“We do music, but Dave doesn’t listen to pop and I’m drawing a blank.” She garbled the words in her haste to get her mind onto a safer topic, one that didn’t involve this man’s muscles.
Jake pressed his thumb against his lips in thought, and her eyes followed the motion. Nice lips. Lucky, lucky thumb. “I do believe that’s Avril Lavigne’s ‘Girlfriend.’”
As soon as he said it, her vapor-locked brain unstuck, and she yanked her eyes away from his mouth to hum the song quietly to herself. Yep, that lyric was in there.
“You’re right,” she said in wonder. “I was just schooled in music by anaccountant.”
He shrugged. “I have a younger sister. Also, ‘Sk8er Boi’s’ a bop.”
She burst into a startled laugh, and his chocolate-brown eyes met hers, lit with a spark she hadn’t seen in him before. But when Dave walked back into the room, that warmth vanished, and she watched him turn back into corporate-accountant guy, the man with the gorgeous face and the holy-shit body covered in an expensive suit.
“I’d better get back to work. Glad I could help.”
“Thanks,” Mabel called after his retreating back, and only someone who knew her well would pick up on her unusually husky tone. Unfortunately, Dave knew her better than anybody.
“Aren’t you two adorable,” he crooned. “Just don’t get us fired this time, huh?”
His words hit her like a bucket of cold water, and her chin snapped back. “Jesus, Dave.”
He winced. “Sorry. Too far?”
“Too fucking far.” A dart of pain bloomed in her heart, and she crossed the room to stand in front of the bulletin board plastered with take-out menus and old concert fliers.
Dave followed her. “Hey, come on. It was a joke. You know I don’t blame you.”
“Why not?Iblame me.” She used her pinkie nail to straighten an ancient Pearl Jam poster on the wall, but when Dave stepped closer to her, his shoulder nudged it off-kilter again.
“You went out with a guy you were interested in. You didn’t know he’d trash you to the station manager when you ended things.”
She laughed bitterly. “The station manager who happened to be his father and who threatened a humiliatingly public firing if we didn’t go quietly.”
“So we went quietly, and now here we are.” Dave gestured toward the greenroom.
“Yes, here we are,” she agreed, taking in the broken-down couch, threadbare carpet, and sagging blow-up palm tree decorated with a string of snowflake lights. “Exiled from paradise—”
“Gainesville, Florida, wasn’t exactly paradise.”
“Well, it was definitely a larger market and closer to the beach.”
“I still say we should’ve sued,” he said darkly.
“Probably.” The helpless anger swept over her again even though it had been almost five years since she’d dumped the wrong guy and opted not to pursue a no doubt soul-killing legal battle against him and his father.
“Are you really not happy here, Mae?” Dave straightened his glasses where they perched on his long nose, then studied her with concern. “Because I think Beaucoeur’s been pretty good to us.”
She hugged her arms to her chest. “Oh sure. Cool job, nice coworkers, devoted listeners. Your kids were born here, and I finally figured out all the light switches in my house. What more could we want?”
All true, but she still felt unsettled. Why was it so hard to admit to Dave that despite all the good in her life, she had a hole in the middle of her chest?
Fear. That was her problem. She could interact with fans all day long and rattle away on the air while thousands of people listened, but she was too scared to go looking for a relationship after the fallout from her last one close to half a decade ago. So she’d just learned to tune out the loneliness that always throbbed in her heart.
And then goddamn Superman had strolled into her station, hauled her up off a couch, and dialed up the volume on all that loneliness. But Jake was involved with the new owners, so he was an extra level of not-for-her. Of course, no way in hell was she going to tell Dave any of that. Since he was still looking at her in concern, she shot him a carefree grin. “It’s all good. And at least we’re not playing Celine Dion for a living.”
As she expected, he gave an exaggerated shudder. “Light rock.Perish the thought.” Then he turned serious again. “But you made heart-eye emojis at the accountant, which isn’t something I see every day. Just… keep your mind open, okay? Who can say where you’ll be when you meet the right person?”
Mabel nodded, not wanting to continue this discussion by pointing out that accountant Jake was the last person she should risk jumping back into the relationship pool with. No, she had every intention of tamping down the loneliness and throwing herself into work like she always did. No more heart-eye emojis, no matter how handsome the accountant in question might be.
Four
