The Boyfriend Project (4 page)

When I got home, the house was dark and funeral quiet. I figured my parents were out at one of the many fund-raising functions they attended. I was proud of the fact that they were so involved in the community, but it also got a little lonely around here. If I weren't leaving for a college in a few weeks, I would seriously consider getting a dog.

I went into the kitchen, microwaved some popcorn, grabbed a bottle of lemon water, and headed into the den where the biggest TV known to man graced one wall. My dad always had to have the biggest, the best of everything. Sometimes they entertained, and he liked it when people gaped at everything we owned.

Not that I was complaining. Because of his obsession, I had all the latest gadgets.

I dropped onto the sofa, picked up the remote, and
searched through the on-demand possibilities until I found
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
. I liked the way steampunk had been incorporated into the movie franchise. Munching on popcorn, I started up the movie.

I was about an hour into it when I heard voices from the front hall.

“You knew how important tonight was to me,” Mom said. “Could you have looked any more bored?”

“What do you want from me, Marsha?” my dad asked. “I spent five thousand on silent auction items.”

“I wanted you at my side as I greeted people.”

“It was your moment. I was trying to let you bask in it.”

“It was more like you were trying to escape it. And you wore that awful red tie.”

“What's wrong with the tie?”

“It clashes with my dress.”

“Drinking red wine clashes with your dress. How many times do I have to tell you that red stains your teeth? You looked like a vampire by the end of the night. Drink white.”

“Maybe we should move to Denver so I can smoke pot. Would that make you happy?”

I turned up the volume on the TV so I couldn't hear them anymore. I didn't often side with my dad, but really what difference did a tie make? On the other hand, if Mom preferred red wine, who cared?

The lights in the room suddenly came on. I looked up as my mom glided toward me. The red shade of her hair was not to be found in nature. She wore it in a short style that served as a frame for her high cheekbones and blue eyes.

When she reached me, she picked up the remote and paused the TV. “What are you doing here?”

“I live here.”

She gave me an indulgent smile as she gracefully lowered herself into a chair. “You know what I mean. It's early. You're usually out late with that girl you've been seeing.”

I fought not to groan. “Kendall. Her name is Kendall.”

“We should have her over for dinner sometime.”

Yeah, listening to my parents pick at each other made for great entertainment. “We're both pretty busy. How was the fund-raiser?”

“Very successful, I think. It was for a women's abuse shelter. Now I can start working on a tea for literacy. We have a staggering percentage of people in this community who can't read English.”

Talking to my mom was sometimes like being read a pamphlet. “If there's anything I can do . . .”

“I'll keep that in mind.”

Which pretty much meant she wouldn't think of anything I could do to help. She wasn't good at delegating.

“Some friends and I are going to go to the beach for a
few days. Not sure exactly when—”

“That'll be fun,” she said, boredom evident in her voice. She rose. “Night, sweetie.”

My mom walked out without asking for any further details. Sometimes I thought she cared more about her fund-raisers than she did me. But then, if not for me, maybe she would have had a different life.

When I walked into the shelter, I heard the dogs start yipping. A door separated the reception area from the kennels, but they could catch my scent, knew when I arrived. Or maybe I just wanted to believe that.

A guy with long, dark hair and a scraggly beard was standing at the counter talking to Terri. He looked to be about my age, but I didn't know him from school so he was probably a little older. He was wearing khaki shorts, Birkenstocks, and a brown T-shirt molded to his torso that read,
YEAH, IT WAS ME. I LET THE DOGS OUT.

“Kendall,” Terri said. “Meet Chase Harper. He's a new volunteer. Why don't you show him the ropes?”

“You mean, the leashes?” I teased. They both smiled. Bowing slightly, I extended an arm toward the door that led to the areas where the kennels were. We walked past
the cat room where a dozen felines lounged about. They couldn't care less about us.

The dogs, though, went into a frenzy. Laughing, Chase crouched down in front of a metal grated door behind which a Chihuahua bounced and yipped. “Hey, sweet girl.”

“It's best not to get too attached,” I told him.

He peered up at me with brown eyes. “Yeah, I know. I've worked at shelters before, but it's hard sometimes to do what's best.” Straightening, he gave me a once-over. “I bet you get attached.”

“Sometimes,” I admitted. I walked over to the wall where several leashes hung from a pegboard. “We use these to either take them for a walk or lead them out to the back.” I grabbed one for myself, tossed him one.

I pointed to a clipboard. “We mark down when we take a dog out. We go by the kennel numbers.”

“Impersonal.”

“It's easier. The dogs frequently change, which is good. It's what we want. For them to be adopted.” I studied the information on the sheet. “Looks like twenty-five and twenty-six are due for a trip out. Come on. I'll give you the grand tour and then we'll fetch the dogs.”

We walked down the corridor. Enclosures were on either side. Each had a water bowl and a bed. Some had a dog. One had two dogs. That meant they'd had the same owner, who for some reason surrendered them.

“Man, I don't know how people can give up their pets,” Chase said.

