“Forgive her, she’s weird at this time of day.” Noah gave me a sharp look.
Vanessa lowered herself back into the seat, and I sat in the chair Noah pulled out for me.
“I’ve been dying to meet you for months now,” she confessed. “Apparently you’re the gateway to my man’s heart, so I have to win you over before he even thinks about getting serious with me.” She laughed.
I looked to Noah, who was already looking at me with a bright smile on his face. I couldn’t believe he’d told her that.
She seemed cool.
“Oh gosh.” I returned my focus to her. “I don’t know what to say.” That must have made her feel awkward.
“It’s a good thing.” She nodded. “He had to meet my parents and my four brothers who hate football.”
“Imagine how that panned out.” Noah laughed.
He hadn’t told me that, but then I didn’t expect him to tell me everything.
“It went extremely well,” Vanessa chided, reaching out to smack his hand playfully. “So, Brooke, I had to meet you. Noah says you love shopping, like seriously love it. Do you think we could go together since I’m a shopping freak too?”
“I would love that. It sounds amazing.” I thought I’d try, and maybe throw in some fashion talk for good measure. “What brands do you like? We could go big and head to the city.”
“Let’s go big.” She nodded quickly. “You must have seen the new Dior summer collection, right?”
Oh I certainly had. “There’s a peach blazer I want.”
“Oh my gosh, the one with the silver trim on the cuffs that Gabriella Deluca modeled at Fashion Week?”
My eyes widened. She wasn’t kidding when she said she was a fashion freak. The only other person I knew like that was me.
“Yes, that one. Did you go to Fashion Week?”
“I went in Milan. I’m a fashion editor atRunway Magazine.”
Now I definitely loved her. I looked over at Noah and nodded.
“She passes, a hundred percent.” I told him.
They both laughed. Then they glanced at each other, and what I saw warmed my heart. It was the way they looked at each other. The look could only be described as love.
Anyone who could look at my Noah like that was definitely a keeper, and I would do everything to support him, which probably meant staying away, or at the very least taking a back seat.
The way they looked at each other got me thinking it would be nice to have someone look at me like that, just to see what it felt like.
No one had actually looked at me like that. Like I was special.
The thought reminded me of the damn kiss with Ryan from the night before, the same man who had the ability to shift my mood from one end of the spectrum to the other, and in such a short space of time.
God, I must have been really losing my mind to start thinking about him. Somewhere along the way I’d lost my grip, my grasp on reality, and I didn’t know how to get it back.
The afternoon was spent talking and laughing. I definitely liked Vanessa a lot, and we planned that shopping trip.
I didn’t mention anything to Noah about what was going on with me. Again, I didn’t want to ruin the meet-up.
It was time to face the music, and this time by myself.
When I got back home, I went to the beach, taking the opportunity to explore it.
I loved the scenic view the sea added to the landscape, but it didn’t change the way I felt about swimming or going in the sea. The water did look quite inviting, though, and I didn’t mind getting my feet wet.
