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Enjoy this date, she told herself. You’ve been on enough bad dates to know that this one is a good one.
So she told Alex a story about how she’d broken an arm as a kid when she’d tried climbing on top of the swings at the park. It was hilarious in hindsight but hadn’t been so much at the time, and telling it totally got her mind off Marcus. Then he told her an equally funny-now-but-wasn’t-then story about how he crashed his bike at a construction site and had to get stitches. They both laughed quite a bit, and he ended the story with, “But at least I got ice cream out of the deal.”
And just like that, Joselyn found herself wanting to pull out her phone and send Marcus a text, even though he might not see it until the end of his shift. Or maybe he’d see it earlier if it was a slow night. She yearned for the feeling her heart got whenever she heard his text tone and knew she was about to see his words. Or the feeling she got when her phone rang and lit up with his picture or when they were about to see each other in person.
And she couldn’t get her mind off it, even though she was having a great conversation with someone who was sitting across from her, in person, right now.
When the check was paid and they were both walking out to the parking lot, she thought about how things would go for the rest of the evening if she and Marcus hadn’t started working on the business together. The night was still young— she and Alex could decide to do something to extend the date. Maybe even plan a second date.
But she and Marcushadstarted working together. And she was falling for him even though she’d expressly told herself not to. She couldn’t bring herself to lengthen the date with Alex. So she said, “It was so much fun to catch up with you tonight, Alex. I’m glad your mom made it happen.”
Alex chuckled.
“We shouldn’t wait so long before doing it again sometime.”
Alex smiled. He was a smart enough guy to know that meant she still saw him firmly in the friend zone and as nothing more. He nodded. “We should. I had a lot of fun, too.”
When Joselyn got into her car, she found herself wondering if her inability to date anyone else, if that “But he’s not Marcus” voice maybe meant that Marcus wasthe one. If maybe he’d always beenthe one.
Even though she’d given up hope a long time ago that anything would ever work out between the two of them. But, apparently somewhere deep down, in a place she couldn’t even see, maybe she had been hoping it would all along.
ten
MARCUS
During the annual birthday breakfast at Back Porch Grill, Marcus tried to steer the conversation back to Everett and the fact that it was his birthday, but Everett and his wife Hannah still asked about With a Cherry on Top. It wasn’t that he didn’t like spending every waking moment talking about it, but it was Everett’s birthday, not his.
“Do you know what would make a great ice cream flavor,” Everett asked as he pointed his fork at his plate. “Back Porch Grill waffles with strawberry syrup.”
“But then every time you got that flavor,” Hannah said, “it wouldn’t matter what time of the year or what time of day it was, you would think it was breakfast time on your birthday.”
“I’d be okay with that,” Everett said as he got another fork full of his waffles and shoved it in his mouth. His three-year-old son Drew must have decided he was finished with his waffles— or at least that he was finished licking all the whipped cream off the top— and climbed around the booth and onto Everett’s lap. Everett got him situated on his lap before cutting into his next piece.
Hannah gave their one-year-old another bite of his pancake. “It sounds like you and Joselyn have gotten through a lot of the steps you need to before your shop opens.”
“We have,” Marcus said, pushing his plate with the part of his omelet he was too full to eat toward the middle of the table. “If I’d had to do all of this myself, I doubt I would’ve made it through the first month before having to close down. Joselyn is brilliant. She knows her stuff.”
Everett nodded in agreement as he took another bite.
“It sounds like the two of you have been spending alotof time together over the past two months,” Hannah said, not really as a statement, but as an obvious push for more information.
“Well, yeah. I mean there’s a lot to do.”
“Wait,” Everett said before he even finished chewing his bite. “You and my sister aren’t—” He scooted Drew to the space in the booth between him and Hannah, so there was nothing other than the table between him and Marcus.
“No!” Marcus said, feeling like the room suddenly got too warm. “No, of course not. She’s just my business consultant.”
He hoped his words were convincing. Because truthfully, nothinghadhappened between him and Joselyn. But he was too embarrassed to admit, even to himself, how often over the past eight weeks he wished something would happen between the two of them. He had very nearly kissed her a month ago, and she had made it very clear that day and in the days since that she wasn’t interested in something happening between them. So Everett had nothing to worry about.
“In fact, she just went on a date with someone a few days ago.” He had tried to play things cool with Joselyn when she told him that she was going to dinner with Alex so she wouldn’t be able to tell just how much it wrecked him to know that she was on a date with someone else. Now, he worried that it showed all over his face and Everett would see.
Everett wasn’t taking his next bite— his fork was hovering in the air as he studied Marcus. He suddenly worried that every single motion he made was going to tip off Everett to exactly how hard he had fallen for his sister.
And then both of their phones buzzed, and they both picked them up. It was a message from Kennon to the two of them.
Kennon: T-minus-10 and counting!
Marcus glanced at the clock on his phone, his eyebrows drawing together. It was only 8:50. But Everett was already typing furiously, so he waited for his text to send.
