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Chuck only grinned and shook his head. “Nothing you should apologize about. You don’t have any control over her actions.”
Maybe not, but her presence had still been an unwanted intrusion on our evening. “So….” I said, and paused.
“So.” For a long moment, he gazed at me. The only illumination in the vehicle was from the lights on his dashboard and a faint glow from the fixture mounted on the wall next to my building’s back door, so it was hard to see much in his expression. If I’d focused, I might have been able to get a glimpse of his aura, but I didn’t know if that was such a good idea.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know what he was thinking.
To my relief, he didn’t make a move. He only said, “Let me know about the parking setup. I can see if Travis wants to work it — he could probably use the extra cash.”
With those casual words — and the mention of Travis Cox, Globe’s one and only Uber driver — I knew Chuck wasn’t going to push things, wasn’t going to try to lean in for a kiss.
“That sounds like a great idea,” I said. “Go ahead and call him.”
“Will do.”
There didn’t seem to be anything left to say, so I said again, “I had a really nice time,” then put my fingers on the door handle and let myself out of the truck.
Chuck stayed where he was, watching until I was safely inside and the door locked behind me. I stood there for a moment in the little foyer by the stairs, feeling absurdly relieved.
He might have been the nicest guy in the world…but I knew he wasn’t for me.
7
Walmart Revelations
The next daywas a quiet one. I posted several videos on Instagram, along with a photo of my solstice altar setup. Everything seemed to be enthusiastically received — and I’d picked up another ten thousand or so followers — and yet I still had an overwhelming sense of futility.
Or maybe it was just that I hadn’t stopped beating myself up about not letting Chuck Langdon kiss me.
It could’ve been great,I chided myself as I bustled around the kitchen, prepping the ingredients for a big pot of minestrone soup. So what if it was ninety-five degrees outside? One pot of soup — judiciously supplemented with some of my favorite local takeout — would keep me going for a week.
And it was going to be a busy week. This quiet Sunday was just the calm before the storm.
Sure, maybe a kiss from Chuck would have been amazing. Or it could have been a total nightmare. While part of me was still annoyed about the missed opportunity, my deeper self — my gut — told me I’d done exactly the right thing.
And so had Chuck. He hadn’t pushed it, had seemed to understand the vibe simply wasn’t there.
Under normal circumstances, I would have thought that a man with those kind of instincts was just about perfect. This time, though, I knew that while Chuck Langdon might be perfect for someone, he wasn’t perfect for me.
Also, underneath everything else was a silly form of relief. I might have bumped into Lilith Black and her retinue at the Gold Dust Casino’s restaurant, but Calvin Standingbear hadn’t been anywhere around. Most likely, he hadn’t even met the woman.
I had to hope matters would stay that way.
Archie watched my preparations with a sour eye. While every once in a while he would condescend to eat a small piece of chicken or fish, he had absolutely no use for soup.
“I don’t see why you feel the need to be so elaborate when you’re only cooking for yourself,” he groused from a safe vantage point on the dining room rug. I’d grown to love my little flat, but I’d be the first to admit that the kitchen was definitely not built for two…even if the “two” involved were one woman and a cat.
“I like to cook,” I said blithely. After more than two months of listening to Archie’s complaining, I’d learned to roll with it. I knew that most of the time, he was being a grouch because he didn’t have anything better to do. “When you’re back in your human form, I’ll make youcoq au vin.You’ll love it.”
He didn’t look terribly thrilled by that offer. “There’s the catch — when I’m ‘back in my human form.’ Which, at the rate you’re going, will be never.”
“Didn’t anyone ever teach you to never say never?” I asked, my tone overly sweet. Yes, Archie still possessed a particular knack for rubbing me the wrong way, but I refused to let him get to me. Lilith Black had already irritated me about as much as I was willing to deal with that week.
“No.” Before I could say anything else, he added, “I don’t know why you’re in such a good mood today. Did the quarterback kiss you good night?”
“No,” I replied severely, forgetting the vow I’d taken a while back not to discuss my personal life with my cursed cat. “Nothing happened. And stop calling him ‘the quarterback.’ His name is Chuck, and he’s a nice guy.”
“You know what they say about nice guys.”
