For him to take me.
And the way those gorgeous eyes were staring down, I could almost believe that he was right there with me.
I jumped to my feet, clutching the wallet in my hand. “I should get going.”
He turned away from me and stepped aside from the doorway. “Yeah. You should get going.”
He walked with me toward the front, and we fell in step together, not saying a word. He even reached behind me and pushed the front door open when we got there.What a gentleman, I thought sarcastically.When we stepped outside together, I gave him an expectant look.
He rubbed his hand across his jaw again, then spit out the toothpick. “Listen. I’m not going to be available, okay, but you come back to the bar if you want.”
“What?” I snapped the word a little harder than I intended to.
“I won’t be able to give you what you’re looking for, but I know you like these old bands. Don’t be shy about coming back here again, if you want to.”
My cheeks started burning up. A little pity was the perfect end to a humiliating excursion. “Sure, thanks.”
I headed off down the block, shoving my fists in my pockets. I was eager to put as much distance as possible between myself and the bar. I would absolutely not be going back there, not after that whole scene. If I really wanted to embarrass myself at a bar again, I could at least find one that would serve me a martini.
Before I could get to my car, however, Ezra from the comic book store popped out of nowhere.
“Hey! Hey! Were you just talking to that guy from the dive bar?”
I stopped in my tracks, turning to face him.
My heart fluttered.Goddamn it. I usually took all morning working up my nerve to talk to Ezra when I went in to the store. Now here he was, wanting to talk to me only a few minutes after having my confidence knocked out.
I pointed toward the bar and arched an eyebrow.
Ezra sighed. “Yes, that bar. Were you just talking to Brick? Big guy, lots of tattoos, smells like a man?”
My heart kept fluttering. “I don’t want to talk about it,” I managed and started walking back toward my car, ready to just be done with the whole afternoon.
Ezra did a little skip-step to catch up with me, hurrying by my side. “It’s just—I was wondering what you were talking about. Like, if he said anything, maybe about me? Or like, comic books? I guess? It’s just that I have this project going with him, very important stuff, and I was kind of surprised to see you chatting together. He doesn’t spend a lot of time talking to people from Northstar.”
I stopped at my Prius, beeping the door open. “I’m sorry, I don’t have anything for you.”
“You don’t want to chat about it a little anyway?”
I did want to chat with Ezra. I wanted that so bad that I ended up pretending I was chatting with him when I was brushing my teeth at least once a week.Garble garble, who’s your favorite illustrator, spit.I just couldn’t possibly chat with him right then, with Brick’s rejection still stinging.
“Not unless you want to drive across town to a garage sale with me,” I muttered.
“A garage sale across town? Sounds like a dream!” He darted to the other side of the card, popping the passenger door open. I opened my mouth to object, but as he dropped into the seat with a grin, the words seemed to disappear.
“Just no grumpy music, okay?”