“Do you have one?” I asked.

“Swedish vallhund. Missed Dora like crazy when I was away at school. How about you?”

“Just adopted a basset hound.”

“I knew you were the type to get attached.”

I shrugged. “It's hard not to. My mom's simply grateful that I held out as long as I did and only brought one home.”

We came to a door at the end of the corridor. “This is the puppy room.”

We walked inside. Jade Johnson, another volunteer, was sitting in a rocker feeding one of the abandoned puppies with a bottle. In honor of graduating, she'd chopped off her hair, dyed it black, and gotten a nose ring.

“Well, hellllo,” she said. “Looking for a puppy?”

“This is Chase,” I told her. “He's a new volunteer.”

“Great!”

I was pretty sure that her excitement had to do with him being in her orbit for more than today rather than the prospect of having more help around here. “Meet Jade. Another volunteer.”

“You the Puppy Whisperer?” Chase asked.

“Something like that,” she said. “I'll be happy to show you around when I'm finished here.”

“I've got it,” I told her.

He didn't know her well enough to know the smile she gave me was one of displeasure.

“If you decide you want another tour you know where to find me,” she said.

She was such a flirt. I was just glad that she'd never set her sights on Jeremy. Not that I thought he would go for her type. He was as loyal as a golden retriever.

“I'll keep that in mind,” Chase said.

As we walked by her, he reached down and petted the pup on the head. Jade beamed up at him, while the dog pretty much ignored him for the bottle.

I opened the door that led to another corridor of enclosures. Some of the dogs reacted. Some seemed to take the new guy in stride.

“I'll get twenty-five,” I said. The collie mix eagerly came to me when I opened the door. I slipped on the leash. Glancing over my shoulder, I watched as Chase struggled with a highly energetic border collie.

“Down, boy, down!” he called out. When he finally got the leash on, he gave me a hard look. “Was that my initiation?”

I smiled. “No, your initiation will be cleaning out the kennels that have a mess in them. That's the new guy's job.”

“No problem. I spent summers on my granddad's farm. Trust me. Cleaning up a dog mess is nothing
compared to cleaning up after a horse.”

I laughed. “I would think not.”

We walked through a door to the outside and set the dogs loose.

“We just let them romp about for about fifteen or twenty minutes,” I explained. “I can go in and get a couple more if you want to watch them.”

“Yeah, I can do that.”

“There are some balls in that container over there,” I said, pointing out a plastic bin. “You know, if you want to play with them.”

“Sure thing.”

I retrieved four more dogs and sent them off to play with Chase. He was tossing a ball to one and a Frisbee to another. I stood on the porch watching him for a moment. He was definitely a dog lover.

Jade stepped outside and came to stand beside me. “He is so hot. I call dibs.”

I stared at her. “On what?”

“On dating him.”

I rolled my eyes. “I have a boyfriend. Jeremy Swanson. And he's pretty hot.”

She scoffed. “No, he's cute. He's not smoking. I'm going to get third-degree burns kissing Chase and love every minute of it.” Before I knew what she was going to do, she snatched the leashes from my fingers. “I'll
help him bring the dogs back in.”

She sauntered across the grass with such an exaggerated swing to her hips that I was surprised she didn't knock a bone out of joint. I went back inside and tried not to be bothered by her comment. Jeremy was hot, just not in a dark, dangerous kind of way like Chase. A girl would always feel secure with Jeremy.

That was a good thing. He was reliable. Safe.

I wanted safe, didn't I?

That thought nagged at me as I sat on the couch snuggled against Jeremy, with Bogart nestled on the floor near us. We were having a night in, binge-watching
The 100
. We'd done quite a bit of binge-watching since summer started. Always at my house.

My mom tended to leave us alone, as long as we didn't close ourselves into any rooms. Although tonight she was on a date. She was taking the plunge with a guy she'd met through a website that promised a perfect match. She was meeting him at a restaurant. I had to admit that I had mixed feelings. Happy for her, but apprehensive, wondering how our lives might change.

Jeremy was absently running his fingers up and down my arm. When he watched a TV show or movie, he was almost totally focused on the story. Usually I was, too.

But tonight I kept thinking about Jade's comment.
It wasn't that I wanted her coming after my guy, but I wouldn't have minded her showing a bit of interest in him. Jeremy and I had been friends before we'd started dating and I'd never heard of him asking another girl out. But what if he was with me because I'd been his only choice?

Jeremy stopped the episode before it could roll over into the next one. He shifted slightly, and I peered up at him. He trailed his finger over my cheek. “You seem distracted tonight.”

I shrugged. “Thinking about my mom. It's weird for her to have a date. What if she really likes this guy? She wouldn't tell me his name or show me a picture of him. So I just don't know what to expect.”

“Maybe she's just testing the waters and didn't want to get her—and your—hopes up.”

I glanced back over at the TV. “What if she has sex with him?”

Jeremy laughed, then sobered when he realized I was seriously concerned. “She probably won't on the first date.”

