Read About That Night for Free Online Page B

distance.
    “I found her,” Gracie admitted. “I told her you wanted to speak with her, but she declined.”
    He raised his eyebrows as if that was a turn of events he’d never expected. “Excuse me?”
    “She declined. It means to politely refuse an invitation. But that’s just in this case. Decline could also mean to become smaller or a gradual loss of strength, numbers, qual—”
    “I know what decline means,” he said, exasperation edging his tone.
    She got that a lot.
    “You looked totally confused, so I wasn’t sure.”
    He rubbed his forehead, bumping the edge of his hat. “Did you tell her I wanted to see her?”
    Hadn’t she just said that? “Yes. I was very specific. She said you weren’t used to being turned down. That this would be a good life lesson for you. So here—” Gracie held out the money. “You can have this back.”
    He flicked his gaze from her hand to her face. “That’s yours.”
    “But I didn’t earn it. And it doesn’t feel right, keeping it. Plus, now that I’ve had time to think about it—” and time to let the excitement of that much money fade “—I realize it’s sort of icky, a middle-aged man—”
    “Middle-aged?” He looked pained. “I need another drink.”
    “Giving a teenage girl that much cash. I mean, you don’t look like the kind of guy who’d try to bribe young girls to do, well, things —if you know what I mean...”
    He shut his eyes. “I wish like hell I didn’t.”
    “But then, everyone said Ted Bundy didn’t look like a psycho serial killer, either, so I think it’s best if I just give it back. Trust me,” she continued when he just stood there. “It’s better this way. For both of us.”
    He finally took the cash, and she hurriedly turned away before he decided he was willing to double or triple his offer. She loved Ivy, but Gracie was only human. And if the price were right, she just might be tempted to drag Ivy over here by her hair.
    “Hey, Gracie,” Andrew said, having disentangled himself from the blonde. “How’s it going?”
    Gracie pulled up short. Darn it. Why had Andrew approached her? Why was he talking to her?
    She wanted to hate him for giving her that lopsided grin of his, especially after bestowing the same smile on another girl not two minutes ago. Wanted to hit him for looking nervous, as if he was scared she was going to start ragging on him. Or worse, ignore him.
    She wished she could. But that would make him think he still had the power to hurt her. That she still cared about him.
    “I’m fine, thank you,” she said, shooting for cool and polite but coming across as uptight and possibly deranged. She tried to work up a smile but figured it would only make things worse. “How are you?”
    “Uh, fine. Good. Really good.” Andrew cleared his throat, flipped his head to get his stupid floppy dark hair out of his eyes. “I, uh, didn’t know you worked here.”
    Why would he? It wasn’t as if they’d had long, involved chats about their lives. Or anything at all. They were neighbors. Not friends.
    Even if she had naively believed otherwise not so very long ago.
    “I started here a few months ago,” she told him.
    “Cool. That’s...cool.”
    Thick, uncomfortable silence surrounded them. Which was weird, since the party was still going on, the band still playing, people still talking and laughing.
    He shoved his hands into the pockets of his khakis. He was wearing a dress shirt, too, a light blue one that brought out the color of his eyes. She tried to ignore how cute he looked, but she’d pretty much have to take after the cowboy and stick a couple of forks in her eyes for that.
    “So, uh, are you doing anything for Spring Break?” he asked.
    “No.”
    “Oh. Me and my mom and Leo—uh, Coach Montesano. You know him, right?”
    “Only by sight.” Which wasn’t a bad way to know the firefighter-slash-high-school-football-coach. He was one beautiful man. And Andrew’s mom, Penelope Denning, was