Page 126 of The Route to You

He smiled. A perfectly straight example of fine orthodontics, which might be nice on another guy who wasn’t actively seeking a date with her after possibly being on one. “Can I give you my number? I’d love to take you out sometime.” He held out a scrap of paper with the name Victor written across it and a Tennessee phone number.

She stared at it. Maybe she had been mistaken? He could have been out with his sister or something. You shouldn’t be so judgy.

She took it hesitantly. “Thanks,” she said, stuffing it in the pocket of her jeans. “I’m not really dating much right now, but I appreciate it.”

“If you decide you want to, let me know.” He waved the painting. “Thanks for the class.”

As he let himself out, Sloan headed back toward the bar, shaking her head. “That’s what? The third guy this week?” Delilah asked, shoving a stopper back into a wine bottle.

“I don’t even know.” Sloan rolled her eyes. “Do you think that guy was here on a date? I didn’t want to call him out because I didn’t know for sure but . . .”

“Yeah, it looked like a date to me. He must have left her at her car and then come back,” Delilah said with a shake of her head, then poured out some of a mostly empty Riesling into a plastic cup. “Want to finish this one?”

Sloan accepted it gratefully, swallowing back the wine. Perks of the job. After she was done cleaning up all the paint and brushes, she and Delilah usually sat at the bar together, finishing any open bottle of wine that wasn’t “worth keeping.”

“So, you know you don’t have to tell them that you’re single and not dating,” Delilah said, pouring the remainders of some red blend into Sloan’s empty cup. “Just tell them you’re taken.”

“I’ve just never been good at being hit on,” Sloan said, settling into the stool at the bar.

Delilah cackled. “Somehow, I doubt that.” She poured out a Pinot Noir for herself. “Anyway, you are taken—you’re not emotionally available on account of being in love with Kyle Winnick.”

“I’m not in love with him,” Sloan said, rolling her shoulders back. “It’s just a crush.”

Lies, lies, and more lies.

Delilah pursed her lips. “Sloan, that guy hitting on you is a crush. He looked at you, thought you were cute, and decided to shoot his shot. Moving from the West Coast, buying a house, looking up your ex-boyfriend, and then inviting him to live with you is something else entirely.”

All right, fine. Delilah can see through the lies.

Sloan wrinkled her nose. “I never should have told you all that.”

Sucking the wine in through her teeth, Delilah gave her a red-tinted smile that looked just as devilish as she’d intended.

“Ugh.” Sloan pushed her glass toward Delilah, then laid her head down on the bar top, squeezing her eyes shut. “I know. I sound insane.”

“No, it’s perfectly sane . . . if you’re in love with someone. ” The sound of Delilah pouring out another bottle filled Sloan’s ears. “Which you are. It’s okay, I won’t tell anyone. But it only took one week of being your friend for you to tell me about Kyle, this, and Kyle, that. And I’m making this for dinner with Kyle tonight. ”

Sloan cracked an eye open. “Is it that obvious?”

“Apparently not to him, or you’d have gotten laid by now.”

“Delilah . . .” Sloan whimpered.

“Have you thought about good old-fashioned seduction? Maybe go to bed naked tonight.”

Why had she told Delilah all of these personal details? Sloan lifted the glass of wine. “I’m beginning to think you ply me with wine at the end of the night to get me to spill all my secrets.”

Delilah smirked. “It’s what good friends do.” She chuckled. “Look, I’m just saying. You know he’s not gay, and he clearly cares about you, so maybe he’s just not getting it.”

“Maybe.” Sloan exhaled slowly, examining the paint on her fingers. Or he really just isn’t into me anymore.

Focus, Sloan. It’s smarter not to cross that line anyway.

“I think you should make a statement.”

“He’s busy right now. I don’t want to mess with things and ruin what we do have.” And both statements were true.

Kyle was busy. After their heart-to-heart a few weeks ago, things had been better between them. More . . . real. He’d also decided to revamp a YouTube show and was pouring most of his energy into that during the day. When he wasn’t doing that, he was fixing things around the house from the never-ending to-do list of updates Sloan needed to make to it. How could I not love that man?