I’m super excited that The Boyfriend Bet comes out August 22. Today I’m sharing a scene where Grant gives Zoe a ride home and they talk about her relationship with her brother, and the double date they’re going on that evening with their friends Delia and Aiden.

“When we were kids, Delia and I set up a lemonade stand at the Fields Cross baseball diamond. Jack told everyone he peed in the lemonade, so no one bought any.”

“Did he pee in the lemonade?”

“I wasn’t going to drink it and find out because he might have. So, Delia and I didn’t sell anything, and we’d spent days painting signs and drawing on all the paper cups. That night, when we went back to my house, we put Nair in Jack’s shampoo bottle. The next morning, he took a shower and came out bald. No hair, no eyebrows, nothing. It was awesome.”

He sucked in a breath. “Ouch.”

I laughed. “It took him a month to grow back enough hair so that he could stop wearing a hat.”

“So the moral of this story is, I have to keep our double date or I’ll end up bald?”

“Pretty much, so what do you want to do tonight?” A movie sounded good to me, after everything else that happened today, I wanted to be low maintenance.

“Do you like air hockey?” he asked.

“Yes.” I rocked at air hockey but he didn’t need to know that.

“Let’s go to Edison’s.”

Edison’s was a combination restaurant and arcade, which had laser tag and video games. “That could be fun as long as you’re not one of those guys who has to win every game all the time. Because I like to win, too.”

“I could throw a few games for you.” He turned off onto the road, which led back to my house.

“I could do the same for you.”

“Right. I don’t think that will be necessary.”

***
Four hours later, I stood in the kitchen in front of my grandma and mom, showing off my outfit of an off the shoulder sweater and my good butt jeans. Jack refused to acknowledge me, but he muttered under his breath a lot.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“You look hot,” my grandmother said.

“Mother.” My mom sighed.

“What? Do you want her to go out dressed like an old lady?” Grandma asked.

“You’re looking pretty good yourself, Grandma. Where are you going?”

She straightened the collar of her black wrap dress. “Thank you. I’m helping out at the silent auction for the garden club tonight.”

I wiggled my eyebrows. “Grandma’s on the prowl.”

“We’ll see.” She winked. “Maybe Everett will be there.”

Gross. “You can’t date Grant’s grandpa. That would be weird.”
“Cancel your date, and stop acting like an idiot and it won’t be a problem,” my brother shouted from the living room.

“Jack, stop giving your sister such a hard time,” my mother called out.

Yeah. Like saying that to him accomplished anything.

The sound of a car coming up the drive had me darting to the window. A beige Volvo sat in the driveway. Had to be Aiden’s car.

The back door opened and Grant climbed out looking amazing in dark jeans and an emerald green shirt. And he’d caught me gaping at him through the window. Great. Way to play it cool. I wanted to rush the door, but let my grandma open it instead.

“Hello, I’m Zoe’s grandmother. You must be Grant.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Just so you know, those shotguns are real.” My grandmother pointed to the back wall where the weapons hung above the mantle.

Grant’s smile faltered. “Okay.”

“Grandma.” I couldn’t believe she’d done that. I half ran to the door, before anyone said anything else to ruin my date. “See you guys later.”

Grant’s gaze went to my exposed shoulders. “I saw that,” my grandma said.

“Go.” I pushed Grant out of the doorway onto the porch. “Let’s make a run for it before this becomes awkward.”

“Too late.” Grant put his hand on my arm and we headed for the car.

Click this link to learn more about The Boyfriend Bet.