Having dinner with Mike was nice. The truth was she’d been avoiding him. Knowing that you had to move on and put someone behind you to be happy didn’t make the actual doing it at all easy. And sitting here, just the two of them, sharing a meal was so comfortable and so normal and yet she couldn’t help casting glances at him when he wasn’t looking. Her heart did a little flip when he smiled at her, and his concern for her well-being and how she was coping with the transition to the new life she was building was sweet. She felt differently for him than she felt for Moose. Moose was fun. Being with Moose felt like a little vacation from reality. A little skiing, a little dancing, some candlelight.
This felt solid. This was what her life actually consisted of. Bills, work, dinner at the diner, driving home in the snow. This was real, and she wanted real. The truth was being with Moose was fun but she didn’t really want fun. She wanted a solid guy who’d show up and love her. She wanted Mike.
That revelation hit her again like a ton of bricks. Why couldn’t she just like the sexy millionaire who made her laugh? Why couldn’t she like the guy who sent flowers and flirted with her? Why did she have to like the guy who would never be anything more than her friend?
She took a spoonful of broccoli soup and sighed.
“You okay?”
“Sure.”
“You don’t look okay.”
“Can I ask you something? Like a real honest-to-goodness question?”
He nodded but his face was guarded. “Sure.”
“Why did you marry that girl? I mean, I know why, sex, chemistry, youth, insanity, but why? It seems so out of character for you. You’re a smart guy, a cautious guy, and then you marry some impetuous firecracker.”
“Impetuous firecracker?” A smile crept across his handsome face.
“You know what I mean, Mike. If you’d married the leader of the campus SRC or some future CNN correspondent, but Ebony? Why her?”
He put his knife and fork down and leaned across the table. “I will tell you, but not now.”
“If not now, when? I’ve been wondering a long time.”
“Friday night, I’ll buy you a drink . . . we’ll talk. I can’t discuss it over a cup of bad joe.”
She sighed. “Okay, Friday night. But you can’t renege. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Right. The anticipation was going to kill her.
It was late Thursday afternoon when a tall shadow fell across her desk. Moose. What was he doing here?
He was smiling at her at least.
“Hey there.” She did love his slow, lazy voice, pity she didn’t love the rest of him the same way. That voice had a low, sexy timbre.
“Hi, Moose.” She stood and rounded the desk to give him a hug. The library was full of teens pretending to do homework but mainly sneaking off to kiss behind the stacks and holding hands beneath the desks. It was flirt central here. “What brings you to my tiny burg?”
He held up a purple parka. “This was in my car and it’s not my color, but I thought maybe it would suit you.”
“Oh my gosh, I didn’t even notice I left it. Thank you,” she said, taking it from him. “You didn’t need to come all this way.”
“I was over in Nashua, so it was not too far off course.”
“Well, thanks.” She wasn’t sure what to do now. She couldn’t leave for half an hour. “I can’t leave right now. Are you in a rush?”
“Not at all. Maybe we can grab a coffee after you’re done.” He leaned in low and whispered in her ear, “Just because we’re not each other’s destiny doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”
She was aware that half the kids in the library were watching her, and she saw something akin to admiration on their faces. “Okay. That sounds great.”
She smiled at him and patted his chest before heading back behind the desk.
“I’ll go read,” he said.
She tried to work but was fascinated by the way the teens were behaving differently with him in the room. She hoped he didn’t feel too much like a zoo exhibit. Then again, he was tall, handsome, and walked into a room like he owned it. She had a feeling he was stared at a lot.
She rang the bell to indicate the library was shutting in five and heard the sounds of laptops shutting, backpacks zipping, and papers shuffling. A couple of kids checked out books as they went past.
“Bye, Marissa,” chorused around her.
“Why didn’t I know the library was where I should go to get the girl back in high school?” Moose asked. “Why the heck was I out on the football field? This was where it was happening.”
“Well, some of these guys do play football, too, but you’re right, this is the sort of information we should be passing on to our kids. And hey, at least they’re supervised.”
“Moderately, I know you let them go make out in the dark corners.”
She shrugged. “Yeah, but they think I don’t know. That makes it more fun.”
“So you’re the naughty librarian, huh?”
“Your friend Chase tells me that’s a fantasy for a lot of guys.”
“I’m going to skim over why Chase was discussing his fantasies with you and say he’s not wrong.”
She smiled at him. He was a nice guy but they just didn’t have the zing. “How about I buy you an ice cream?”
“See, so naughty.”
Marissa noticed some of the library crowd had headed to the ice-cream parlor. It brought back memories of her own teen years. Lucy was usually behind the counter and they’d come and hang out here after school.
“Lucy used to work here,” she told Moose. “Created most of the sundaes.”
“Really? That’s pretty cool.”
“Yeah, now my friend Chloe runs it.” She tipped her head toward Chloe, who was scooping behind the counter.
Marissa saw the moment Moose locked eyes on Chloe, and it was electric. She’d never seen love at first sight in action until that moment and it was quite a spectacle. “Is that Chloe?”
“Yep, she’ll be over soon, I’m sure.”
