Page 145 of You Fall First

“I’m not afraid of busy.”

“Okay.” I pause for a moment, working to hold on to my smile. “You make being with me sound hard.”

“Being with you isn’t hard.” His eyes soften at the corners. “Finding time might be, but those are two different things. And I don’t want you to think I’m not willing to put in the effort.”

“If there’s one thing I’d never doubt about you, Noah Stadler, it’s your effort.”

Even as I say this, his eyes lift, locking in on something behind me.

Or someone.

“Well, hello, there,” comes a feminine voice. “What a surprise!”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Noah

“Hey, Nina.”

I paste on a smile for Jo’s new boss, but my first thought is that her crashing our date is a buzzkill of the highest level. But when Jo sees who’s standing at our table, both dimples crease her cheeks, and I forgive the interruption.

I sure do love those dimples.

“Hi!” Jo grins at her. “What are you doing here?”

“Eating,” Nina says.

Jo chuckles. “Duh. Ask an obvious question …”

Nina nods across the restaurant where another brunette woman is being seated by the host. “My cousin’s been begging to try this place, so here we are.”

“Well, Noah and I were just talking about you.”

Nina’s gaze darts between us. “Really?”

“We were toasting to your program,” I say.

“He might need flashcards to remember the name, though,” Jo teases.

“In my defense, it is a mouthful.”

“What?” Nina deadpans. “You think The Mountain View School District’s Student Wellness & Belonging Program is hard?”

I shake my head, blow out a breath. “I’ll work on it.”

“We definitely need an acronym,” Jo says. “And I’ve got some ideas. I have a lot of ideas, actually.”

“Love to hear it.” Nina cocks her chin. “I know you had a prior work commitment to deal with. You were starting training somewhere soon, I think.”

“Yep. I talked to the managers at Mockingbird, and they’re prepared to muddle through without me.”

“Fantastic. Are you ready to get going on some preliminary planning this week?” Nina’s eyes widen.

“Totally ready.”

“How about Tuesday at nine o’clock?”

“Works for me.”