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“Is your whole world caving in?”
“No!” she exclaimed.
“Then why were you sitting there, staring into your coffee so morosely?”
“Morosely?”
“Till I looked it up, I didn’t know what it meant, either.”
“I know what it means, and so do you.”
“All right then, what made you morose?”
“Lord,” she said, huffing a breath. “You’re not going to let it go, are you?”
By way of an answer, he folded his arms over his chest and settled on the bench as though in it for the long haul.
She closed her eyes briefly, then, resigned, said, “I had just come from the dentist. Top floor.” She raised her hand to indicate the stories above them. “I was still a bit woozy from the chill pill they gave me. I thought a latte would perk me up before I started the drive home.”
Gingerly she touched the side of her face. “The numbing began to wear off. I wasn’t feeling all that great. Then you show up and make a spectacle of me.” She paused, took a breath, and narrowed her eyes on him. “Don’t ever grab me like that again.”
“I didn’t grab you.”
She gave him a withering look.
He raked his fingers through his hair, turned his head aside and looked at the yellowing leaves on the nearest ficus tree, then came back to her. “I didn’t mean for it to be a grab. I didn’t mean to make a spectacle of you. I apologize.”
He appeared to mean it. “Apology accepted.” After a short silence, she said, “I thought you were going to Florida.”
“I thought so, too. That was until I checked the airfares this morning.”
She gave him a wan smile.
“Hemingway’s house is still on my bucket list,” he said, “but I may not make it down there until I publish.”
“I’ll keep an eye out for discount fares and alert you to them.”
“Definitely a benefit to having the MVP of travel agents living next door.”
The grin he flashed was too attractive, too rakish, too…too everything.
She looked away from him toward the bank of elevators where a car had just opened up. A group flowed out, another filed in. The building was full of people, yet they had the seating area to themselves, making it feel as though they were alone.
It occurred to her then what an odd coincidence it was that he had turned up here.
She regarded him with misgiving. “What are you doing here, Drex?”
“Downtown, you mean?”
“I mean in this building. Why are you here?”
“I was in search of the main library. Got turned around. Saw the sign for the coffee shop, came in for a shot of espresso and to get my bearings.” He dismissed all that with a shrug, then his eyes sharpened on her face. “Still feeling woozy? You gonna be okay?”
“The latte worked.”
“You didn’t drink it. Not one sip.”
It disconcerted her that he had noticed. It made her uneasy to wonder what else he might have observed that would be much more consequential. “I should go.” She slid the strap of her handbag onto her shoulder and stood.
