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Unknown: That’s the name of a middle-aged man who drives a minivan.
Bingo. That had been exactly what I’d pictured when Alma had first told me about her nephew. In a rare moment of boldness, I told Leo just that.
Me: You want to know a secret?
Unknown: Of course.
Me: When Alma told me about her “nephew Leonard,” I thought you were a fifty-year-old divorcée with a toupee.
Unknown: Fucking hell.
Me: LOL.
Unknown: Horrible first names aside, will you go on a date with me tomorrow night, Gemma?
Me: That depends.
Unknown: On what?
Truthfully? It depended on whether or not I could stop being such a scaredy cat or not. Not wanting to admit that to him, I made up a question that didn’t really matter.
Me: What kind of date did you have in mind?
Unknown: Honestly? I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I was too focused on simply getting you to say yes.
“I know the perfect place for you guys,” Abby said, and I looked up to find her no longer on the couch, but standing beside me and reading my text messages.
Jesus, she was like a little ninja.
Instantly, I snatched my phone away from her eyes. “You really don’t understand personal boundaries, do you?”
She ignored my question entirely. “Seriously, I know the perfect place for you guys. Great food, great music, and hands down, the best place for a first date.”
Anything from Abby made me skeptical, but I needed the help. If I didn’t offer up her suggestion, I wouldn’t have anything else to say.
With a wing and a prayer, I offered myself up to the Abby gods.
Me: How about you pick me up tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m., and I’ll handle the rest?
Unknown: Text me your address, and I’ll be there.
I’d be here too. I’d also be scared to death.
Handsome, charming, funny, and a freaking football god?
Yeah, Leo was dream man material, and I, Gemma Holden, was about to have my chance at the dream.
Freshly showered and fully dressed, I locked my front door and headed for my Durango. But just before I hopped inside, my phone vibrated in my pocket.
I bobbled it in my hand as I slid into the driver’s seat and hit accept with my index finger by the third ring.
“You shut down the Reddit thread?” Cam said by way of greeting into my ear.
“What?” I questioned, pushing the key into the ignition and clicking the engine to life.
“You shut down the Reddit thread,” he repeated, and I squinted my brow in confusion.
“How’d you know that?” It’d been less than twenty-four hours since I’d put the kibosh on the online mystery girl search, and I’d been fairly certain I was the only one outside of internet trolls to remember it existed. Fuck, we’d been seven sheets to the wind when we created it.
“Because I check that fucker daily.”
“You’ve been following that thread?”
“Are you kidding me?” he tossed out on a laugh. “That thread was gold. My sole source of online entertainment for the past two months.”
Jesus Christ. So much for being too drunk that night to remember it.
“What gives, man?” he questioned. “Why’d you have to take away our fun?”
“Our fun?”
He laughed again. “Sorry to break it to you, sweetheart, but half the damn team has been following that thread. Hell, even Wes Lancaster got a few good chuckles from it. After giving us a stern lecture about the guidelines for social media, of course.”
“Wow,” I muttered. “Talk about music to my ears.”
“Hey, if it makes you feel any better, when you get past all the laughs at your expense, we were all just rooting for you to find your girl.”
“Oh yeah,” I muttered sarcastically. “That’s real fucking touching, Cam. Hold on a minute while I wipe away the sentimental tears.”
His hearty chuckle filled my ear. “So, I guess you’ve officially given up your search, huh?”
“Well…” I paused, unsure if I wanted to reveal the truth of my situation, but he jumped on my hesitation with lightning-quick speed.
“Well, what?”
“Well…I shut down the thread because I found her.”
“No shit?”
“No shit.”
“I knew that thread was fucking genius!” he exclaimed. “You’re welcome, by the way.”
“Slow your celebratory roll, dude,” I said through a soft chuckle. “It wasn’t because of the thread.”
“Explain yourself, son.”
“Nonna is actually the one who found her.”
His confusion was evident. “What the fuck is a Nonna?”
“She’s my great-aunt.”
Silence consumed the line for a few beats before Cam’s voice filled my ear again.
“Let me get this straight,” he started. “Your great-aunt found the mystery girl you peed on? How in the fuck does that happen?” he asked and then burst into a fit of laughter.
“Gemma works for her.”
“Who the hell is Gemma?”
I rolled my eyes. “Gemma is her name.”
“Whose name? Your Nonnie’s name?”
“Jesus Christ, keep up, man,” I muttered. “Gemma is her name. The mystery girl. And it’s Nonna, not Nonnie.”
“Damn, son, you really know how to make shit complicated,” he responded. “Shit, I can’t wait to deliver this news to Sean. He’s going to have a fucking field day with this.”
