“Fine.” I sigh. “And then what? What exactly is the purpose of your project?”
“Go on two… I mean, five dates. Yeah, five should be good.” She stops and looks around while twisting a hair tie around her wrist. “I’m supposed to…”
Why does it seem like she doesn’t know what she’s supposed to do?
“Evaluate your current state of happiness from the beginning to the end of the project,” she says finally, finishing with a grin.
I rub my forehead. “That doesn’t sound very scientific.”
Karli stands and, to my amazement, opens the dishwasher. I swear she didn’t even know it existed. “I don’t remember the sciency stuff,” she says with herbackto me. “I’m just supposed to introduce you to a new activity and observe what happens.”
I twirl a strand of hair around my finger. “I’m not happy about being coerced into this. But I’ll do it.” I can chat online andconsiderfive dates. If I keep them short, that’s only five hours of my time I need to spend onherhomework. “Want me to take notes?”
She waves a hand over her shoulder. “No. Just have fun.”
Fun? With online dating? Not likely.
Chapter 4
Michael
I drop into a chair in the shop break room, and mybackaudibly pops. I’m completely exhausted from the extra hours I’ve been putting in lately. But it’s a good kind of exhaustion—the rewarding kind. Sawdust falls lazily around me, and I dust it off the table, but my dirty handsadd more. The perks of working at a cabinet shop.
I arch my back, working out the tension and inconspicuously glancing around. No annoying brothers or Grant in sight.
I slip my phone out of my pocket, click on the newly downloaded app, and swipe through the options.
No. No. Maybe. Yes. No.
“What’s that?”
I don’t have enough time to register the voice before Sean snatches my phone from my grasp.
“A dating app?” His face morphs into a grin I knowalltoo well.
“No. I was just…” Ugh, I got nothing. Sean would never understand it. He doesn’t have a problem lining up dates for every night of the week. “Looking.”
“Just browsing, huh?” Sean’s eyes glint as he focuses on my phone. “Let’s see, hot, hot, hot.”
“Sean.” I lunge for him before he sets me up with the entire female population. He tosses the phone behind me, and I spin, but it lands safely in Trent’s hands.
“Looks like Michael’s tired of striking out in the real world, so he got himself a dating app.” Sean hoots.
Trent drags his gaze away from the phone and lifts an eyebrow. “Seriously?”
Little brothers are so annoying. “What’s the big deal?” I reach for my phone, but Trent slides it behind hisback, and Grant walks in just in time to grab it.
It’s like they practiced that play for this moment.
“A dating app?” my best friend, Grant, asks. He’s not family, but he may as well be. He always seems to know everything that's said, even when he’s not in the room. “I didn’t know you were desperate.”
I throw my hands in the air. “I’m not desperate. Everyone uses them.” Everyone except the people in this room, apparently.
“I don’t.” Sean and Grant say simultaneously, but Trent remains silent.Suspicious.
“Of course you don’t.” I mutter to Grant. He’s in love with my sister, and everyone seems to know it but the two of them.
Grant furrows his brows. “What does that mean?”
