Room For You (Cranberry Inn)(24)

Alexa was frozen, her eyes the size of half dollars and her fork suspended in mid-air halfway to her mouth. “Kacie, I haven’t heard you talk about a guy like that in a long time … since Zach. You can’t just let this go.”

“Our lifestyles don’t exactly match up. It would never work, and I’m not putting myself out there to get hurt again.” I grabbed a piece of broccoli and popped it in my mouth.

“Do you know the last time Derek got me flowers? Let’s see…” She looked up at the sky and tapped her chin. “Oh yes, I remember. I was seventeen, wearing braces and the flowers were on a band on my wrist. And if I remember correctly, we capped off the night by doing it in the backseat of his parents’ car.”

“That’s not fair, you OWN a flower shop. Should he call you to place your own order?”

“My point is, why shoot this down before it’s even had a chance to get off the ground?”

“Alexa! He was arrested for swimming naked in Buckingham Fountain in Chicago for Christ’s sake! You think that’s a good role model?”

Alexa threw her head back and laughed. “I remember reading about that. Boy, I would love to see that security camera footage. That man is scorching hot, and I’m assuming his southern hemisphere is pretty heavily populated, if you know what I mean,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows up and down.

I picked up a fortune cookie and threw it at her. “You’re not helping.”

“Why do you need a good role model anyway? You’re a grown woman,” she teased, cracking the fortune cookie open.

“You know what I mean, Lex. I’ve got the girls to think about too. Anyone that comes into my life comes into theirs. I have to make good decisions.”

“And I get that, but you’re not dead, Kacie. You’re young, you’re hot, and you have a lot of life left. Those girls are going to grow up and move out one day. Then what? No one is saying you have to marry him, but lighten the fuck up. Have some fun.” She paused, looking down. Her face swept back up, looking at me impassively and she chuckled. “Here, I think this belongs to you.” She reached over and handed me the small strip of paper from the fortune cookie.





HEY BRODY, IT’S KACIE. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE JERSEY AND THE FLOWERS, ESPECIALLY THE FLOWERS. THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL. IT WAS VERY THOUGHTFUL OF YOU. :)



I stared down at my phone, my mind a blank slate. Six days ago I met her, four days ago I left her my favorite jersey, yesterday I sent her flowers, today she was finally answering me, and now the noodles of my brain didn’t want to connect enough to form a coherent sentence. I felt like an awkward fifteen-year-old kid trying hard not to fuck it up.

Smiley face. She put a smiley face—I might have a shot. I would have felt better about my odds if it were one of those winky faces, but I’d take what I could get.

Here goes nothing…



YOU’RE WELCOME, I’M GLAD YOU LIKE THEM. MAYBE NEXT TIME I GIVE YOU FLOWERS, I CAN DELIVER THEM IN PERSON WHEN I’M PICKING YOU UP FOR DINNER?



My heart pounded in my chest. I had never asked a girl out via text before, and it definitely wasn’t my preferred method, but at this point, I’d take what I could get from her. It was forty-five minutes before my phone beeped again. Okay, it was really only two, but it felt like forty-five.



K: ABOUT THAT … IT WOULD BE FUN TO HAVE DINNER, I’M JUST REALLY BUSY RIGHT NOW WITH SCHOOL AND THE GIRLS.



Bullshit.



SO, YOU DON’T EAT DURING THE SCHOOL YEAR? THANK GOD IT’S SUMMER.



K: OF COURSE I EAT, I’M JUST KINDA TOO BUSY RIGHT NOW FOR DATING.



DATING IN GENERAL OR DATING ME?



Please say dating in general, please say dating in general.



K: I KNOW THIS IS GOING TO SOUND REALLY BAD, BUT I HAVE TO BE HONEST. YOU ARE GREAT. I REALLY LIKE YOU. I JUST DON’T HAVE THE TIME TO INVEST IN SOMETHING THAT WILL LEAD ME DOWN A DEAD-END ROAD. DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?



Ouch.

That was the first time a girl had ever referred to my advances as a dead-end road and it was a kick in the balls. Why was I so damn determined to get this girl to go out with me? She clearly had some deep scars and should be easy to walk away from, but instead of running the other direction I wanted to scoop her up, clean her off and make her world good again. I felt defeated.



YEAH, I GET IT. FRIENDS?



K: OF COURSE! MAYBE THE GIRLS AND I CAN COME SEE A GAME SOMETIME. :)



Fuck you, smiley face.

I was annoyed. She closed the door before I even got to it, and then locked it … twice. She knew nothing about me. How could she decide that quickly what should and shouldn’t be? That day at the inn outside in the rain, there was a moment when we were hovering over a puddle, her arms around my neck and it was there. She felt it; I felt it, even if I was the only one willing to admit it. I saw it in her eyes. Now here she was, less than a week later feeding me a line of bull about why it wouldn’t work. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince me, or herself.