“What is it with the women in this town, you’re all beautiful.”
She laughed. “Well, I don’t know about that but Chloe sure is. And for the record, she’s twenty-five not seventeen.”
She heard him sigh.
A minute or two later, Chloe, dressed in her retro ice-cream shop uniform, came over to take their order. Marissa watched their eyes meet and damn if the attraction wasn’t mutual, though Chloe’s attempts to hide her desire were far better than Moose’s.
“Chloe this is Moose. Moose, Chloe.”
“Do you have a real name or just really cruel parents?” she asked.
“Both. My real name is Tom. It’s lovely to meet you.”
“Any friend of Marissa’s . . .” She let it trail off. “So, what’s you pleasure?”
Marissa had never seen Chloe blush before but the double meaning had a soft pink creeping up her cheeks. Well, she didn’t need to worry if Moose had misinterpreted their relationship; he was ready to move on.
“I’ll have a coffee and a nut sundae,” she said.
“Ah sure, I’ll have the same,” he said.
“I’ll be back.”
“Damn,” he muttered as he watched her leave.
What did you wear to a night out with the only man you’ve ever loved, so he can tell you why he broke your heart by marrying the wrong woman, and thus why he’d eternally sworn off relationships?
Marissa picked up the phone to call Lucy and ask her.
“Well, I don’t know,” Lucy replied. “There isn’t a page in the department store catalog for that.”
“I know.” She sighed, throwing herself down on the sofa.
“Do you really want to do this? I thought things were moving along with you and Moose.”
“They kind of aren’t. We’re friends really. Anyway, I think I need closure.”
“Does anyone ever get closure?”
“Well, I hope so, Lucy. I’m re
ally trying to move on but it’s hard. I can’t apparently just turn off my feelings like a tap, and that means I’m still seeing Mike around and feeling the feeling, you know?”
“I do.”
“Well, if you want to get closure, wear black. If you want to make him jealous, wear the red wrap dress Cherie forced you to buy online and some sexy heels.”
“What if I don’t know which one I want?” She moaned like a child.
“Go the red dress then, keep those options open. Where are you going?”
“He’s taking me over to Montville. There’s a new restaurant, apparently. He needs to review it for the paper, I expect.”
“He might just want to take you somewhere nice.”
“Yeah, right.” She hung up and went to change into the red dress. Options open.
An hour later, she was sitting in Mike’s truck heading toward the neighboring town. The truck smelled like Mike. A little bit of pine and a whole lot of male.
It was dark and only the headlights illuminated the way.
“Busy day?” he asked.
“Not really. Mrs. Jackson came in to share her thoughts about the decline of vampires in fiction. That killed an hour. She’s never really going to rebound from the end of the Twilight era.”
Mike laughed. “You’re very sweet to listen to her.”
“She’s lonely and books are my business. Were you busy?”
“Same old. We’re looking at upgrading some of our systems.”
“What from 1975? How will you cope?” she teased. It was a known fact that Mike had left the paper as almost a shrine to the previous editor.
“Yeah, well, Chase is kind of insistent we move on from dot matrix printers.”
“Weird that?” She laughed. “I can’t believe Todd didn’t get you to change earlier.”
“Yeah, well, Todd wasn’t paying.”
“He would have,” she said.
“I know, but I don’t want to be in partnership with my brother.”
She understood that. The two were incredibly close, but Todd’s huge financial success had to impact Mike in some way. “But Chase is okay?”
“It’s actually surprisingly nice having him on board. I mean, sure I wanted the money, but I was pretty isolated and now I’m less so. Plus, he’s a writer.”
“Well, that’s good, then. I like him. He seems like a pretty down-to-earth guy, considering.”
“Considering he’s loaded, you mean?”
“Yep, exactly. I mean, it’s not like he knows any different, he could be a real jerk.”
“Well, I hope not for Lucy’s sake. She seems happy.”
“She does,” Marissa agreed and turned her attention back to the road. Lucky Lucy.
He wished that the sexy red dress Marissa was wearing didn’t keep sliding open to reveal her long legs as they drove. They were a distraction to say the least. He’d always known the woman was beautiful, but her new look had taken her into the sexy realm. She was wearing clothes that showed more skin and curves and these things were hard to ignore. When he helped her out of the car in Montville, he couldn’t help but notice a couple of the guys on the street noticed as well.
He put his hand on her back to guide her into the restaurant. She was warm and soft and he really would have preferred to turn her around and kiss her than politely guide her beneath the eyelid-shaped awning into the Paris Cafe. He admired their ambition, but it was a hell of a long way from New Hampshire to Paris.
Still, the bistro was dark and intimate. Tables were built into the walls along one side and a dark wooden bar lined the other. The lighting was low and the fabrics were rich. It wasn’t Montmartre, but it wasn’t a bad effort.
“This is nice,” Marissa said, turning her pretty face up to his and almost purring her approval.
Okay, maybe the owners were on to something.
They were escorted to a table in a quiet corner. Very romantic is how he would have described it in an article.
The waiter spread large linen napkins over their laps as he offered them drinks and menus.
