She stilled and mumbled, “I wasn’t obsessing,” under her breath.
“Uh-huh.” Allie giggled.
Miriam looked at the time on her phone. She needed to start loading her car with everything for that day’s event if she didn’t want to be late. “But I do need to get going.”
“Okay. Later, babe.” Allie made a loud kiss sound.
“Later,” Miriam mumbled before she ended the call.
With a defeated sigh, she grabbed the pop-up banner, table, and box of table decorations and swag from her closet. When she walked out into the living room of her one-bedroom apartment, her orange tabby looked at her with an accusing stare from his perch on the back of her hot-pink couch that Silas had always teased her about.
“What?”
Hobbes’ yellow eyes stayed fixed on her as he cocked his head. Was everyone going to accuse her of trying to impress Silas today?
“I’m not trying to look nice for him. I want to look nice for the meet and greet since I’m representing the team.”
Great, now she was the crazy lady who talked to her cat like he was a person.
It wasn’t entirely her fault though. This past week had been a difficult test of her sanity. The unexpected text from Silas had been, well, unexpected. Had he kept her number this whole time and just never used it? She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
Silas was quickly becoming a distraction that she didn’t need in her life. And now he was showing up for an event she intentionally hadn’t invited him to. She wanted to tell him he wasn’t allowed. She wanted to stomp her feet and yell “nuh-uh” until Silas agreed not to show up at The Sports Emporium. But she was twenty-five years old and a professional. She couldn’t go around acting like an obstinate child just because things were going to be difficult.
“Wish me luck,” she said to Hobbes before she brought everything out to her car and began a grown-up version of Tetris to try to fit it all. With one last glance in the rearview mirror and a pang of longing to curl up with Hobbes and a book instead of facing the day, she drove to The Sports Emporium.
The drive tookten minutes longer than usual, which meant she had exactly ten more to get everything set up in time. Her non-primping primping had totally messed with her schedule for the morning. She popped the trunk of her hatchback and started unloading things.
“Want some help?” a deep, familiar voice said from behind her.
Miriam closed her eyes and started counting down from ten.Ten…Nine… Eight…
“Miriam?”
She spun around, all attempts at trying to calm herself lost. “What are—” The words died on her tongue when she saw Silas. Or more specifically, his chest. He was standing closer than she had realized, only two or three feet in front of her. Close enough to put her hand out and touch those stupid pecs that were visible beneath his shirt. The sleeves hugged his biceps and Miriam had to stop and make sure that her mouth wasn’t hanging open.
Did he pick the tightest tee on purpose?
“Here. Let me get that.” He bent down and grabbed the handle of the folding table in one hand and reached out to grab the banner with the other.
She crossed her arms and stuck out her chin. “I’m fully capable of bringing everything in myself.”
“I know you are.” He looked at her with the faintest quiver of a smile on his lips. “But I want to help.”
Miriam felt her cheeks warm with his intense eye contact and was the first to look away. She bent down to grab the box that contained everything else and started walking toward the front entrance of the store.
As soon as the automatic doors opened, Joe instantly appeared in front of them. “I knew it.” The store manager beamed as he looked at Silas and shot Miriam a smug smile. “I knew you were back.”
Silas instantly put on the charm, and even though Miriam wasn’t looking directly at him, she knew his dimple would appear when he put on his megawatt smile. “Glad to be back.”
Miriam rolled her eyes and left the guys to their conversation and carried the box to her usual location near the registers. She was happy to set up by herself—she’d planned on it even. But without a table, she was helpless. Miriam walked back over to where Silas and Joe still stood chatting like old college buddies.
“I’ve been hesitating on pulling the trigger on those season tickets,” Joe said. “But once my wife finds out that she was right about you being back, there’s gonna be no stopping it.”
“You’ll have to let me know where you’re at so I can wave to her at the season opener.”
Joe chuckled. “I wouldn’t hear the end of it, you know. She’s your biggest fan, though it broke her heart when you went to Wisconsin.”
Brokeherheart?
