Page 45 of The Quit List
“Her boyfriend,” Jax cuts me off swiftly, then rolls his eyes at Sabrina like they’re best pals who like to gossip while they braid each other’s freaking hair. “No matter what I do, I cannot get this one to put a label on things. All I wanna do is wife her up and put a baby in her, and she’s all no, I’m not ready, I have so much life to live, so many adventures to go on.”
Sabrina nods along, like he’s the pied piper and she’s thoroughly enchanted by his utterly ridiculous pipe music.
I, meanwhile, am blushing head to toe at Jax’s proclamation that he “wants to put a baby in me.”
Which conjures up a lot of… images.
“She’s so amazing, I’ll take what I can get in this relationship.” He cuddles me tighter, as if he can hear my thoughts. I must say, the woodsy, clean scent of his t-shirt is doing nothing to help with my current mental condition. “I’m just lucky that she’s with me.”
“Awh,” Sabrina coos, looking at me totally differently now. Like having a hot boyfriend suddenly makes me a legitimate human being. “You two are so sweet together. Looks like you found a keeper, Holly Greene.”
“Oh, yeah.” I wave a hand, hoping it’s not shaking. “I wanted to make the most of my twenties and live it up while I could.”
“There’s nothing like being able to grab dinner when we want without having to book a sitter. Spending our money and time on ourselves. Planning multi-day backpacking trips to the wilderness together…” Jax is still gazing down at me, those slate gray locked on mine so only I can see them dance. He’s really laying it on thick.
Then, Sabrina lets out the biggest, honkiest whistle-snort. “Sorry. Sorry. I thought you said you two are planning on backpacking together. My hearing, I tell you. Went haywire with my first.”
My spine stiffens. “You heard right.”
She looks at me almost pityingly, then leans towards me. “Come on, Holly. You expect me to believe you’re into, like, hiking now? You were never into all that nature stuff in school. You weren’t, like, an outdoorsy girl or even an athletic girl.” She snorts again. “Now, your sister Mindy, I could see it—she was always a wild card. A total riot.”
I think she expects me to laugh along, but I can’t bring myself to do it. Can’t bring myself to fake it. Instead, I draw inspiration from the warm pressure of Jax’s arm around my shoulder, the way it clasped me tighter at Sabrina’s laughter.
“I don’t know what to tell you, Sabby,” I say easily, using the nickname I specifically remember she used to hate. “Jax and I are going on a backpacking trip together.”
“This spring. In the Appalachians,” Jax adds smoothly. “Three whole days.”
“The Appa-what?” I squeak.
Sabrina finally seems to realize that no one is laughing with her and she settles down a bit. “Wait. Seriously?”
Next to me, Jax nods. I follow suit.
“That’s—wow, Holly.” Sabrina blinks at me, like she’s something akin to impressed. “You really are different from how you were in high school.”
“She’s pretty incredible. And so much fun to be with.” Jax smiles benignly. “Guess Holly does have a point when she tells me she wants to wait before marriage and babies.” He pats my shoulder. “I should listen to you more, my love.”
“You should,” I say through a close-lipped grimace of a smile.
“Anyhow, we should go pay. That soft brie wont eat itself.” He turns to look in Sabrina’s direction once more. “Nice to meet you, Katrina. Good luck with your pregnancy.”
With that, he steers me away from the woman in one seamless motion.
The second we’re in the check-out line and out of earshot, I turn to him. “What happened back there? I think I blacked out.”
“I think you agreed to come on a multi-day backpacking trip with me.”
I give my head a shake. “Yeah, no. But thank you for saving me. Again. And also, what in the hell was all that? Receiving blankets? Melissa and Doug puzzle? Soft brie?”
“Told you that you taught me a few things this afternoon.” That cheeky grin is back in place as he sets the items on the counter and the cashier begins to ring them up. I notice the way she assesses my empty ring finger, and then proceeds to shamelessly eye Jax up.
“I don’t know whether to be impressed or terrified,” I mutter as Jax pays and thanks the lady before grabbing the bags. “I appreciate the save, but that was quite an elaborate story. Don’t get me wrong, the hiking in the Appalachians thing was a nice touch. And as for the marriage and babies spiel… well, I had no idea you were capable of that.”
“They teach sex ed in the fifth grade, you know. I’m pretty confident that I know how to put a baby in you, Holly.”
My body turns beet red and sizzles like it’s been thrown on a barbecue. “I mean the effortless lying, you psycho!”
“Oh, that.” His grin widens. “What can I say, I play a good boyfriend. And my cabin is close to the Appalachians, so there is actually a backpacking route up there that I’ll be hiking this spring—with someone who’s not you, don’t worry—as one of the potential routes for my guiding business. That was a segue from the truth, rather than a total fallacy.”