“Have you been here before?” he asked, and they both shook their heads before he went off to get the bottle of wine Mike had chosen. He chose a Pinot Gris because he knew Marissa liked that.
“I like this place; they’ve done a really nice job. Of course, I don’t know how Parisian it is exactly, having never been, but it’s how I imagine it to be.”
“I agree.” He smiled at her. She was so pretty and the candlelight bounced off her skin. She’d always been lovely. Dark hair, dark eyes, long lashes, and rosebud lips, which she licked just at that moment. “Do you want to travel?”
“Of course!” she exclaimed. “Actually, that’s one of the things about my folks moving. I have so much leave owing, too, and the town wants me to take it, so now I can. I’m thinking of going to Europe in the spring.”
“Wow, really?”
“Sure. Why not? I mean, it is more expensive to take a tour alone, but if I don’t go alone I probably won’t get to go at all, and well, the world is out there waiting.”
“I kind of thought of you as more of a homebody.”
She smiled at him. “I am I guess, and I fully intend to come home, but I mean, maybe I only love where I live because it’s safe and familiar.”
“I guess.” Mike, for one, knew that was a big part of why he’d returned home after college and gaining a little experience. He loved his hometown and the paper and had always wanted to come back, but the truth was his time in New York had taught him he wasn’t cut out for the fast-paced life. When overwhelmed with choices, he seemed to make bad ones and lose sight of himself. Small-town life had a structure and an order he liked. He’d always assumed he and Marissa were the same in that.
Then again, so much of what he knew of her was just supposition. Most of the time he spent with her was also with Todd or their group of friends. Sure, they had the odd coffee and he took her to work events a couple of times a year as friends, but he realized now that for a journalist he asked her remarkably few questions.
Had that been a defense mechanism? he wondered as he perused the menu. Had he wanted to keep Marissa as she was in his mind—back in the day, young, innocent, and adoring? Or had it been because he was pretty sure the closer they came the harder to resist she would be? Maybe a little of both.
The waiter poured the wine.
“What shall we toast to?” she asked.
“Friendship?”
Yeah, friendship. Okay, the sexy dress was apparently not going to be a problem for Mike.
“Sure,” she said, raising her glass. She lowered her voice so no one would hear her. “The menu looks good. Are you doing a review?”
“No, why would you think that?” His voice was harsh.
“I don’t know. You seem to review every restaurant you eat at, I just figured.”
A look crossed his face, she couldn’t quite place it. Confusion? Embarrassment?
“Marissa, if I took you out to dinner to do that, I would tell you.”
“Oh.” She shrugged. “So what looks good to you?”
“You look pretty good.”
“Yeah, right.” She laughed. “On the menu.”
He reached over and put his hand on hers, drawing her eyes to his in the process. “I mean it, you look really beautiful.”
She felt the blush crawl up her neck across her face and to her hairline. “Thanks.”
She didn’t want to move her hand away. The feeling was electric between them. She knew that every time he touched her, her whole body was on high alert and this was no different. None of this was helping with closure. She pulled her hand back. “Thanks, Mike. It is nice to get dolled up every now and then.”
“You’ve been doing that a lot more lately.” He blinked. “I mean, not that you don’t normally look nice, but you’ve been, I don’t know, stepping it up.”
She laughed. “Well, I’m glad someone noticed. Time for a change. I think looking after
my parents I just got into a rut. Maybe it is a bit like mothers with young kids; you just sort of don’t have time and energy. My mother was high maintenance; she put your average toddler to shame. I think their moving has been a wake-up call to me.”
“That makes sense. Well, you look really nice and I’m sure lots of people have noticed.”
She couldn’t help but be tickled he had. She hadn’t done it to get his attention specifically, but if that happened, well, she was perfectly okay with that.
She hid behind the menu and took a moment to have a satisfied smile. Maybe he wasn’t going to give in and propose marriage, but at least he was still aware of her, that was something. It wasn’t a very useful something, but it was nice to know she wasn’t invisible.
Maybe she’d have a little fun and flirt a little. After all, he was the one who was so damned adamant he was never having another relationship not her.
“What are you ordering? Maybe we could split a starter or two. That fresh burrata with figs looks amazing. I just saw it go passed to another table.”
“Sure,” he said. “Whatever you want.”
“You’re being very amicable.”
“Am I not normally?”
“It’s not that; it’s just I know you’re a steak and meatloaf guy.”
“Maybe you just think I am because that’s just about all that’s on offer in our little town,” he countered.
“Could be. After all, I didn’t know you worked out? Is there a secret gym I don’t know about?”
“In my basement. I have one of those ones Chuck Norris advertises on TV,” he replied sheepishly.
“For real? That’s hilarious.” She laughed. “Are you a closet shopping network addict?”
“Not an addict, but you know I hate to shop and it’s easy. I see it on TV, I make a phone call, and the stuff arrives.”
“Are we talking knickknacks or just appliances?”
“Mainly appliances—food processors, vacuums, steam mops, and the like.”
Well, she hadn’t seen that coming that was for sure. Maybe they were going to learn more about each other tonight than she’d bargained on.
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