He turned and walked out of the store without waiting for an answer. Harmony was left stunned and intrigued. There was more to the story than a simple smear campaign. Villains didn't come looking for their victims looking legitimatelyremorseful.
Harmony peered in the back. Morgan was standing with her back against the wall, her eyes wide. "Is he gone?" shewhispered.
Harmony rolled her eyes. "Yeah, he's gone, but you do know he saw you, right? He knew you were here, and really wanted to talk. You probably heard the wholething."
“Yeah.” Morgan nodded. “But I don’t want to talk to him. He ruined my life. He ruined myreputation."
"He looked pretty bad," Harmony said as they both headed back out to the front of the store. The dining area was empty, except for one college student working on his laptop in thecorner.
"Good," Morgansnapped.
Harmony stopped and looked at Morgan in wonder, once again at a loss for words. She'd never seen Morgan act so vindictive against other people. Yes, Declan wrote a horrible article about Morgan. So what? News came and went so quickly that she doubted many people gave it a second thought dayslater.
Eventually, Harmony grabbed a towel and started wiping down the countertop near theregister.
"Are you excited about tonight?" Morgan asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence between the two of them. "Pax is super-hot, and a baseballplayer."
Harmony looked up to see Morgan waggling hereyebrows.
"He'sawhat?"
"A baseball player. Think about how good his butt will look in his uniform." Morgan giggled. "You know, if that's yourthing."
Harmony laughed too. She never had considered jocks her type, but once Morgan had given her that little visual, Harmony couldn’t help but picture herself as the girlfriend of someone who could pull off tightpants.
It would mean she’d have to brush up on baseball in the couple of hours before her date. Was baseball the one with innings? Did they score or earn points? Maybe a goal? Until this moment, Harmony had never realized how non-sporty she actually was. But the extra work would beworthit.
"So, are you excited?" Morgan asked again. "I am, and just think, you only had to wait a couple of days from your original date to your real one. Not bad turnaround, if youaskme."
"Yeah, thanks for that,” Harmony said, hoping Morgan wouldn’t realize she hadn’t answered the original question. Was sheexcited?
As the coffee shop started to fill up with the rush before the last afternoon class, Harmony didn’t have much time to think about Pax or the date. She did, however, keep an eye out for Dominick. She left her shift to get ready feeling strangely upset that he hadn’tcomein.
By the timetheir date rolled around, Harmony felt like a baseball expert. The fact that Pax was twenty minutes late certainly had helped give her the extra time to research the sport heplayed.
For their date, Harmony wore the same dress, to the same restaurant, and even had the same waitress as before. The waitress must have recognized her too, because she gave Harmony the stink eye. Harmony wasted no time ordering a gin and tonic as she settled in, and was on her second of the night when Paxstrolledin.
He wore sunglasses on the top of his head, even though the sun was already setting, and it would soon be night. Pax might be as gorgeous in real life as his picture had indicated, but he was still a walking, talking eighties song. Harmony just barely stopped herself from humming the tune to the Corey Hart song about wearing sunglasses atnight.
"Hey." Pax flashed his smile as he took the seat across from her. He grabbed a roll from the basket in the middle of the table and started eating. "So, you'reHarmony."
"In the flesh," she answered with a smile of her own, her heartbeat picking up as she saw him for the first time inperson.
"Pax.” He pointed to himself and leaned back in his chair. “Crazy about the whole Date Maker mix-up,isn'tit?”
She nodded as he took another bite. The next words out of his mouth were muffled by the roll. "How big of a loser wasyours?"
Huh?The words caught Harmony off-guard. "How bigawhat?"
Pax leaned forward, putting his forearms on the tabletop. "It's okay. We both know we were set up with people who were worsethanus.”
"Why would yousaythat?"
The smile Pax gave in response was dazzling. "Because if the person was a catch, we wouldn't be here, would we?" He chuckled. "My date was pretty enough, but she was as dull as… a dull pencil orsomething."
The irony wasn't lost onHarmony.
And besides, hadn't Morgan said Pax’s date had been the one who complained about the match? Maybe this was his way of saving face, but it made her uncomfortable. Harmony debated asking him, but the waitress came by for their orders. Pax ordered first, not even looking at the menu but requesting the biggest steak they had. Harmony ordered the same thing she had a few nights earlier and tried to ignore the waitress’s raised eyebrow. She took their menus without a word, thankfully, and then left the two of them alone onceagain.
