The Rebound Guy by Jennifer Colgan

of dark, curly hair behind her ear and whizzed another goal past him with clinical precision.
    “Damn!”
    “I’ve been practicing. Do you know how many parties I come to a month here?”
    Eric laughed. “I don’t want to know. Actually, I do. Tell me all about it.”
    “You’re changing the subject.”
    “We didn’t have a fight.” “You seem so formal with each other today. You hung up her coat, pulled out her chair—”
    “I always do that. I’m a nice guy , remember?”
    Realization swept over Clarice’s face just before she sank another goal on him. “ That issue again? Let me guess. She’s dating Jack the Ripper and she wants your advice on how to get him to stop murdering prostitutes before she considers marriage?”
    Eric placed the puck on the side of the table and followed Clarice to a relatively quiet corner of the chaotic restaurant. He had no desire to psychoanalyze his relationship with Lauren, but he didn’t see much choice at the moment. His sister would bug him until he spilled something, so he needed to think of something to spill.
    It had been an amazing week. After Wednesday night at Lauren’s place, they’d spent Friday and Saturday night together, too. Like teenagers again, they were insatiable and uninhibited, but there was an unspoken issue between them now that neither had the courage to touch.
    As lovers, they were perfect. As friends, they found themselves drifting in casual formality. The reason was clear to Eric. They were both afraid to define their new relationship. He didn’t want casual sex and she obviously didn’t want a full-fledged commitment.
    He was, after all, the rebound guy. She might not want Mark back, at least not yet, but she wasn’t after another long-term relationship after the way the last one ended. Neither of them could admit to the other that their passionate fling had no future.
    “Let’s just say, the guy she’s with now wants more from her than she’s willing to give.”
    “He’s pressuring her?”
    “No…”
    “She’s skittish?”
    “Yeah.”
     
    “If she asks your advice, and I know she will, tell her to dump him. If she’s not sure how she feels about him, she probably doesn’t feel enough.”
    “Right.” Eric wondered how he’d pull that blade out of his heart.
    “Then you swoop in and ask her out.” Clarice winked. Everything always seemed so easy to her, so black and white.
    “It’s not that simple.”
    She put an arm around Eric’s shoulders and leaned up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “It’s always simpler than you think it is. You and Lauren would be good together. Give it a shot. I bet if you lay it all on the line, you’ll find out she feels the same way about you.”
    Eric shook his head, even as a grin broke through his troubled frown.
    “Maybe you could slip a note in her locker for me, like you used to do in high school.”
    Clarice giggled. “With one of those silly multiple choice questions on it and the boxes to check off? Let me think: ‘Dear Lauren, who is the cutest guy? Mr. Mouse or Eric?’ I’ll make your box bigger so she’ll get the hint what the right answer is.”
    “Thanks, but I don’t think I can compete with a rodent in a bow tie.”
    The birthday party ended an hour later with a rousing chorus of
    “Happy Birthday” and the distribution of party favors. As the guests left, Eric watched Lauren. She looked sweet and untroubled, playing jacks with Jeremy while harried parents rounded up their sugar-fortified tots.
    When everyone had gone, including Clarice and Andy with their own sleepy five-year-old in tow, Eric retrieved Lauren’s coat and met her at the ball pit.
    “Care for one last dip before we turn in our ID bracelets?” he asked.
    “Oh, no thanks. I’m still a little sticky from the last time. I think I sat in gum.” She dusted off her hands and gave the bin of plastic balls a skeptical glance.
    “I’m sorry about this. I appreciate that you came along.” She laughed as