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.Hayley looked at him, and he looked backat her, and it was clear that they were together.The wholearena saw it.It was the best announcement he could havethought of, the most dramatic evidence of his success.He,Jack Lawson, was at the Canucks game in a fancy executivesuite, with a glamorous and charming movie star standingnext to him, smiling at him.He had arrived.He had made it.And he felt nothing.Well, not quite nothing.Somewhere deep inside, roilingand uncomfortable, a feeling was growing.A realization, heMore Than Chemistry | Kate Sherwood61supposed.The camera left them, found someone else tospotlight, and Jack knew that his smile was pasted on, andhe could tell that Hayley knew it too.She let it go, though, just coaxed him back into theconversation with a skill that would make her a greatsuccess as a society wife.She was really much more than hehad hoped for.And she seemed to be reasonably pleasedwith him too, although it was hard to be sure if that wasgenuine or if she was just being polite.Either way, Jackappreciated it.They made it through the rest of the game and waitedaround a while for the crowds to clear.The suite waspleasant, they had food and drink what was the hurry? ButJack didn t feel a compelling need to spend more time withHayley.She wasn t the one he was thinking about, and hebegan to have a sinking feeling that the affection transferjust wasn t going to take.He d waited too long, allowedhimself to spend too much time with Noah.He thought ofNoah s serious face, and the way it transformed entirelywhen Jack made him smile, and somehow, it was hard to betoo disappointed by the way things had turned out.He had planned to have a car waiting for them after thegame, but when Hayley had said she d just as soon walk, hehadn t argued.Well, he would have argued pretty damn hardif she d wanted to walk all the way back out to Burnaby, butit turned out she was staying at her brother s place, and itwasn t far.They were at least halfway there before he finallygot up the nerve to broach the subject with her. Uh, Hayley?If this& in the largest hypothetical sense, no pressure, nocommitment, just& hypothetically&.Am I someone that youMore Than Chemistry | Kate Sherwood62might have considered spending some time with? You know,dating, or whatever.Just& in the broadest sense.Hayley looked confused, but she nodded. I kind ofthought that s what we were doing here. Yeah, it was.Is.Totally.But you got pushed into this.There was the deal, and it was supposed to be all three of us,you and me and Noah.But& okay, I know I sound like alunatic, and maybe an asshole, as well, because I don t thinkI m going to ask to see you again.But if I had asked, wouldyou have at least considered it? Considered going out withme? I would have said yes, Jack.I m having a good time.She still looked confused, but she seemed to have realizedthat this was about Jack s issues, not hers. Yeah.Okay.Thank you.I think that s enough.I think Ican be satisfied with that. He was making no sense, heknew, but he kept going. The thing is& I really like you, butI think I m sort of involved with someone else.I mean, nottechnically, but, if I m being honest& yeah.I m pretty wellgone. It felt true as soon as he said it.Almost too true itwas frightening.Hayley s silence should have stopped him,but instead it drove him on. It s not what I wanted.I wantedto want you.There was a pause before Hayley said,  This is prettyodd, Jack.I mean, I like a good mystery, but I feel like I don thave enough clues on this one. Yeah, that s fair.And I d love to talk to you about it.That was actually true.Hayley seemed like she d be a goodlistener, and she d certainly have some insight about herMore Than Chemistry | Kate Sherwood63brother; she d already given him the gem about the bed-wetting. But it s kind of complicated right now.It s stillreally up in the air. Okay. They walked in silence for a while longer, thenstopped outside the door to Noah s building. Maybe I could come up, say hi to Noah? Jacksuggested.It was weak, he supposed, and almost bound tobe awkward, but now that he knew how he felt, he wanted toindulge himself a little.And surely he could more effectivelydeal with Noah s issues face to face.But Hayley shook her head. No point he s not athome.That made no sense. What?Hayley looked mildly confused. He had a date.That swhy he didn t come to the game with us.He texted me tenminutes ago to be sure I knew how to get into the apartment,because he s still out. A date? Jack normally prided himself on beingmentally quick.Maybe he wasn t the deepest thinker, butwhatever he was going to get, he got quickly.This currentconversation, though, seemed to be beyond him. He had adate? With who?Hayley looked like she was beginning to realize that shewas giving unwelcome news. Someone from work, I think?Matt, maybe? Her jaw jutted out a little, as if she waspreparing to defend her brother s honor. Is there a problemwith that? Matt? PR Matt? I introduced them& we ve all beenworking together all week&.More Than Chemistry | Kate Sherwood64 Yeah, he said it was someone he d just met fairlyrecently. She looked like she wasn t sure if she was gettingNoah into trouble or getting him out. But I thought Matt was straight.I think I met hisgirlfriend, once. But it was entirely possible that Jack hadbeen confused about that [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]