Chapter 21

My stomach twinged at his use of the term ‘new girl’. That had been Booth’s nickname for me, and it made me think of him instantly. Bile rose in the back of my throat as his last voicemail came unbidden into my mind.

“Yeah, Matt, you never said you were bringing a date.” Olivia wiggled a perfectly plucked eyebrow at Mathew, and I was almost sure I saw his cheeks flare.

Date? They couldn’t possibly believe that I was Mathew’s date. He was a grown man, and I was nothing but a teenager. At least that’s how they must have seen me.

“This is Brianna,” Mathew said, skimming over the whole date thing entirely. “She’s a friend of my cousin’s. She’s been staying at the store and having a pretty rough time of it so I thought I’d be a gentleman and ask her out for the evening.”

Then it was my turn to blush. Was he ignoring the whole date thing because it was true? Was I on a date?

I bit the inside of my lip, deciding it was better not to say anything.