“We work together,” I explained, finally getting my act together.
He looked at Vann. “That guy’s a chef?”
“Consultant,” I clarified.
“I thought you said he was your best friend’s brother?”
Getting up before he could ask any more questions, I grabbed my purse and cell phone and hurried across the coffee shop.
“Are you with him?” Vann asked in disbelief as I slid onto the seat across from him.
Without looking him in the eye, I answered, “Ish.”
I felt his eyes narrow, even though I was fiddling with my purse. “What do you mean ish?”
Finally, I raised my gaze to meet his. “Blind date,” I confessed, “Bad, terrible, horrible blind date.”
His lips twitched in an almost smile. “That guy is a total asshole.”
Sighing out the frustration that was the last half hour, I said, “Apparently, he thinks I’m the asshole.”
Vann snorted, then took a sip of his coffee and spent the next two minutes glaring at Matt. “Then he’s an idiot. No wonder he’s single.”
I laughed, surprised at his harsh assessment. “I’m single!”
He took another sip of coffee, hiding a full-blown smile behind it. “I am too, I guess.”
I laughed more and it felt strange because it was the first time I had genuinely smiled all morning. But it wasn’t my date who’d made me laugh. It was Vann.
“We’re only single because those are our options,” I told him, still laughing.
His eyes bugged, “You’re telling me. I went to dinner with a girl last week who walks dogs for a living.”
“That’s a real job,” I told him, unable to lose my smile.
“But,” he added, holding up a finger, “only so she can pursue her dream of becoming an influencer.” His eyes got bigger. “I had to google what that was, by the way.”
My head tipped back, and I had to hold my stomach as I laughed harder than I had in weeks. “She’ll probably be a millionaire by next year.”
He rested his weight on his elbows, leaning toward me to admit. “The dogs were pretty cute.”
Where had this sense of humor come from? “We’re in the wrong professions, I think.”
He shook his head. “My selfie game is tragic.”
“It’s all about the angles,” I told him. “You have to know how to work them.”
Picking his phone up off the table, he barely tilted it toward himself and asked, “I hear this is a good one.”
“That’s perfect as long as you want three double chins.”
He rubbed his throat with his free hand. “Think it will help me get more dates?”
I smiled, nibbling on my bottom lip at the same time. “Yes?”
“Speaking of…” he murmured. “Here comes yours.”
Matt huffed across the restaurant and straight past where we sat toward the bathroom. He gave me an impatient look as he brushed by and I couldn’t help but want to jump into Vann’s lap and ask him to save me.
