Would you rather me grab some wings and sandwiches from Taps or do you want me to get something to put on the grill?
She waited a minute, but he didn’t respond, so she slid her phone back into her dress pocket and headed back into the house to tell her friends goodbye.
She and Cash didn’t have set plans, but they never did. They’d just formed some unwritten pact that they’d spend every evening together. Dinners turned into conversations, and that rolled right into intimacy. Jade wasn’t sorry they’d found their rhythm. Cash seemed just as happy as she was and, so far, none of their friends had a clue.
Jade stepped back into the house and ran right into Piper. The stack of little cardboard books clattered to the hardwood floor.
“Oh, honey, I’m sorry.” Jade squatted down to help Piper gather the mess. “I didn’t even see you there.”
“Because I’m short and you’re tall,” Piper explained, as if that were the only answer.
Jade reached out to grab a book and her phone slid out of her pocket and vibrated on the floor. She picked up the book and reached for her phone, but not before Piper glanced over.
“Uncle Cash,” she yelled. “Can I message him back?”
Jade risked looking over her shoulder, and of course Livie stood there with one brow raised and her arms crossed over her chest.
“What?” Jade asked. “Don’t give me that look.”
Piper picked up the phone and waved it in Jade’s face. “Can I?”
“Not right now,” Jade answered, taking the phone. “My battery is running low.”
Great. Now she was not only lying to her friends, she was lying to a little girl. She knew lies snowballed into a colossal disaster. She’d seen firsthand when she’d worked in Atlanta at the advertising firm and her jerk coworker tried to weasel his way out of getting caught sexually harassing her.
Not that Jade was in any way harming anyone, but still. Lying was wrong and she knew better.
Yet she couldn’t stop herself. She didn’t know what her friends would say. If they disapproved, she’d have to lie anyway, because she wasn’t done seeing Cash. If they approved, she’d have to keep reminding them that she and Cash weren’t an actual couple. They were just having fun.
Jade stacked the last of the books and came to her feet. “Here you go,” she said, handing them over to Piper. “Once I get my phone charged, I’ll tell Cash you said ‘Hi.’”
“Tell him I have a friend at school and she needs a dad.”
Livie rushed forward. “What is it with you trying to play matchmaker? Your friends’ parents can find their own dates.”
Piper frowned. “Well, they haven’t yet. And if your friends marry my friends, then we can all be one family, and I can see my friends even more.”
In the mind of a five-year-old, that was pretty logical thinking and a simple fix. In reality, there was no way in hell Jade was going to stand back and watch Cash date another woman.
Which some might say was a good indication that she was in deeper than she’d intended, but she didn’t think so. They were merely not done having fun yet, that’s all. Besides, they’d agreed to exclusivity.
And what was she even thinking this for? Piper wasn’t actually going to set Cash up on a date.
“Go on and put those books in Knox’s room,” Livie ordered. “And make sure they’re nice and neat. Take your time.”
Once Piper was out of sight, Livie turned and leveled her gaze. “Seriously. What’s going on with you and Cash?”
“What?” Melanie exclaimed from the couch.
Jade glanced her way and shook her head. “Don’t listen to Livie. She’s reading too much into this.”
“Am I?” Livie retorted. “First there’s the rather descriptive texts about food and your body and what he’d like to do with both, and now he’s texting you again. Care to share with the class what he said?”
“What’s going on?” Melanie exclaimed as she slowly came to her feet and crossed the room. “I’m busy having a baby and you and Cash are, well, busy doing other things.”
“No, that’s not it at all,” Jade insisted, though that was exactly the case.
All of this had snowballed into more than she was willing to get into. She put her cell back into her pocket and crossed her arms as she shifted her focus directly to her friends.