Page 54 of The Do-Over

“We had a deal anyway,” Mathias said. “You’re not supposed to be dating at all this year. The resolutions. Remember them?”

I hadn’t. With a mental note to worry about this whole boyfriend situation later, maybe after I moved to a houseboat on a Caribbean island under an assumed name, I straightened. “And what about your resolution?”

The look on his face could only be described as uncomfortable. His eyes cut to Bria and then back to me. “Can we talk about this later?”

Bria folded her arms and settled into her chair. “Don’t mind me. Go ahead.”

Mathias sighed. “I kissed her.”

“Who?”

“Phee. I kissed Phee.”

“You did? When? I thought the plan was to fall out of love with her.” Although, if I were honest, I wanted just the opposite for Phee and Mathias. I thought they were kind of perfect for each other. Except for the part about her being engaged to someone else.

“Wait, who’s Phee?” Bria asked.

“My sister,” I said.

“Her sister,” Mathias said at the same time. “We met to talk about engagement photos, and I kissed her.”

I fell back in the chair. “What did she do?”

“She slapped me.” He looked so hang-dog miserable at those words, I wanted to hug him.

“Daaaamn,” Bria whistled. I shot her a quelling look, and she lifted a shoulder. “Sorry, but dude got shot down.”

“That’s why you wouldn’t come to my birthday dinner, isn’t it?”

Mathias’s fingers sliced through his hair. “I thought it might be… awkward.”

“I guess so.” I sighed. “Phee is an idiot—”

“Yeah, but she’s someone else’s idiot.”

“—and she’s going to marry Joel Allen and you’re gonna miss your chance. Maybe you should tell her how you feel. It might make a difference.”

He scoffed. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

Ignoring him, I cupped his shoulders. “She’s about to make a huge mistake and you’re going to let her. You’re always the one giving me pep talks about being true to myself and all that, but it seems like you don’t believe a word of it.”

“She’s going to turn me down,” he said, his voice soft.

“I’m with Perci on this one.” Bria nodded and stood, slinging her backpack behind her. “I’ll wait for you in the study room.”

Mathias and I watched her leave before I spoke. “Maybe. Probably. But you have to try. If it doesn’t work out, at least you tried.”

He blinked. “When did you become so full of wisdom?”

“New Perci says what she’s thinking. She goes with her gut. It’s kind of nice.” I smiled and stood, pressing an affectionate kiss to the top of his head. “You should try it one of these days.”

TWENTY-TWO

“Three can keep a secret,

if you’re willing to murder two of ’em.”

—MIMI