Page 28 of Snowed

Her brows furrowed. “I’m a nurse. Remember?”

I actually hadn’t. I’d been on two dates with this very nice woman, and my head had been somewhere else both times. It seemed to be a running problem of mine lately—all Joy, all the time. I didn’t even want to guess how many hours I’d spent photoshopping, and when I wasn’t looking at pictures of Joy, somehow thoughts of her kept crossing my mind.

“Of course. Sorry.”

Kylie shrugged it off. “Would you want to go over to Serendipity? I love their frozen hot chocolate.”

The last place I wanted to be during the holidays was Times Square. It was a touristy nightmare. But I owed her for all the times I’d been mentally checked out. So I put my hand on her back. “That sounds great. Let’s go.”

An hour later, Kylie seemed happy that she’d gotten her frozen hot chocolate. I wasn’t really hungry, but I’d ordered a piece of humble pie since I could never turn down anything made with peanut butter.

Kylie was telling me how she was thinking of going back to school to become a nurse practitioner when my phone buzzed on the table. I looked at it, but stopped myself from reaching out to pick it up while she was talking. A few minutes later though, it buzzed a second time. I was itching to know if the notification was Joy messaging me back, but again, I somehow managed to resist. The third time it happened, Kylie put me out of my misery.

“Will you excuse me?” she said. “I need to go to the ladies’ room.”

I stood as she got up from her chair. “Of course.”

The minute she turned her back and started toward the restroom, I reached for my phone. Disappointment set in when I saw the message was from a friend at work and not Joy. I even opened up the Facebook app and checked to see if she’d messaged me and I’d missed the notification. But only the read notification on my message to her greeted me—a reminder that Joy had seen my message four hours ago and still not responded.

The woman who was actually interested in me returned from the ladies’ room a few minutes later. I stood as she took her seat, but when I went to sit back down, a table on the other side of the room caught my eye. That couldn’t be. Could it?

But it really looked like Isla—Joy’s friend she’d been with at the party the weekend before last. Was I imagining things now? I had to be. More than eight-million people lived in New York City. What were the chances I’d run into Joy’s ex and her friend on the same day? Though the longer I stared, the more I felt certain it was her. This wasn’t good, considering I’d already been having trouble concentrating on my date. There was no way in hell I’d be able to pay attention now without finding out if that was actually Isla. Especially not once she got up from her table and started to walk toward the hall that led to the ladies’ room.

So I told a white lie. “Sorry. It’s my turn now. I need to hit the head.”

“Oh. Sure.”

I had no idea what I was going to say or do if it was Isla, yet my legs started moving rapidly nonetheless. By the time I made it to the hallway where the bathrooms were, she was already in the ladies’ room. I had no choice but to hang around like a stalker waiting for his prey. When the woman walked out of the restroom, I feigned my best surprised face.

“Hey. Isla, right? Joy’s friend?”

She smiled. “Yep. Hey, Nolan. I thought that might be you, but I didn’t want to interrupt your date.” She paused. “Though…it sort of looked like you might’ve been happy if I had.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

She shrugged. “You just looked bored, that’s all.”

I sighed. “I thought I was better at hiding it. My mind is elsewhere tonight.”

“It happens. The holidays are such a busy time.”

“Actually, it’s not Christmas that has me distracted. It’s your friend Joy.”

“Really? Then why the heck didn’t you say yes when she asked you out?”

“She didn’t ask me out.”

“She said she asked you to go to her parents’ Christmas party, and you said no.”

My brows furrowed. “I had plans, and I didn’t think that was a date. I thought she was just asking me to play a role, pretend to be her boyfriend for the sake of her parents.”

Isla rolled her eyes. “Duh. That’s because it’s not easy for a woman to ask out a man. She hasn’t shut up about you since her dumbass ex’s Christmas party.”

I smiled. “He is a dope, isn’t he?”

Isla put her hands on her hips. “It seems he’s not the only one. I don’t get it. If you can’t stop thinking about her, why didn’t you ask her out for another night?”

“I didn’t think she was over her ex. She made that card and went to his Christmas party and everything.”