“Perfect.” She smiled.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re so worried about him being the wrong guy, I thought he might be Joel.”
“Hey—”
“Hey nothing.” Her voice was a little sterner now. “Joel was a piece of shit — pardon my language. You don’tknowthat Ansel is. Everyone deserves a chance, Juniper. Besides, coffee never hurt anyone.”
“There was that one lady?—”
“No. Don’t do that. Don’t minimize this. And call me when you’re through, if you need to.”
CHAPTER 10
The second I woke up, I thought of her.
Actually, no —beforeI woke up, she was already in my dreams. That bookstore. That mouth. That sharp little smirk, like she knew every thought I hadn’t said out loud.
And now it was real. She’d said yes.
Lunch.
Which was normal. Casual. Adults did that sort of thing all the time. But my brain had decided this wasn’t just a lunch. This was TheLunch. Capital L. Possibly career-ending if I blew it.
I stood in front of my suitcase — open, half-unpacked — like it had personally betrayed me. Every shirt I owned either screamed “trying too hard” or “accidentally wandered out of a men’s warehouse outlet mall.”
I put on a t-shirt. Took it off. Put on a button-down. Took it off. Contemplated texting her to cancel because I’d mysteriously developed a fatal illness.
Instead, I said out loud, to no one, “Cool. Chill. Calm down. It’s just a sandwich.”
Then immediately tripped over my own boots.
10:42 a.m.
The time was mocking me.
Opened my phone to check the weather. Ended up rereading her DMs instead. Again.
11:17 a.m.
How had it only been thirty fucking minutes?
Searched “how early is too early to show up to a date.”
Scrolled past articles titledDesperation Isn’t SexyandAvoid These Rookie Mistakes.
Forty-fucking-years old, and I had first-date tipsglaringat me from my phone.
11:42 a.m.
Tried to work. Answered one email. Deleted three sentences of the script I was supposed to be editing. Googled “types of flowers that don’t look like an apology.” Didn’t buy any.
12:15 p.m.
I wasn’t going to make it.
Stared in the mirror. Smiled. Frowned. Tried a smile-frown.
