I opened my mouth to answer, but Wren made a distressed whine.
“No,no. Dean isnot—he told me he stayed away from you!”
“We kept it a secret.”
She groaned. “But he’s not dad material! He’s all charm and sleeping around.”
“We know,” Jade said flatly. “Hence the threats.”
“He told me he was sick yesterday!” she snapped. “Was he really? Or was he running from his responsibilities?”
“No,” I said. “He drove me to redo my glucose test because I was worried about it. I told him he didn’t have to, but he was there when I got the call and I cried and—” I paused when I realized I was rambling, and my cheeks grew hot. “Yeah, that’s it.”
“Hang on a second.” Jade’s voice was calm, but it shook in the way that told me she wasnothappy. “You mean to tell me he did all of that and I didn’t know?”
“I’m still processing it.” I shrugged. “It’s not every day that Ithink I have a read on a guy and then he flip-flops out from under me. He’s been ... surprisingly mature lately.”
“Mature?” Jade scoffed. “I love you, but you and I have very different opinions on mature.”
“Why don’t you tell us what he’s done?” Mollie offered. “We can give some third-party advice.”
I nodded and told them about our dinner, where we’d agreed we were different but could meet in the middle. Then I mentioned all the things he’d done for me while I was worried about the glucose test, even mentioning when he’d snuck money into his mom’s car.
The three women in front of me all listened intently, but their eyes went wide the longer they did so.
“That’s ... actually kind of mature,” Mollie said.
“Some of it’s the bare minimum,” Jade muttered. “But some’s more.”
“Wren, what do you think?” I asked. “You’ve known him the longest.”
She blinked and shook her head. “I mean, I’ve known him a long time, but only ever in a work capacity. I can say that he’s good at his job. He cares about it and goes above and beyond. Thatmightextend to his personality, but he’s never let me get close enough to find out.”
“Things could change,” Mollie suggested. “Maybe this is the start of something new.”
“Not a relationship, though.” I shook my head. “That’s never gonna happen.”
“I mean, never say never. Henry and I did fall for each other while pretending to date.”
“Hang on,” Jade cut in. “Pretending towhat?”
“Our relationship was fake for the cameras. Did you not know?”
Jade and I looked between each other.
“No!”Jade’s jaw was on the floor. “You mean the whole time, you were acting?”
“Not all of it,” she said. “It became real before the library renovation ended.”
She leaned back, hands running through her colorful hair. “I need to reevaluate everything. But you were so cute!”
“And you kissed!” I added.
“Yep. All fake. Until a few weeks after I fell. We hooked up on the exam table in the clinic.”
Jade and I gasped.
“The clinic?Where he does exams?” I was scandalized, yet I was no better. I’d done it in the dressing room and on the counter of the Treasure Trove.