For the first time during this disaster, real amusement danced in Harmony's eyes. He'd pegged her for the kind of girl who would balk at movies like that, which made the fact that he'd quoted it even worse. It was like his subconscious was pushingheraway.
But her recognizing the quote gave him renewed confidence that this date was supposed tohappen.
"I'd love to go painting with you. Although I'm afraid my skill is lacking, even for somethinglikethat."
"It can't be that bad." She smiled, and Dominick wanted to stand there forever. They were finally finding common ground. Why ruin that by announcingthetime?
And yet, he still found his eyes looking down at the watch he always wore, and felt his mouth opening to say, "We're going to be late if we don’tgonow."
The smile on Harmony's face fell as she looked down at her phone. "Okay, I'll meet youthere."
Dominick stood near her car as she started it up and backed out of her parking space. Once she left the parking lot, he quickly raced to his own vehicle. He started the old sedan with one hand as he called his roommate with theother.
He put the phone on speaker before setting it in his lap and drove as quickly as he could without beingreckless.
"Don't tell me she already dumped your sorry ass, Nicky. At least tell me you gave her my number." Conrad's voice came through the speaker loud and clear, bringing a heavy feeling in Dominick's stomach. He knew his roommate was joking around—okay, hehopedhe was joking. But it was so close to the truth, and Dominick’s stomach sank with Conrad’sgreeting.
"Conrad." His voice sounded pained to his own ears, so he wasn't surprised when Conrad picked up on thetension.
"Wait." There was a beat of silence. "Tell me she didn't actually dump you already. You've only been gone for likeanhour."
Dominick rushed to get it all out. "This date couldn't have started out worse. She was expecting someone else. The Date Maker mixed up envelopes!" A choking laugh came from the phone's speaker. "Dude. I know! And I'm trying to turn it around, but I need your help. What doIdo?"
Dominick sped through a yellow light as he continued toward his destination. Talking on the phone while driving, running through intersections. It was so unlike him, but he felt like he had so much on the line. When would he ever get a chance like this again? He was on a date, if you could call it that, with a girl he'd thought beautiful from the first moment he’d laid eyes on her at thecoffeeshop.
He didn't want toblowit.
After giving Conrad the abridged version of what happened at dinner, carefully leaving out his run-in with the car door, he held his breath andwaited.
There were a coupleuhhsandhmmsfrom Conrad before he answered. "You need to beconfident."
"Confident?"
"Yeah, girls love confidence. Go into that painting class and act like you own theplace."
Dominick chuckled. "I already admitted I couldn't paint to savemylife."
"Then own it. If you're that bad, embrace your terrible artwork. Don't stress and don't act like itbothersyou."
Dominick spotted the sign for the painting class, and slowed down. Harmony's car was already in one of the parking spaces near the entrance, and her dooropened.
He pulled into the lot carefully, findingaspot.
"What if I already let my insecurities come through? What if the shock of knowing she expected someone else already ruined thenight?"
"Then I called dibs. But seriously, yougotthis.”
Dominick rolled his eyes even though he knew Conrad couldn't see it. He hit the button on his phone to end the call and watched as Harmony paced back and forth in front of the entrance. Like him, she was talking on her phone—her free hand moving wildly. She would stick it straight out in front of her, then prop it on her hip, then run it throughherhair.
She had to be discussing the date, just as he had been. Dominick's curiosity burned. He would have given anything to know what she was saying, and who she was talking to. Had Morgan calledherback?
There were no delusions on his part. Dominick knew Harmony was unhappy with the evening so far. He only wanted to know if their date could be salvaged—andhow.
Harmony’s eyes darted to him as he stepped out ofthecar.
"Igottagobye." The words came out so quickly she could only have been talking about him. And by the way she rushed to get off the phone, Dominick guessed she wasn't sayinganythinggood.
Confidence.
