Hideaway by Bekah Overbey

Author:Bekah Overbey [Overbey, Bekah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-05-21T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

It took her a minute, but she managed to explain that no, she was not in any real danger, but yes, karaoke was a real emergency.

Jack let out a breath that made her think he was pinching the bridge of his nose, then asked, “Why don’t you just tell him that you don’t want to sing karaoke with him?”

“Because it will hurt Jordan’s feelings! He seems really excited.” Then, whispering into the phone, as if she was afraid of scandalizing the hand sanitizer dispenser, she added, “He was doing air spanks.”

“HE DID WHAT?!”

“No, no, not to me.”

“What on earth is an air spank!?” In the background, she heard his truck engine rev.

“It’s way more innocuous than it sounds!” Which was a half-truth at best. She had been very troubled by the air spanking. But not because it was at all threatening! “It’s just a little, you know—whoop! Whoop!—cupped hand swoop through the air.” Even though he couldn’t see it, she demonstrated several times.

Jack made a strangled sound. “Maggie. You do not have to do karaoke with this guy. He sounds like a creep.”

“He really isn’t! He’s super nice!” Also, an extremely bland slice of bread.

She could practically feel Jack’s sigh through the receiver. “If he’s that nice, then he’ll understand when you tell him you’re not comfortable singing karaoke with him.”

Maggie bit the inside of her cheeks. “But I hate telling people no.”

“I get that. But which do you hate more—telling people no, or singing karaoke?” When she didn’t answer, he asked, “Do you want me to meet you there? Pretend to be your step-brother again?”

Oof. The reminder of her first date was unfortunate. Just once, could she go out on a date that did not end in disaster?

She still felt guilty about lying to Luke. Part of her wanted to call him and come clean, apologize for the way she’d run out on him, but she had yet to muster the courage.

And this whole karaoke-porta-potty debacle was doing little to bolster her confidence.

“No, you don’t need to come all the way here.”

There was a tense pause. “I don’t mind.” His words were sincere, as gentle as she’d ever heard him.

“I just want to go home,” she finally said, hating that she sounded like a child. But it was true, wasn’t it? And at this point, she wasn’t worried about Jack judging her. He already knew she was calling him from a porta-potty.

“Then just tell him that, Mags.”

Well wasn’t that a novel idea?

Just telling someone how she felt instead of hiding in the bathroom or fabricating step-siblings?

And wasn’t that just like Jack, being reasonable and gentle and right?

With a sigh, she thanked him and hung up, accepting the fact that it was probably time to leave the dubious safety of the porta-potty.

Unfortunately, Jordan had been waiting outside the porta-potty for her—embarrassing—and had been genuinely worried for her—extra embarrassing—but he was also gracious and understanding when Maggie took Jack’s advice and told him the truth.

With a great deal of

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