I moved so that I was almost sitting on him. He slid down until he was sprawled over the couch, and I was tucked up close to his side. “How many is the right number do you think?” I asked.

“Everyone is different.”

Not really wanting to think about Mom anymore, I loosened one of the buttons on his shirt. “So how many
dates have we had, do you think?”

He closed his hand around mine.

“What if your mom walks in on us?” he asked.

“What if she doesn't?”

“Do you have any idea how long she'll be gone?”

Shaking my head, I rolled over until I was on top of him. I skimmed my fingers through his hair. “You didn't get a haircut today.”

“Nope. Maybe tomorrow.” He grinned. “Or maybe I'll grow it out.”

I rubbed my thumb along his jaw. “Maybe you shouldn't shave tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“It'll make you look older.”

“It'll also make my dad go ballistic. There's a dress code at the office.”

“But it's like he's stifling your freedom to express yourself. You're not your father's clone. You didn't need his permission to go to the beach. Maybe you should rebel a little more.”

He chuckled. “Rebelling within the confines of the family is one thing. To do it at the office is another. If I was going to rebel there, I'd do it by quitting.”

“So do it.”

“Yeah, right.” He tucked my hair behind my ear. I loved the way he did it so his finger trailed lightly over my
chin. “So what's with the hair, the shaving, the rebelling?”

Sighing, I nipped at his jaw. “I don't know. It's summer. It just seems like we should do something radical before we head off to college. Experiment a little.” I kissed him. “You know, explore our independence.”

He slipped his hands beneath the hem of my top, folded his hands around my waist. “Oh, yeah?” he asked in a raspy voice.

“Yeah.” I planted my mouth on his, aware of him rolling us until we were on our sides facing each other. I wrapped one hand around his neck and used the other to nimbly free the buttons on his shirt. I flattened my palm against his chest, could feel his heart thudding.

I heard the front door open, shut. “Kendall!” my mom called out.

Jeremy jerked back, hovered at the edge of the cushion for a heartbeat before toppling over and landing with a thud on the floor. Bogart yelped and backed away as fast as he could. Quickly I sat up. “In here!”

Jeremy buttoned his shirt as he scrambled back onto the couch. He put his arm around me as he pressed
PLAY
on the TV and the next episode started up.

“Hey, guys,” Mom said as she wandered in and sat in the slider rocker. Bogart crept over to her side, and without a thought—or so it seemed—she reached down and began petting him.

“How was the date?” I asked, although I had a feeling I knew the answer, considering that it wasn't even ten yet.

“Nice.” She looked at the TV. “What are you watching?”

“
The 100.
”

“Mmm.” I knew that meant nothing to her. She read romance novels. She didn't watch TV.

“Are you going to see him again?” I asked.

“I don't think so.”

As though sensing that my mom had more to say, Jeremy stopped the TV. “Listen, I need to go.” He stood up. “Good night, Mrs. J.”

“Good night, Jeremy.”

Holding his hand, I walked him to the front door. Turning, he kissed me. When he drew back, I tugged on his shirt. “Hope my mom didn't notice that your buttons are one off.”

He grimaced. “Ah, man.” Leaning down, he kissed me again. “See you tomorrow.”

As he walked out, he began redoing his buttons. I loved this guy. He was so cute. When he was gone, I wandered back into the living room and curled up in the corner of the couch. “Want to talk about it?” I asked my mom.

“He wasn't your dad.” She sighed. “I know that's unfair, but when I met your dad there was this instant electricity. From the get-go, he made me smile, made me happy to be
with him. The guy tonight . . . I kept checking my watch.”

I understood the electricity. I'd felt it with Jeremy. He was the new kid in town, and I'd decided to be bold and invite him to join Avery and me for lunch. After that, we'd become the terrific threesome, but always there was something a little more between Jeremy and me than friendship. “I'm sorry.”

“Not your fault. He wasn't what I wanted or needed and I knew it five minutes after we met.”

“So are you going to give someone else a try?”

“Oh, sure. In a couple of days. Meanwhile, want to share some ice cream with me?”

I smiled brightly. “Absolutely.”

Three minutes later, we were sitting at the counter with a tub of chocolate-chip cookie-dough ice cream between us. I took a bite, let it slowly melt in my mouth.

“We've had so little time to talk lately,” Mom said. “How are you doing?” While Avery was my best girlfriend, my mom was a close second. And she had many more life experiences.

“To be honest, I've been a little restless. Not unhappy exactly, but feeling like, I don't know, like I'm missing out on something. I don't know why.”

She gave me a sympathetic smile. “You're on the cusp of adulthood. It's natural to question things: what you're going to do with your life, what you want that life to be.”

“I guess that's it.” But it seemed like it was more, like it was bigger than that. That it had to do with Jeremy and me, with us. That thought scared me. I didn't want to examine it too closely, so I didn't try to explain it to my mom because I wasn't sure I wanted the answer. Instead, pretending that her answer made me feel better, I dug in for some more ice cream.