I checked the phone to be sure I was still talking to my shy scientist friend. Yup. Still him.
“Fluent? You could barely string a sentence together when you were pursuing Leyla.”
“I’m just stating facts. Turkish men just…know how to speak to a woman.” Was his voice deepening?
“Ah, you’re making me really uncomfortable right now. And stop talking about Turkish men like that, will you?”
He chuckled, and I heard him start walking.
“Okay, since you’re apparently the new zen master, send me the link to whatever Turkish woo you bought off of Amazon,” I teased.
“Will do. Pick the Prime option. You don’t have much time.” I loved his dry humor.
“No, I don’t.”
His voice turned serious again. “And Mike. What I asked you at the hospital. Are you sure God is in this?”
“Yeah, Niko. He’s in this.”
He paused, and I could picture him nodding. “Okay, then let’s get you your girl.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Mike
I wasnervous as I pulled up to Ren’s cottage. I mean, full-on sweating, stomach churning, heart pounding kind of nervous. Was this what falling in love felt like, or just bad stir-fry from last night?
The fear of meeting Ren’s parents under these conditions was not helping the situation. I took a sip from my Stanley and gave myself a pep talk.
“Okay, Walker. Go in, woo your girl, win over her scary parents.” I nodded, confirming I understood the assignment, and unfolded my long legs from the truck, which I’d cleaned before arriving. I wanted Ren to think I was husband material, not a messy bachelor.
‘Mike, you’re so easy to hang out with, the life of the party, but not the guy I’d get serious with and bring home to meet my parents.’
The memories of the women I’d dated saying some version of that haunted me. I shook it off, grateful that, for whatever reason, Ren had said yes.
I lifted my hand to knock, but she wrenched the door open, eyebrows high, her phone plastered to her ear.
“Vicky, wait, listen. Okay, yes.” She switched to Italian, then took a breath, and mouthed ‘come in.’
I stepped in and closed the door, following her to the living room, where she started to pace.
“Listen, I know it’s crazy,” she said, side-eyeing me. She mouthed ‘Vicky.’
My eyes widened, but I figured I’d better get this over with. “Put her on speaker,” I said with a nod when she looked at me, her expression unsure.
“Amica, Mike just got here. Okay to put you on speaker?”
Vicky must’ve told her to switch to a video call because Ren pulled the phone away and pressed the button, her eyes filled with worry. A moment later, I was facing a very unhappy friend. Miles called her his ‘little fairy,’ but right then, she looked like a raging dragon, not a pixie.
Since being warmly included in the friend group, Vicky and I had always had a good rapport. We weren’t necessarily close, but we seemed to understand and accept each other's personalities. She was a bit on the quiet side but loved to joke, while I was over-the-top gregarious, always trying to make everyone laugh with my antics.
However, the woman I faced today seemed to have forgotten how many times we'd teamed up against Luke during game night. She was downright scary.
“Michael Walker,” Vicky scolded as if I were just sent to the principal’s office, something I was well familiar with. “Howdareyou ask my friend to marry you?”
Oh boy. I had one raging Italian woman barking at me from the phone and another one twisting her curls around one finger, looking at me with her huge brown eyes. Eyes that I’d come todiscover had specks of gold in them when I held her close the day before.
Stay focused, man. Drool over your fiancé later. Girl code was clear. Want the girl? Got to win over the best friend.
