Page 102 of Timid (Lark Cove 2)

“We are just as serious. I love Jackson.” I hadn’t told him yet, but he knew. Didn’t he? And he loved me too. There’s no way we could connect like we did and not be in love.

“You can love someone without marrying them,” Hannah said.

“You can fuck someone without marrying them too,” June snickered.

“Stop it. Stop saying f-fuck.”

She rolled her eyes. “Sorry. I didn’t realize we were back in high school.”

“I don’t care if you say fuck.” Gosh, it sounds stupid when I cuss. “I just don’t like you saying it when it comes to me and Jackson. We’re not just having casual sex. We have something special.”

“I’m just trying to be your friend,” Hannah said. “Jackson doesn’t seem like a guy who wants the whole marriage, babies, Sunday-brunch-with-your-parents thing. He’s what, five years older than we are?”

“Six,” I corrected now that he’d had his birthday.

“Whatever. Don’t you think if he wanted to get married, he would have by now?”

The sting of angry—no, furious—tears pricked my eyes. Jackson hadn’t gotten married because he hadn’t found the right woman yet. Me.

I refused to believe anything else.

Why couldn’t my friends just be supportive? Why did they always make me feel ridiculous and naïve?

I dug into my purse and yanked out some cash from my wallet. We’d ordered, but it hadn’t arrived yet, so I threw it down in the middle of our empty table, then slid out of the booth with my purse and winter coat in hand.

“Willa,” Leighton said. “Wait. We didn’t mean to make you upset.”

I turned around. “None of you know how my relationship works. None of you know Jackson. All you’ve ever made me feel was pathetic for having a crush on him.”

“It is,” June muttered.

Hannah shushed her and Leighton shot her a glare.

“You know what’s pathetic?” I snapped at June, stepping right up to the table. “You. You come here and try to embarrass me with all your talk of sex and fucking. You try to make me feel stupid for loving a man who deserves it. I don’t give a crap what you think about Jackson or me. It’s none of your damn business, so butt out.”

All three faces at the table stared up at me like I’d gone bonkers. My outburst was so out of character it even surprised me a bit.

“He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” I told them. “He might not be ready to get married today, but you know what? Neither am I. And the bottom line is, it is none. Of. Your. Business.”

With that, I spun back around and marched for the door. I wasted no time getting into my car and peeling out of the parking lot, driving straight to the bar.

I drove straight to the man who’d make it all better.

“Hey, babe.” Jackson smiled as I walked through the door. But as I stomped across the room, my shoes crunching peanut shells, his smile dropped. “Uh-oh. What happened at dinner? Did they burn your cheeseburger?”

“No.” I slumped into a stool. “I kind of yelled at my friends.”

He chuckled. “They must have deserved it then. My girl doesn’t get riled up much.”

They had deserved it. Maybe. June had for sure. Except I felt bad for lumping Leighton into the mix, and Hannah had been genuinely trying to give me advice.

Jackson walked around the corner of the bar, taking the stool next to mine. He spun me to face him so my legs were between his.

“What happened?” he asked gently.

“Nothing.” I waved it off. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Discussing the diner situation would involve me asking Jackson if he wanted to get married and I didn’t want to freak him out.