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“It did seem like you were piling on,” Harper agreed.

“I really am sorry. At the time, I was hurting and only thinking about myself.”

Dumpster Girl had returned. It looked like she’d borrowed clothes from Harper, and she carried hers in a garbage bag.

Tami shook her head in disbelief.

“Why do you suddenly sound grown-up when all I want to do is have you kick their butts for me?” she asked.

“Slow down,” I said, and smiled. “Someone wiser than me suggested that I not do what first jumps to mind.”

“Don’t you start using my own words against me,” Tami warned.

“Let’s step back for a moment. You both planned to dump them at the end of senior year,” I reminded Sarah and Tami.

“That doesn’t mean that I wanted to be the one dumped,” Sarah said.

I stifled my urge to laugh. Maybe I was the grown-up here. Then again, Wolf and Tim had cheated on them, and the girls had every right to be mad. It was clear they were hurting, so I decided to try to lighten the mood.

“What did you expect them to do?” I asked with a straight face. “I mean, we’re talking about Chloe frickin’ Larkin.”

While I said that, I gave them my awed-teen look like I’d just been told that the baseball player had dumped Hannah Minacci, and she had come to her senses. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten that Tami had grown up a tomboy and had a vicious right hook. She slugged me in the chest. It might have been too soon to joke about this colossal mess.

“Dang, Girl,” I complained. That would leave a mark.

At that moment, my phone rang. I looked at it, confused. The caller ID said, ‘Cassidy.’ I got worried that something had happened to my family, so I answered it.

◊◊◊

I hung up and turned to Paul.

“We have to go,” I said and turned to Tami and Sarah. “Are you going to be okay?”

“No,” Tami grumped.

Harper gave her a hug.

“We’ll be fine,” Sarah assured me and then asked, “Where do you have to go?”

Sarah and Wolf had been on shaky ground when we were in LA, so it didn’t surprise me that she wasn’t as hurt as Tami. Tami, on the other hand, had no reason to believe that Tim would ever pull a stunt like this. I foresaw a long talk with Tim and Wolf in the near future.

Regardless of how that turned out, I vowed I would never again set them up with or allow them to date any girls I was close to. They’d lost my trust when they pulled this tonight. I didn’t care if it was Chloe Frickin’ Larkin or some random girl they picked up. This was a total dick move if you claimed to have a girlfriend. I guess high school guys really are ‘stupid boys.’

“Cassidy Hope just got dumped at a restaurant, and her date left her with the tab. She and the other couple with them don’t have enough money to pay it, and they need a ride,” I explained.

“Is it your job to clean up everyone’s mess tonight?” Dumpster Girl asked.

“It says something that David is the one we call when we really need something,” Tami observed.

I gave all the Wesleyan girls one last hug and started for the door. Dumpster Girl surprised me when she said she’d be going with us.

“Your night seems a lot more interesting than me going home and drinking alone,” she explained.

I looked at Paul, and he simply shrugged.

“Okay, let’s get going,” I said.

◊◊◊

Chapter 15 – Valentine’s Day Massacre Part Deux Tuesday February 14

On the drive to pick up Cassidy, Dare, and Chrissy, I wanted Dumpster Girl to talk to me. I wanted to find out her name, for one thing. Then the romantic in me wanted to learn all about her.

What were her dreams? Was she in school, or did she have a job? Was she into younger men? What did her laugh sound like? What did she like to do when she wasn’t leaping into dumpsters? How would it feel to wrap her in my arms and kiss her?

“I’d like to kiss you,” I blurted out before thinking.

“We don’t know each other. You might have a serious girlfriend.”

“I don’t.”

“How is that even possible?” Dumpster Girl asked to slow me down.

“That’s a long story. What I want to know is how can a woman who’s as stunning and amusing as you, and is irrational enough to jump through a bar bathroom window, be single?”

“I’m not stunning.”

“I have to disagree with you on that,” I said.

“Don’t get me wrong; I’m pretty in the right light and the right makeup. Crawling out of a dumpster isn’t my best look,” she admitted and then killed me. “Besides, you’re too young for me.”

“What about me?” Paul asked.

WTF?! My driver/security was trying to steal my dumpster find. I rolled my eyes when she blushed. Frick! She was into him.

“Pull over,” I ordered.

Paul looked confused. He became even more confused when I got out of the car and walked around to the driver’s door. He rolled down his window.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m driving. Now get in the back,” I said.

For once, he didn’t argue with me. By the time we’d gotten to the restaurant, the two in the back seat were starting to get a little frisky.

“Just drive around for a bit,” Paul suggested.