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me for this. Mom warned me over and over that I rushed into the engagement. Dad has sent me a rent check every month. When they find out that I am not getting married…And that I might not have anywhere to live…That I’ve been lying to them for a year…?” She moaned again. She wasn’t sure which of the above her parents were going to be more upset over.
    Then again, did it matter?
    Probably not. No matter how she looked at it, she knew she was screwed.
    “Sorry, Carly,” Jemma said sympathetically. “I don’t know what to tell you. I mean, I know how difficult Margo can be. But you have a few weeks to figure it out.” Jemma made an apologetic face. “Do you have any friends you can crash with?”
    Carly scoffed. “For the next five months…?” She shook her head. She didn’t bother to tell Jemma she wasn’t really close to that many girls at school. She had a few friends, sure. She and Melissa were pretty close. But after she’d gotten engaged, she was horrified to now realize she’d become one of “those girls”. It hadn’t been intentional. Since she and Nolan were living together, it had just become easy to turn down invites out. They’d gotten accustomed to staying at home and spending a lot of nights in. When they did go out, like they’d planned to that night, it was usually with mutual friends.
    Carly felt h er frustration sizzle through her. How was she supposed to face them? Dan? Melissa? The rest of their friends? Had they known? Or did Nolan just skip town without telling anyone goodbye? Was she going to have to tell everyone? She wasn’t sure which option was worse.
    Their food arrived and Carly managed to steer the conversation away from herself. It had become too depressing. Instead, she insisted Jemma give her an update on her life. Carly found out that things were still moving forward with Bart—which she’d already deduced from the text Jemma had sent asking for a ride. They’d been together for over a year now but Jemma hadn’t hinted to her that they’d talked about marriage yet.
    Carly found herself envious, wishing she’d taken things that slowly. She took another sip of her beer and then realized that Jemma was grimacing.
    “What?” Carly demanded.
    “Your night is about to get a hell of a lot better…Or a hell of a lot worse,” Jemma declared.
    Carly glanced over her shoulder, toward the door. Bart had walked in with some friends. She recognized Shane immediately as her eyes zeroed in on the new-comers pushing their way through the crowd. Bart, Shane…and…yes…As soon as Shane stepped to the side, it was clear who Jemma had seen.
    Jesse.
    “Sorry, Carly,” Jemma quickly said. “I had no idea he was going to show up. I knew Bart had plans with friends. I figured Shane was one of them…I guess I should’ve assumed Jesse would be with them too. I totally wasn’t thinking.”
    Carly forced a shrug.
    Despite vision that was starting to blur, she’d recognize Jesse just about anywhere.
    He spotted her nearly the same moment she spotted him. Carly could tell by his startled look that he was just as surprised to see her as she was to see him. He stopped in his tracks for just a moment. Then he gave his head a little shake, as if to clear it and then moved forward. Carly pivoted back around in the booth. It didn’t take long for the guys to weave their way through the crowd.
    “Hey, we can join you right?” Bart asked.
    Jemma looked to Carly. “Well, I don’t know,” she said, keeping her tone light. “We’re in the middle of some girl talk. I didn’t realize you’d be coming to get us right away.”
    Bart grinned at her and nudged her over. “I’m not here to take you home yet. I was just meeting up with Jesse and Shane when I got your text. We were planning on coming here anyway.”
    “Take a seat,” Shane said to Jesse. He motioned to the spot in the booth next to Carly. Shane reached over and grabbed a chair from the nearest table. He settled the