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Not to mention the fact that after coming home from another disastrous date, I expected to find him sitting on the couch like the first time, all set to lecture me. I was more than a little sad to walk through the door that night and find the house empty, and that just confuses the heck out of me. Even though his attitude was frustrating, in a way, I thought it was kind of sweet that he stayed home to make sure I was okay. Obviously that’s not really why he stayed home, and obviously he didn’t care if my date turned out to be a homicidal maniac. He just went to work without giving me a second thought. Clearly he knows I didn’t die on my date, since I’m still living at his house, but still . . . I thought maybe he was starting to like me a little bit and that’s why he was so protective and irritating. It really stings to know I was wrong.
“Have you gotten to know Beast on a deeper level yet? Shared a nice bottle of Merlot and talked about his feelings?” Ariel whispers in my ear, interrupting my thoughts.
“No. It was a stupid idea. He doesn’t like me like that,” I grumble, watching Cindy move away from the groom-to-be to start dancing for the best man.
“It’s not a stupid idea. I saw the way he looked at you.”
“What if I put myself out there and he laughs at me? What if he tells me he has no interest in me that way? What if—”
Ariel interrupts me. “What if my dad had tits and I called him Mom? Who cares about what ifs? As much as I hate to admit that I was wrong, maybe online dating wasn’t the best idea for you.”
“Gee, you think?!”
“Shut up and let me finish,” Ariel fires back. “You’re never going to get the whole male-experience thing you need with strangers. And you’re also not going to get those butterflies you want with someone you don’t know. You were comfortable enough with Beast to move in with him. You’re getting to know him. You need to just bite the bullet and flirt with him without analyzing it to death.”
The idea of attempting to flirt with that man makes me feel a little sick to my stomach. Even though Ariel says I shouldn’t care about all the things that could go wrong, I can’t help it. I’m a list maker. I’m a planner. It takes me ten days to just pick out what books to order for the library, making a list of pros and cons for each book. This is a huge step for me we’re talking about here.
My phone starts buzzing in the pocket of my dress, stopping me from coming up with something to say to Ariel about why I can’t just walk up to Vincent, bat my eyelashes at him and ask him if he likes me, like a middle schooler with her first crush.
Pulling the phone out of my pocket and not recognizing the number on my screen, I quickly walk out of the living room and into the foyer of the home before pressing the button to answer it and bring it up to my ear.
“Isabelle? It’s Steven. Steven Luminous.”
What the hell?
I make a weird choking sound through the line, embarrassment flooding through me when I think about what happened on our date and how I’d never run so fast in my life as when I left that restaurant. Why in the world would he be calling me?
“I meant to call you sooner, but I’ve been really busy at work,” he says. “I just wanted to call and apologize for what happened last week. I really am very sorry for doing that to you. It was rude and uncalled for and . . . I’m just really sorry.”
I couldn’t be more shocked right now if my dad walked through the door and told me he made a huge mistake.
“Um, thank you?”
I don’t mean for the words to come out as a question, but this is honestly the last phone call I expected to ever get.
“You really are a very lovely, beautiful, smart, and interesting woman, Isabelle. I cannot apologize enough for my behavior. Hold on one second, my wife would like to speak to you as well.”
And the strangeness just keeps on coming.
“Isabelle? Hi, it’s Stephanie! I’d like to apologize as well for what Steven and I did. I’ve just been beside myself since you ran out of that restaurant and, you know, for what happened after you left. . . .” She trails off.
“What happened after I left?”
“Oh! I mean . . . you know . . . we just talked after you left, and we knew what a huge mistake we made, and we felt really bad about it,” she quickly replies. “I really hope this doesn’t deter you from online dating forever. I mean, it’s how I met Steven, and we are so happy together.”
