“Absolutely! What a good idea. I can work with this tonight. Could you pick it up tomorrow?”
Emmy glanced at Will, who nodded. “Yes. We can come back tomorrow.”
“Excellent. This is going to be a lot of fun. I can’t believe I never thought of doing anything like this.” She started walking toward the back. Will and Emmy followed. “I’m going to give you the Bright Idea discount. In that you gave me a new bright idea. It’s a discount that I made up just now.”
“I appreciate it,” Emmy said.
“Since you brought me the tools, I only need to charge you for the supplies to assemble the chime and the labor.”
Bright named a price that made Will’s eyebrows shoot up, but Emmy didn’t bat an eye. Bright ran Will’s credit card for the fifty percent deposit she’d requested, then took the tools back to her office.
“It’ll be worth it,” Emmy assured him. “I keep wanting to offer to pay you back, and then I remember my wallet doesn’t exist in this realm.”
He shrugged. “I’m trying to remember that money doesn’t mean much to me anymore.”
“I appreciate you spending it anyway.” On an impulse, Emmy pushed herself up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “Thank you. I’m excited to see what Bright comes up with.”
He didn’t respond, only stared at her mouth long enough for Emmy to feel her blood start to hum. There was no mistaking his intent. The man was thinking about kissing her. Interestingly enough, she didn’t back away. And when he started to lean in, her lips parted, seemingly of their own accord.
Then Bright bounced back into view. Will’s back snapped straight. Emmy closed her mouth, pressing her lips together for good measure.
“All set!” Bright declared. “Oh, almost forgot, here’s your receipt! I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon!”
“Yeah, thanks.” Will stuffed the receipt in his pocket.
Neither of them spoke as they got back in the car and started home.
Emmy was sure he’d been about to kiss her. She was slightly less sure that she’d been about to kiss him back, but it had felt that way in the moment. What happened to keeping her distance from the romance novel protagonist? She silently chastised herself as Will drove home with his eyes fixed on the road ahead. No entanglements with the fictional man. None. No matter how sexy he was. And sweet. And funny.
Damn it.
She was about to suggest that they make out just to break the tension when Will spoke.
“I’ve got an early shift tomorrow, so I’m going to hit the hay. I’ll take you to pick up your wind chime when Iget back.” His eyes held a glint of humor when he flicked his gaze over to her. “But if it’s ugly, I’m taking it back and exchanging it for one of those beer-penis paintings. And I’m gonna hang that painting in your room as punishment.”
Emmy laughed. “That’s fair enough.”
Just like that, they were on even footing again.
Fourteen
Will wanted to call in sick. He didn’t want to risk another encounter with a book scene in the hospital. If he was honest with himself, he occasionally found ways to convince himself that he was insane to think he was in a romance novel. Sometimes he managed to find his way around to believing it was all some kind of joke or… cosmic coincidence. Then he’d be slapped in the face with a Scene—he thought of them as having capital S’s—like the one with Lamar. It was like being doused with ice water. A fierce wakeup call that yanked him out of denial and shoved the truth in his face.
He didn’t call in sick, and he went through his shift the next day constantly on edge, waiting for the next Scene to sneak up on him. By the end of his shift, he was so exhausted, he didn’t have it in him to feel relieved that there hadn’t been any. Then he remembered he was going home to Emmy and her silly wind chime. Something lifted inside of him at the thought of it. He found himself hoping more than ever that she would somehow find a way to getthem both out of the book. And soon. Emmy was a solid silver lining in the dark gray cloud of his life, but he hated that she was stuck in the book with him. He wanted to start a life—areallife—with her in it.
“Will.”
He turned to see Nassir approaching him and cursed silently to himself. One more minute and he’d have been out of there.
“What’s up?” he asked, resigning himself to the delay.
“I wanted to check in with you, see if you’re still set on leaving us. I know we already discussed this, but I want to reiterate that a mental health sabbatical is an option.”
“I know, Nassir, but I’m sorry to say that my mind’s made up.”
His supervisor nodded. “Alright, let me try one more tactic. I know working around sick kids can take its toll. Trust me, I’ve seen it happen time and time again. Maybe you’d like to request a transfer?”
Will was already shaking his head. “I’m quitting, Nassir. I appreciate your concern, but I need to take a different direction with my life.”
