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“I kissed him.” I set the mugs down with zest. Coffee splashed over and ran down the sides.
“You dawg.” Those two words were dragged out for several seconds as she craned a perfectly manicured eyebrow into her bangs.
I slumped into my seat opposite her. “But there was nothing on the other side of the kiss to suggest there could ever be more. In fact, he seemed almost weirded out about it all.”
“That’s bizarre.”
“And he went on saying how we could never be anything more than friends.”
“Why’s that?”
I lifted my shoulders to practically touch my ears and let them fall with a solid release. “I have no idea. Maybe he talked to Gerry and decided I wasn’t worth it.”
“Stop it.”
“It’s true. Gerry thought I wasn’t girlfriend material as I didn’t seem to remember things about him and who knows, maybe Carter knows him, and they’ve been talking.”
“Do you know how unlikely that scenario is?”
“Then why would he say that?” A sting of rejection stabbed my words. “I kissed him, and he didn’t kiss me back.”
She placed her warm hand on me. “I don’t know. Maybe he’s got lots of heartache and trauma from past relationships and he’s treading carefully?”
It was a valid thought, and it did make some sense. Hehadmentioned an ex-girlfriend who had done something to him, but he hadn’t expanded on what thesomethingwas.
“You’re so into him, aren’t you?”
“Once upon a time, he held my heart.” There was no hesitation and my words slipped out as easy as breathing.
She scooted her chair over to me and stared into my soul. “Tell me about Carter. You’ve never mentioned him until recently. Before that, I didn’t even know someone had the pleasure of truly holding your heart. That, my friend, is a rare gift.”
My heart smiled. “Back in high school, I had the biggest crush on him. All the girls did. He was smart, funny, shy, and so dreamy. We’d been friends in drama class and often just hung out, but that’s all I was, the tag along.”
“Wait a hot minute? You were a drama chick?”
A weak grin snuck out. “Yeah, and I totally sucked. In fact, I almost failed the class.”
“How is that possible? Don’t you get points just for showing up?”
I waved a hand through the air. “It doesn’t matter. Can I explain about Carter?”
“Yes, yes. Go on.” She blew across the top of her mug and took a quick sip.
“Then I took the bold step of asking him out. It was just to the coffee shop around the corner from school.”
“Wait, you went out for coffee on your first date?” She tipped herself forward.
“Yeah. What’s the big deal?” Going to the movies was so cliché, and this way, if things hadn’t gone well, he had an easy out to leave. A coffee wasn’t a huge time commitment.
“And he now owns a coffee shop? Hmm.”
It was a coincidence, but still. “You’re making a huge leap.”
“Am I?”
“But he doesn’t own the coffee shop, just the building.”
“I thought you said he did.”
