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I sighed, and when I was finally brave enough to look at Linden, he was grinning. “I like him.”
I groaned. “I have mixed feelings about him right now.”
Linden laughed. “He seems fun.”
“He’s pushy, has no filter, and he’s feisty.” Then I relented. “But he’s very good at his job and a close friend of mine, so...”
“You told him we have a date tomorrow?”
I grimaced. “Well, yeah, they tortured it out of me. Like waterboarding, without the water or the torture, really. Honestly, I might have just blurted it out because, like he said, it’s been a while for me since I dipped my toes into the dating pool.”
Linden was still smiling at me. “You had a haircut, I see.”
I sighed again, this time defeated. “Robbie and his boyfriend made me. And they made me go clothes shopping.” I pointed to my eyebrows. “And this is their doing. Please don’t read too much into it. I’m just certain they thought I was heading for priesthood, so they steamrolled me into it. It’s honestly better to not argue with them. But I drew the line at manscaping.”
His eyes widened.
“I mean, I didn’t need it,” I added quickly. “Christ almighty, can we just forget today even happened? First with the tree, and then Robbie, and pretty much everything I’ve said.”
He laughed. “I happen to like the kum quick tree.”
I laughed, despite the fact it felt like my face was on fire. “Uh yeah, it’s been a day.”
Linden studied me for a second, a gentle smile pulling at his lips. “I find your nervousness very cute,” he said. “And it’s refreshing, to be honest.”
“Refreshing? Like a cold lemon spritzer on a hot day? Or plummeting into a full body ice bath?”
He grinned at me. “Definitely the spritzer. I just mean that it’s nice for a guy to be nervous and excited about a date instead of him being so immune to it that it doesn’t matter. I like it.”
“Oh, okay.” I cleared my throat and shoved my hands into my back pockets and looked around. “So, can I help you here with anything?”
“I just need to fix the cushions,” he said.
“Oh, I can do that,” I said. Upon closer inspection, I could see each cushion was red silk with gold threads. The kind of detail I’d have never noticed before. I distributed them evenly, but then he came along after me and fixed them, giving each a karate chop on the top to plump them to perfection. I thought I’d done well to even get them on the sofa. “So apparently I can’t do that,” I added, watching him work his magic.
He chuckled as he perfected everything to within a millimetre. “There’s a knack.”
I nodded to the pyramid of fruit he’d put on display at the end of the kitchen counter. “And the pomegranates and oranges?”
“A symbol of prosperity and goodwill. And they match the colour scheme.”
Jeez.
I was never letting him see the blankness of my place.
“Is your place decorated like this?” I asked. “Where everything has meaning?”
“Like this?” he asked with a laugh. “Uh, no. I lack the budget.” Then he gave me a smirk. “Was that you trying to subtly ask to see my place?”
My eyes almost fell out of my head. “What? No! Oh god, I wouldn’t... I didn’t mean...”
He laughed and slid his hand onto my arm. “I was joking.”
“I was just thinking last night that I needed to do something with my place because I’ve been so busy these last few years. It’s just blank and doesn’t say anything about me. Or maybe it says a lot, I don’t know. But then I look at what you’ve done with this place, and you know every little thing about décor, and I can’t help but think your place must be amazing, and...” I shook my head. “I’m trying to stop talking.”
His smile was warm and lovely. “My place is actually a bit messy. I have magazines and binders of style guides everywhere and crates of odds and ends that I might need for work. It doesn’t help that my place is small and there’s not much room for error.”
“Yeah, my place isn’t big either,” I volunteered. “I moved into the city when I opened my shop. It’s close and convenient.” I shrugged. “It’s all I ever needed these last few years.”
