Today he’s wearinga black button up shirt with jeans, only his long sleeves aren’t rolled up,which is a shame, because manly forearms are one of the sexiest parts on a guy.
“Want anything toeat?” I ask as I grab a cup and fill it with coffee for him.
“What do yourecommend?” He glances over the array of baked goods under the glass displaycounter.
“The strawberry shortcake,”I say, seizing my opportunity to eat one even though I shouldn’t.
“Sounds great,” hesays, and pigs must be flying outside because Lee actually smiles at me. It’s agood smile, too. Glad to see the guy has some personality.
I take two of the shortcakesand make myself a coffee and then we settle into a table at the back corner ofmy bakery.
“Thanks forinviting me,” Lee says as soon as we sit down.
“Thank you formeeting with me at work,” I say, feeling a little bad about the whole thing.“I’m just so busy and it’s hard to find time to do anything.”
That’s my excuse,and my brilliant plan. I figured if I asked him to have coffee with me whileI’m at work then I’m not really losing any valuable time. If we click and I endup liking him the way Livi thinks I will, then great. We can date like normal.But if it’s not a romantic love connection then I’ve already built myself aneasy out. I’ll just say I’m so busy with my business that I can’t date rightnow. It’s the perfect plan.
Livi had winked atme as we walked by her to our table, and now, I see her watching me from behindthe cash register. She sees me looking at her and gives me another wink and athumbs up. The girl is so excited that I feel obligated to like Lee. But I knowshe’ll respect whatever happens between us. I think she just still feelsindebted to me for introducing her to Mason and she’s trying to repay thefavor. That’s another reason I feel really bad about all of this. I wouldn’t begiving Lee a chance if not for Livi. Now I’m just bundled up in obligation andsipping coffee with a guy who barely talks.
I take a bite of mystrawberry shortcake that I can totally eat now that I have a good excuse. Atleast something good has come from this awkwardness. “So, are you from aroundhere?”
Lee shakes hishead. “I’m from New Orleans. My whole family moved here after Katrina.”
“Oh, wow,” I say. Iremember that hurricane and how devastating it was. Even parts of Texas floodedand were destroyed, although New Orleans got the worst of it. “Is your familyokay?”
He nods. “We lostour house, but the insurance paid out and we relocated to Texas. I thoughtabout going back, but I really like it here. Texans are nicer people.”
I chuckle. “We dohave that whole southern hospitality thing going for us.”
“Are you fromhere?” he asks.
“Born and raised,”I say. “That explains why I’m so boring as to grow up and build a business inmy hometown.”
“That’s notboring,” he says, and he’s just trying to be nice, because itisboring. But as far as I’m concerned,my hometown is the best.
I shrug. “It’sokay. I like my little town. We’re close enough to the big city but far enoughaway to avoid all of the traffic and pollution.”
“That’s for sure.Houston traffic is the worst.”
Oh God. Now we’retalking about traffic? This issonota good first date. Our conversation is dryer than Arizona, and even though mystrawberry shortcake is delicious, I’m just ready for this whole thing to beover.
Lee is a nice guy,and I know he means well, but there’s no spark. Maybe I wouldn’t have noticedthe lack of fireworks between us if I hadn’t met Gabe. But Ididmeet Gabe, and now I know what it’slike to instantly connect with someone on every level: physically, mentally,and intimately.
Anything less thanthat raw attraction just feels like a waste of time. I’m trying with Lee, Ireally am, but if I don’t feel anything between us, how can it ever work?
Lee is verycomplimentary about the food and coffee. He tells me like ten times how good itis, but I think it’s because he’s so painfully awkward that he doesn’t knowwhat else to say. I ask him a few more questions just to keep the conversationgoing, but I don’t care about any of his answers. When I spent hours talking toGabe, I had been fascinated by everything he said. Even the boring stuff likewhere he went to college and how many years his parents have been married- allof that was interesting to me. I also just liked hearing him talk. He has agravelly voice that could lull me to sleep every night and wake me up everymorning.
“Alexa?”
I jump, realizingLee is watching me with a confused expression. “Sorry,” I say quickly. “What’dyou say?”
“I asked if you’veseen the new Marvel movie.”
Now we’re talkingabout movies? I guess I really zoned out for a while. I think about hisquestion, and no, I haven’t seen the movie, but if I tell him that then he willmost definitely ask me to go see it with him. It’s already been thirty minutesof coffee and dessert and I just don’t think I can stand any more time alonewith this boring guy.
“Oh, um,” I say,trying to buy time but it’s pointless. There’s really only one way to answer aquestion like that. Maybe I should tell him that I have seen the movie, andhope he doesn’t have any questions about it. Livi appears in front of us, an awkwardsmile on her face. A million problems flash through my mind, things that couldgo wrong with my bakery that would make her come get me from my date. Did thecomputer crash again? Is there a fire in the kitchen? Did a customer complainabout something?
“What’s wrong?” Isay. There’s this evil part of me that kind of hopes there’s a fire in thekitchen because that would be the perfect excuse to end this date immediately.
