Free 500 Days by Jessica Miller Page A

don’t know, you tell
me?” she challenged.
    “ I don’t have to be set
up. You’re forcing me to. Do you even know who the friend is he’s
setting me up with?”
    “ No,” she said
guilty.
    “ Great, so he’s probably
ugly.”
    “ So what if he is. Looks
aren’t everything, you even said that yourself.”
    “ No, I said looks can be
deceiving, big difference.”
    “ Whatever just do it for
me, okay? It’s just one night and who knows, you might even hit it
off.” The hopeful look on her face made it hard for me to say
no.
    “ Fine, but I’m only doing
this for you.”
    She clapped excitedly and hugged me. “This
is going to be so much fun, you’ll see.
    “ Yeah, yeah. I got to go.
Jas wants me to grab him some lunch. He ended up filling that big
cancellation he had so now he doesn’t have time to get
something.”
    “ Why doesn’t Jack or Jax
do it?”
    “ Jax is working and Jack
is spending the day with Jacob.” She gave me a small head nod as I
made my way out the door.
    I picked up a few sandwiches and pizza at
one of the shops downtown. I knew most of the other workers would
be hungry too so I just got food for everyone. When I arrived the
receptionist said I could just put all the food in the back room
and that Jasper was already working on his client. I headed down
the small hallway to their break room and froze when I saw Colby. I
hadn’t spoken to him since the night of Jacob’s graduation. He was
with the boys when they came to check out my new job but with me
working and my brothers around there wasn’t really much we could
say.
    “ Hey,” I said, somewhat at
a loss for words.
    “ Hi,” he replied with a
killer smile, easing some of my tension.
    “ What are you doing
here?”
    “ I thought I’d fit some
buddies of mine in while I was home. Jas is letting me use Carl’s
station while he’s on vacation.”
    “ That’s nice of
him.”
    “ Let me help you with
that.” He walked over to take the bag and pizza out of my
hands.
    “ Thanks,” I mumbled. “So,
how long you in town for?”
    “ Not sure yet,” he said,
placing the pizza on the table. We stood there for a moment in
awkward silence. “Um, I wanted to talk to you about Sunday
–”
    I cut him off quickly. “It’s no big deal,
really. It happens.” I thought if I treated it as something that
was casual I could avoid a hurtful rejection.
    “ Something you do
often?”
    “ No, of course not. I just
didn’t want you thinking I thought it was something
more.”
    “ Right.” His face was
confused, but before I had the chance to ask, Jasper walked into
the back.
    “ Finally, I’m starving.”
Jasper took one of the sandwiches and a slice of pizza and sat down
to eat.
    “ Aren’t you supposed to be
working on somebody?”
    “ He took a smoke break,”
he said in between bites.
    “ Did you draw me up
something yet?”
    “ It’s in my room, but I
don’t know when I’ll be able to get to it. I’m booked through the
next two months.”
    “ Then you can just come in
on your day off.”
    “ No.”
    “ Why not, you did for
Jack?”
    “ That’s because he’s only
here for two weeks and I like him better.” I glared at
him.
    “ I could do it,” Colby
offered. Jasper froze mid-bite and my heart skipped a beat. “If
it’s cool with you.” He looked at Jasper.
    Jasper’s curious eyes met mine and I tried
to hide my excited expression. He shrugged his shoulders. “It’s up
to her.”
    “ You wouldn’t care?” I
asked a little skeptical.
    “ No. I know Colby is good
enough not to fuck it up and this way I won’t have you hounding me
to do it.” I wanted to jump up and down for joy, but I contained my
glee the best I could.
    “ You sure you don’t
mind?”
    “ I wouldn’t have offered
if I did. I’ve got tomorrow free if you’re not busy?”
    “ Tomorrow’s perfect. I’m
going to go see what he drew up and then we can discuss changes if
need be.”
    “ You’re not changing my
design,”