“When’s her birthday?”
“May.”
“May? You shop early.”
“Sure.”
She looked up, as something in the tone of his voice caught her. She knew what came next. He was about to ask her out. But hot flushes and stuttering hearts notwithstanding, she didn’t want to go on a date with him. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. She did want to go on a date with him, but that would be getting into dangerous territory. Territory that she didn’t have the strength to navigate. He was just too…everything. “I won’t be a minute.” She dashed back through the curtain, feeling a little frantic.
Mikayla, seeing the expression on Juniper’s face as she returned, was on her feet in an instant. “What’s up?”
“What? Nothing. I just need some more wrapping paper.”
Mikayla glanced at Leah, studiously painting flowers on her plate and moved to Juniper’s side. “What’s up?” She asked again, in a low voice.
“He’s going to ask me out.”
Excellent! Mikayla thought. Her gorgeous friend deserved a hot date.
“No, don’t look like that. I don’t want to go on a date with him.”
“Bullshit.”
“Mikayla, please.” She was looking edgy, desperate.
“Okay, fine.” Mikayla surveyed her for a moment. “You look like an anxious teenager. Pull yourself together and play it cool.” She pushed through the beaded curtain. “William! Hi! How great to see you again.”
“Hi. It’s great to see you too.”
Holy smokes, he was gorgeous.
Juniper moved to the counter, unfolding the tissue paper and placing the pot in the center. “Sorry about that. Just had to grab some more paper.”
“No problem.”
“Great weather we’re having.” Mikayla leaned her hip on the counter and folded her arms across her chest.
“Yeah, it’s lovely.”
“Getting lots of work done?”
“Sure.”
A long silence dragged out. Umm, what else? “Do you surf?”
“Not really.”
Awkward. He couldn’t have made it plainer that he didn’t want her there, but he was being super polite about it. He also couldn’t take his eyes of Juniper as he took the gift from her and handed over the cash. With a spurt of pure mischief, Mikayla said “Hey, if you’re around on the weekend, you should check out the music festival.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, you don’t wanna miss it. Lots of bands playing, obviously. But there’ll be food trucks and some stalls and fireworks after the sun sets.”
“Sounds great.”
“So, we’ll see you there?”
He shrugged non-committedly, looking from Mikayla to Juniper and back again. He was trying to play it cool and failing spectacularly. Mikayla loved that in a man. “Sure, if I’m around.”
