“I don’t know what his middle name is.”
“It’s Reginald.”
Damn it, Tanner get to the point. “Is that a yes?”
“It’s a yes.”
“So what is it?”
“This is more of an in-person kind of reveal. Meet up for dinnertomorrow night?”
“Mr. Pruitt is having me tailed. I need to end this now.” Ididn’t bother adding that I was at Brooklyn’s grave. Tanner thought it wasunhealthy that I visited so often. He was probably right. And I didn’t need alecture right now. Today had been shitty enough.
“Trust me, Matt. This is the kind of stuff you reveal in person,not over the phone.”
“Would you just text me? It can’t wait until tomorrow night.”Sometimes Tanner drove me insane. Texting was a perfectly suitable form ofcommunication. I wasn’t sure why he always insisted on doing things in person.
“It’s called a reveal, you fat head. Tomorrow night.”
I sighed. I knew when Tanner wouldn’t budge. And it wasusually after he spewed off some weird insult like calling me a fat head. “Fine.See you tomorrow.”
“Ciao.”
Ciao? Tanner needed to learn how to read the room. Thiswasn’t a lighthearted ciao moment. For all I knew, Mr. Pruitt was tryingto off me. I shook my head and shoved my phone back in my pocket. Tanner’s newsbetter be good.
Chapter 20
Monday
I was just putting away the practice footballs when my phonevibrated in my pocket.
I pulled it out, expecting a text from Tanner. But it wasPenny’s name on my screen. I clicked on the message: “I’m sorry about the othernight.”
Which night? Yesterday when she’d almost made everyoneaware that I was on a stupid dating app? Or the night before when she’d sent meon a date from hell? “It’s fine,” I texted back.
“Please just let me make it up to you.”
I shook my head. I had better things to focus on right now thanpretending to date. Like who the hell was stalking me. But instead of sayingany of that, I texted back: “What did you have in mind?” I really didn’t knowwhy I couldn’t say no to this girl.
“It’s a surprise.”
The last surprise I’d gotten was her showing up on mydoorstep. But that had been Tanner’s idea. Not hers. Surely Penny was better atsurprises than Tanner. “It’s not another teapot, is it?”
“That’s a terrible way to say thank you, Matt. But no, it’snot another teapot. Clear your calendar for tomorrow night. I’ll text you moredetails.”
That was super vague. But I found myself typing back okay. HopefullyI wouldn’t regret it. I made my way to the parking lot and my feet froze when Iheard the squeal of tires. I looked up to see an SUV speeding out of the parkinglot. I swore it was the same SUV from the graveyard last night. What thehell Mr. Pruitt?
I climbed into my car. Tanner better have good news for me.
***
Tanner had texted me the address of the restaurant. It wassome swanky new place he wanted to try. When I pulled up outside, I sighed. Thename of the place was literally in the middle of a neon heart. This was arestaurant for couples. Tanner loved trying all the newest places as he scopedout appropriate dating sights for his club. But I was seriously sick of beingthe guinea pig. If we got mistaken for a gay couple one more time I was goingto lose it. He knew I hated this shit.
I gave the valet the keys to my car.
“Enjoy your date,” he said.
Kill me now.
I walked into the restaurant and looked around for Tanner. Ispotted him at the same time he saw me. He waved me over with a smile on hisface, completely oblivious to the fact that I was annoyed.
“Another place to check out for the club?” I asked when Ireached his table.
“I like to kill two birds with one stone, you know this.”
“What I know is that I told you to stop taking me to placesobviously designed for couples. The valet told me to enjoy my date.”
Tanner tried and failed to hide his amusement. “If I recall,I just did you an immense favor. So you’ll be a good date and eat your lobsterand steak and say no more, or I’ll have to give you a one-star rating.”
I laughed. “You talked to Penny about my date huh?”
“She said your date set your dick on fire.” He chuckled. “Ifonly.”
I didn’t get his joke. Ash had set my dick on fire. Pennymust have told the story wrong.
“Sit down,” Tanner said. “I already ordered their mostpopular apps and we’ll be doing a wine sampling as well.”
There was no use arguing with him. I knew for a fact that theonly reason I was here with him was because he didn’t really like to eat alone.Neither did I. It was a win for both of us. And honestly, the lobster and steakon the table next to ours looked delicious. I sat down without another word.
“So let’s start with the issue at hand.” Tanner put his menuaside.
Good. I’d been dying to hear the dirt he’d dug up on Mr. Pruitt.Poppy showing up had shaken me. I needed to put an end to her threats. Andbeing followed wasn’t making it any easier to sleep at night.
Tanner took a deep breath. “Whatever possessed you to go on adate without telling me?”
“What? Tanner, we need to talk about Mr. Pruitt. You sworeyou’d tell me in person when you refused to do it over text.”
“We can talk about Richard in a minute. I thought we hadagreed that you’d tell me about all your dates on the app ahead of time so Icould properly scope them out. And I don’t recall getting any notice about thisone.”
“I thought you were joking.” Honestly, I didn’t think he wasjoking. But it was a really weird request so I’d chosen to ignore it.
“Well, what happened after she set you on fire?”
“She threw a glass of wine in my face and then took pity on meand helped put the fire out before running out of the restaurant.”
Tanner kept a completely straight face. “So you didn’t sleepwith her?”
“No, she was an insane person.”
He
