Page 26 of The Daddy’s Girl

“Matis said no DJs,” I reply, holding my thumb over the screen.

“Good point. Swipe left.”

“Excuse me, can I get a gin and tonic?”

Turning to the right, I make eye contact with a handsome guy with dirty-blond hair and a tattered blue T-shirt. His gaze catches on me as Geo stands upright and starts making the drink.

“Coming right up.”

I turn away from the guy and focus on my phone instead, but I feel his gaze flitting back toward me more than once.

It feels like it takes Geo ages to make the drink, because the entire time, I’m deliberating over turning back toward the guy to talk to him. I should. He is cute and like my type.

But something is holding me back.

Finally, as the guy opens his mouth as if to speak, Geo appears with his gin and tonic. The guy slips him some money and takes the drink, and then he’s gone, leaving me with a feeling of defeat.

Matis, 1.

Amelia, 0.

Laura giggles behind me, and I peer over my shoulder to see her reaching a hand out to touch Matis’s. I can suddenly see their future spanned out in front of them. They’ll have a great time tonight, so he’ll take her out again. Maybe on the second date, they’ll kiss good night. By then, they won’t be able to wait for another date, so he’ll ask her out the next day. This time, she’ll just come to his place where they’ll finally take things to the next level and probably spend the night making out on his couch.

By the end of the first week, they’ll have sex and be totally obsessed with each other.

The next week, he won’t come to family dinner at Freya’s restaurant.

By their one-year anniversary, he’ll propose.

Then he’ll rarely come around anymore, choosing to spend his time with her instead.

And I’ll still be sitting here, alone.

Suddenly, I can’t take another second. Bursting up from the barstool, I grab my purse and shove my phone in my pocket. “Thanks, Geo,” I call before heading out the door of the speakeasy.

Just before I go, I glance back at Matis once more. He watches me go with a look of worry in his eyes, so I fake a grin for him and mouth, “Have fun.” Then I’m gone.

Wrapping my arms around my body, I walk toward the club. It’s only a few doors down the street, but after only two steps onto the cobblestones, I hear the footfall of someone exiting the bar to catch up to me.

Excitement bubbles up inside me as I assume it’s Matis, but when I spin around to find the dirty blond jogging toward me, I freeze.

“Hey,” he says awkwardly.

I step back cautiously, glancing around me as people pass by on the opposite side of the street. If he tried to haul me into the back of a van, surely I could scream loud enough that someone would help me.

He must notice the fear on my face because he puts up his hands. “Shit, sorry. I scared you. You speak English, right? I just… I saw you in the bar and I wanted to say hi, but I didn’t and regretted it. So now I am.” Clumsily, he raises a hand. “Hi.”

A giggle creeps through my lips as I hold up a hand. “Hi.”

“I’m Jacob.”

“I’m Amelia,” I reply.

He points behind him toward the speakeasy. “Would you like to come back in? I’ll buy you a drink.”

I glance toward the bar, knowing Matis is in there. If he sees me drinking with a strange guy with a hole in his T-shirt, he’s going to cause a scene. Even if Jacob seems really cute and actually kind of endearing.

“I can’t,” I reply. “Sorry. But…I’ll give you my number.”