“When a woman expresses her stance and a man responds with ‘I heard you, but,’ that doesn’t bode well for the quality of the exchange.” It was the honest truth, delivered teasingly.
To his credit, he laughed. “May I have permission to finish my thought?”
She nodded.
“I want to encourage you to keep an open mind where Ben’s concerned. I mean, it couldn’t hurt to go out to dinner with him, could it? What’s the worst that could happen?”
“A, I could end up ruining my relationship with my closest friend at work. B, and far more chilling, I could fall for him.”
“That would be great.”
“That would be a catastrophe.”
“You’re smart enough to keep it from becoming a catastrophe.”
“I’m book smart, not romance smart.” She looked toward Jenna, who’d moved to the side to wait for her drink. The attorney wore her auburn hair in a short pixie cut that flattered approximately one percent of women. Jenna was in that one percent.
Leah straightened her short-sleeved crewneck sweater—raspberry in color with dark pink flowers stitched across it in horizontal rows. She’d paired it with narrow gray pants and heels.
“You can learn to be romance smart,” Sebastian said.
She sighed. Ever since Sebastian had told her Ben liked her, thatknowledge hadn’t been sitting well. “I’ve actually been considering going out to dinner with Ben,” she admitted.
“Hmm?”
“I’ve been considering it,” she repeated. When Leah glanced at Sebastian, she found him watching her. Dinner with Ben would give her a private, unhurried setting in which she could ask about his feelings and ensure that he wasn’t holding out false hope where she was concerned.
“You’ll go out with him?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He swallowed, and his jaw appeared to harden.
“Which is what you’ve been lobbying for. So I’m confused as to why you don’t look pleased.”
He shook himself slightly. “Sorry. I got distracted for a second.” A wide smile overtook his mouth. “I’m pleased.”
“Then that’s settled. Dylan and I are leaving in a few days on our trip. When I get back, I’ll have dinner with Ben.”
“Is it time for your doomed road trip to New England?”
“It is, but I take exception to your choice of the worddoomed.”
“Right, because you’ll be taking a teenager and an Airstream trailer on a three-week-long road trip across the country. What could go wrong?”
“Many things. But the laws of probability suggest that none of those things will come to fruition.”
“Your trip’s as doomed as Han Solo’s trip inA New Hope, when he was supposed to transport Luke, Leia, and Obi-Wan to Alderaan.”
She grinned. “I admire the blunt way you just shoved that Han Solo reference into the discussion.”
“I used force instead of skill.”
“I’ll have to think of skillful ways to reference aviation in conversation. Because of you, I read a book on the basics. Thrust, lift, drag. I was instantly enamored. I love physics.”
“What’s not to love about physics?”
“Nothing,” she said earnestly.
