“The longer you wait, the higher your chance is of adding yet another man into this whole mess. How many tropes are you planning on going through still? Because you have, what? Three men from six dates? That’s one man for every two tropes. You’re going to have a reverse harem thing soon if you don’t settle down.”
“I don’t know what to do, Mona,” I admit. “I still believe this is my chance to finally get what I want, but I’m also wondering when enough is enough and if I should cut my losses. I just want my happily ever after.”
Mona just sips her run and coke. “Mmhmm.”
Thanks. Super helpful.
Opposites Attract
Ihave never really liked the Opposites Attract trope, but desperate times call for desperate measures. This… might be a bittoodesperate.
Standing outside the coffee shop where I met Preston, I sigh. I want to go home, crawl into bed, and re-evaluate my entire life. But it’s too early.
In fact, it’s about the time Decker usually brings his lady of the night home for the evening. I’m still confused about my feelings—and his—and I just can’t put myself through that right now.
I push open the door and walk into the empty shop, inhaling the rich, welcoming scent of coffee. It’s honestly one of my favorite smells, and it calms me enough to believe I’m not a complete and total loser.
“Hey, Holly, right?”
I smile at Ken as he stands behind the counter in his blue apron, returning my smile with one just as warm. “You remember my name.”
“It’s kind of hard to forget the woman who stuck it out for an entire date with a man wearing cow dung on his boots.”
Laughing, I walk up to the counter and sigh. The shop closes in an hour, and no one else is here. I’m not really sure why it stays open so late, but I’m not in the coffee shop business. “That was hard.”
“How was the second date? Did he actually clean up nicely like he promised?”
“I didn’t go.”
His eyes widen. “You stood him up?”
“Oh, I’d never do that. I had to work late, so I canceled… and never rescheduled.”
“Did you really have to work late?”
There’s a playful tone to his voice, and I kind of like it. Something about Ken intrigues me. “I probablycouldhave said no, but there really was a project my boss asked me to stay late to finish.”
“Okay, if you say so…”
“Cross my heart.” I make the motion across my chest to prove it.
Ken smiles again. “So, another bad date tonight?”
“Worse than the cowboy,” I say with an exaggerated sigh. “None of these dates are what I expected.”
“I’m sure they’re notthatbad.”
“The date you saw was the best of them.”
He grimaces. “You need coffee. How about a mint chocolate latte?”
“Sounds amazing.”
With no one else in the shop, it almost feels like we’re on a little date ourselves. The hiss and steam of the milk sound louder in the empty space than I’m used to, but it’s kind of comforting. For some reason, I can see Ken serving me something fancy like this. While I’m curled up in his bed.
“Okay, tell me,” he says, sliding the cup toward me. “What was wrong with this date?”
I’m not sure he’s prepared for this. “First of all, he lives in his mother’s basement. Which really should have tipped me off, but I thought it was relatively safe to break my rule of not going to their place because his mom was there.”
