The guy looked up from his sports news article and examined Ashley from head to toe. Great, he was a multi-tasker. She glared at him, and he went back to staring at his phone.
“What did you do to him last night?” Lina asked.
Ashley turned away from the nosy guy in line and lowered her voice. “Reid tried to corner me, and I panicked, throwing myself into Chase’s arms and introducing him as my boyfriend. I wasn’t thinking clearly at the time.”
“Reid was at the restaurant?”
“Yes. Anyway, Chase acted weird after that. And now he wants me to help him find online dates. So, that went really well.”
“I think I need an in-person analysis of this guy. Can you get him to come over? Tell him we’ll help him set up his online profile.”
“I don’t know, Lina. I think it’s time to give up on this. I need to forget about everything—the secret admirer who’s probably Flynn messing with me—about Chase. I was doing fine with my break from dating. I should go back to that.”
“Oh, this is for science now, Ash. I have to know what’s going on with your strange coworker friend.”
The line moved enough for Ashley to look at the menu board, and she sighed. “Fine, I’ll see if I can get Chase to come over tonight.”
“When is your interview?” Lina asked.
“In about forty-five minutes, I’m grabbing lunch first. I told Mr. Davidson I had a dentist appointment, which I guess is only a small stretch of the truth.”
“Well good luck, girl. You’ll do awesome.”
After hanging up with Lina, Ashley went to her email app and checked for a response from the weather girl, but, not surprisingly, there wasn’t one. Contacting a famous person was easy. Getting her to actually read the message was probably impossible.
***
This was insane. Chase followed Ashley to her apartment after work, wondering why he’d agreed to come over to set up his online profile. Yes, he wanted Ashley’s advice, but not necessarily her management of the whole process. Having her look over his shoulder while he tried to forget about her and search for someone new wasn’t exactly what he had in mind when he’d asked for help.
Beth, however, was fully on board with him spending an hour or two at Ashley’s. She insisted everyone was fine at home and she could handle making dinner. Who knew that all it would take for her to step up and accept responsibility was for him to show interest in a social life?
He pulled into the same spot he’d parked in the night before and walked across to meet Ashley at her car door.
“You never told me. How did the interview go?”
Ashley slowly bobbed her head back and forth as if debating. “Ehh, I thought I did well, but she didn’t give me any indication at the end as to whether I had a chance at the position. She just said they’d be getting back to the applicants in a week.”
The door to her apartment swung open wide as they walked up, and her roommate came out all smiles. Lina was pretty, with short brown hair and wide brown eyes, almost doe-like, though they held a bit too much fire for that. He had a hunch she was the type of person who didn’t take no for an answer and liked to cause mischief. The perfect foil for Ashley’s more careful personality.
Chase held out his hand, and Lina about squeezed it off when she shook it in welcome. “Hi, Chase. Ready to have some fun?”
Ashley rolled her eyes. “Lina thinks everything is fun. She says the same thing when it’s time to tackle the dishes.”
At this point, Chase would prefer a sink full of dishes. The first thing Lina did was rearrange his hair and pull him outside for a photo shoot. He looked to Ashley for help, but she only gave him an amused smile, one that said, ‘go with it.’
But the photoshoot was nothing compared to the grilling that followed. Lina sat at the computer and rattled off questions for him to answer. And often, she and Ashley didn’t like his answers and asked him for more.
Ashley sat next to him on their couch, the sagging leather causing an Ashley/Chase sinkhole in the middle. He wished she’d remedy the situation. Having the weight of her arm and leg against him was the best and worst kind of distraction. His heartbeat picked up as she moved her head to rest against his shoulder and left it there. Was she trying to torture him? Of course not. She had no idea the effect she had on him or she wouldn’t do it.
“What kind of relationship are you seeking?” Lina asked. “Something serious?”
“Yes.”
“How serious?”
He seriously couldn’t breathe right now. Every nerve in his body was finely tuned to the feel of Ashley next to him. Online dating was supposed to help him move past his feelings for Ashley, not make him question giving up on getting over her. “Can I get some water?”
“Yep.” Ashley went to get him a glass. He stood and followed her. Maybe he could casually move to the armchair when they sat back down.
