I thought I’d share another scene from my sweet, snarky romantic comedy The Boyfriend Bet which comes out August 22.

In this scene Grant has just left an encounter with his ex, Lena. He’s thinking about Zoe.

Consciously or not, I found myself driving toward the exit for Betty’s Burgers and Zoe’s house. I pulled into the parking lot at Betty’s. I needed to think this through before I did something stupid. If I’d learned anything from my relationship with Lena it was that breaking up with someone was no guarantee they’d be out of your life. Unless one of you moved to another city, you still had to see the person at school and around town. Did I really want to start something with Zoe when I’d have to see her every day in Foods class?

A knock on the window brought me out of my thoughts. Zoe stood there smiling. Delia was on her cell. I rolled down the window. “Hello.”

“What are you doing here?” Zoe asked as she leaned down to talk to me.

“Learning how to play violin, obviously.”

She rolled her eyes. “Let me rephrase that. What are you doing in my neck of the woods?”

“Hiding from my mother.” Wait. Why did I say that?

“I see. This is like witness relocation for snobs?”

“Exactly. What are doing today?”

“Delia and I just finished eating. We were thinking about playing putt-putt golf since it’s so nice outside. Want to join us?”

It’s not like I had any other plans. “Sure. I could call Aiden and we could meet you guys.”

“Sounds good.”

I dialed Aiden’s number and explained the situation. “I’m sleeping,” was his answer.
“Throw on some clothes and meet us at Putt-Putt Village.” I hung up, not giving him a chance to back out. “Aiden’s in. He’ll meet us there.”

On the twenty-minute drive to my destination, I ran through a dozen different scenarios of how dating Zoe could turn out. None of which helped me figure out what I wanted to do.

I met up with Zoe and Delia in the parking lot. We sat on a park bench while we waited for Aiden. Zoe told me about her cousin Jane and the guy she dated.

“Why would Jane tell him she liked the sweater if she didn’t? Guys don’t want to be lied to.”

“If you gave a girl something and she told you to return it, how would you feel?” Zoe asked.

“I wouldn’t be happy, but it’s better than finding out later that she lied.”

“So honesty is always the best policy?” Delia asked. There was a note of challenge in her voice.

“Yes,” I said and then looked at Zoe.

She tapped her nails on the bench.“I’d say almost always, unless you’re bending the truth to save someone’s feelings.”

Once Aiden joined us, we each paid for our own golf balls and grabbed a putter. Zoe went first, smacking the ball too hard so it rebounded off several obstacles and rolled back to the starting line.

“You do realize that the point of this game is to make your ball go in the other direction, don’t you?” I pointed toward the hole.

“Smart ass.”

I laughed. “Let me show you how it’s done.” I tapped my ball and it rolled through the obstacles and stopped a foot from the hole.

“That’s a boring way to play,” Zoe said.

Delia hit her ball so it ricocheted off several obstacles, and made a hole in one.

“That shouldn’t have happened,” said Aiden.

“Why not?” Delia asked.

“The angles don’t work that way. If you look at it mathematically, you should’ve ricocheted the ball off the second obstacle to make a hole in one.”

Delia shook her head. “It’s not about math. It’s about balance and patterns.”

“We’ll see.” Aiden lined his ball up, tapped it and sent it smacking into the second obstacle and into the hole. “That’s how it’s supposed to work.”

“You play your way, and I’ll play mine.”

By the last hole, Delia and Aiden were tied for first place. I was in second and Zoe was in a distant third.

“Maybe if you aimed the ball, it would work better.” Delia said to Zoe.

“That would be boring.” She whacked the ball and ended up bouncing it off the green onto the sidewalk. Rather than being upset, she picked up her ball and waited for us to finish.

“Good thing we aren’t playing for money,” I said.

“We’re playing for fun,” Zoe said. “My way is fun for me.”

“Even though you won’t win?” Aiden asked.

“I don’t really care about winning this game,” Zoe said.

“Don’t let her fool you. There are games she’s prepared to spill blood over.” Delia lined up her shot, and ricocheted the ball off the wall three times before it dropped into the hole.

Aiden made a pained sound. “How are you defying the laws of physics?”

“It’s making you crazy, isn’t it?” Delia sounded like she was enjoying the situation.

“Yes,” Aiden said. “You’re systematically destroying the rules of my world. Knock it off.”

“Change is good for you.” Delia gave an evil laugh.

“No. It’s not.” Aiden lined up the angle of his putt, and then tapped the ball a little too lightly. It headed straight for the cup but stopped an inch from the hole.

“Woo hoo!” Delia threw her arms up. “I win.”

Aiden muttered under his breath as he knocked his ball in, adding an extra stroke to his score. I hit my ball in after three tries.

You can learn more about The Boyfriend Bet here.