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I perched on the edge of bed. “No, he’s not boring. Far from it. You can be nice without it meaning you’re boring.”
“Because if he is—”
“He’s not!”
“But if you go on a few dates, and then decide he is—”
“I won’t.”
“But if you did.”
I sighed loudly and gave up. “Go on.”
“Then there’s always Jack.”
“Who?”
The effect of her glare was somewhat muted by the delivery in a supine position. “Jack. The guy off Grindr. The one I told you about. The one I keep telling you about. I told him something traumatic had happened, and that’s why you couldn’t meet him. Don’t worry, I kept it vague. I told him you didn’t really want to talk about it. He was very sympathetic. He’s a nice guy.”
I couldn’t resist it. “He must be boring then.”
This time, she sat up to glare. “You know what I mean.”
“I’ll bear him in mind.” I stood up again, contemplating the quickest way to get her to stop asking questions and go to bed so I could sleep. I gave brief consideration to simply rolling her onto the floor. However, I wanted all my limbs to remain intact, so it probably wasn’t the wisest course of action. I yawned loudly as a not so subtle hint. She didn’t move so much as a muscle.
She settled her head on her hand and maneuvered herself into a more comfortable position. “I can’t wait to meet him.”
“Who? Jack?”
“No. Not Jack. This new man of yours. The one that makes you smile so much. We can double-date again. Me and Ben. You and…”
“Justin.” Given the all too vivid memory of how the last double date had turned out, I couldn’t say I was in a great rush to repeat the experience. “Maybe.” I tried another yawn. It had exactly the same effect as the first: absolutely nothing. “Georgia, I’m pretty tired. I think I’m just going to go to bed.”
“Yeah. In a minute. I’m just trying to think what else I need to ask you. Oh, did you kiss him?”
I pulled my shirt over my head. Drastic measures called for drastic actions.
Georgia’s lips pursed. “What are you doing?”
I kicked my shoes off before answering. “Getting undressed. Going to bed.” My hands dropped to the button on my trousers.
“In front of me?”
I slowly pulled the zipper down. “Well, it wouldn’t be my first choice. But you’re here in my room, so I don’t really have any other option.”
She covered her eyes with her hand. “I don’t want to see you naked.”
“Well, you can always leave.”
She peeked between her fingers. “But you haven’t answered all my questions.”
“I’m really tired, Georgia. I’ll answer them tomorrow.” I feigned a movement to pull my trousers down. “By the way, I’m not wearing any underwear.” It was a lie. But she wasn’t to know that.
She squealed and jumped off the bed, running toward the door with all the grace of a baby elephant. I laughed at her extreme reaction. She paused for a moment in the doorway, looking back. “Anyway, it’s good, Dean, that you’ve found someone to date. Someone you like. Someone that’s real and you know exactly who they are. It will help you get over your other fixation.”
With her reminder, the smile dropped off my face
Chapter Eleven
