty-five dollar version of a severe wedgie She picked up her phone and called Allison "Hey, Allison, I--"

"You’ll get used to it," Allison said without bothering to say hello "Takes a couple of weeks to adjust"

"Weeks? Are you kidding?"

"Gotta run Soo Darth Vader up his nose, and I’ washorrible; there was no getting around that But it did look nice Better than the cotton panties with the orange and purple stripes (on sale, don’t judge) and the rip in the side, purchased in the year I Can’t Re to sleep with Jack (slon there, girl, warned the smarter, less slutty part of her brain), she felt he deserved better than orange and purple stripes And rips He deserved thongs and shoes with heels and Sicilian hair slime

The fact that she’d already slept with Jack felt surreal The ht, and the doors to the balcony had been flung open, and the ocean had lapped at the shores and all those other innuendo-laden metaphors If he didn’t refer to it, she’d pretty , hoether here, in Manningsport, it’d be real

She took a painful step toward the bathroom Crikey! That hurt! Hoas she supposed to be able to walk, let alone sit?

She practice sat, e to run over to her, ju hair