Читать книгу 8 Brand-New Romance Authors - Avril Tremayne - Страница 22

THIRTEEN

“When does Cameron get here?”

Sabina leaned against the bathroom door as Micah put on the finishing touches to her makeup. Micah could see it in her eyes, she was evaluating her outfit and judging whether it was dateworthy enough. Well, Micah liked the way she looked and that was all that mattered.

“He should be here any minute now.”

“Where is he taking you?”

“We are going out to dinner. I’m not sure where.” She opened her eyes wide to apply the last coat of mascara, her mouth opening as well. She found it humorous that her mouth always opened when she applied eye makeup. It made no sense whatsoever.

“Here, wear these.”

Sabina held out a pair of giant turquoise earrings. They were beautiful, but they weren’t her. No use putting up a false front with this guy. She wasn’t Sabina and never would be. From here on out, she would wear what she wanted and do what she wanted and no longer allow people to make decisions for her, regardless of how much she loved them.

“No. I think I prefer these.”

“Suit yourself.”

Yes. It did suit her. Micah. The one and only.

It felt good to be herself, to actually know who she was for the first time in, like...well, ever.

Micah glanced at her phone for the zillionth time that day. No new messages. Each time she looked, her heart broke a little more. It shouldn’t. She should be past this by now. She had come to accept his friendship and nothing more. But part of her had hoped he would call, hoped he would hear about her date and rush in to stop her. Apparently, she had watched one too many chick flicks.

She gave herself a final look in her full-length mirror. She had bought a new dress just for tonight. When she saw it in the store, she had to have it. She had seen something like it in a magazine; a celebrity had worn it to an event and had everyone talking. It was a new look they called color blocking—the dress itself was black, but curved white inserts in the center front and center back gave the illusion of a smaller and much curvier shape. The moment she tried it on, she had felt sexier than ever before. It was unbelievable just how one dress could transform how she viewed herself.

She had painstakingly flat-ironed her hair, a rare occurrence for her riotous curls. This date was special, the first date in ten years that she was actually going to give a chance. She felt it was deserving of the added effort.

There was a knock at the door. Her stomach churned with nervous first-date jitters. This had to be a severe case. Sabina answered and let him in. “Micah, Cameron’s here.”

As if she couldn’t hear him from her room five feet away from the front door. Silly girl. He was wearing a sharp gray suit. Not the typical business suit, though, it was more tailored, as though he had just stepped from the pages of an Express catalog or something. He looked good in it, too. His dark hair was styled nicely with pomade.

“You look nice.” His face broke out into a big grin when she walked in.

“Thank you.” It had been too long since a guy had smiled like that because of her. And it was even better with Sabina standing next to her.

She really needed to get over her insecurity of being near Sabina. They were both different and unique and beautiful in their own ways. And Micah had a lot to offer! It was about time she figured that out.

“Ready?”

Oh, jeez. This was nerve-racking. Could she survive this night? The last minute second-guessing commenced. Should she even go? She gazed up at his smiling, kind and well-groomed face. Heck, yeah! “Yes.”

“Have fun, kids.” Sabina waved like a fool as they walked into the hallway. How embarrassing. Micah rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help but laugh. Sabina would get it later.

He opened the door to his silver BMW. Chivalrous. She took note of that. All her life she had surrounded herself with guys who knew how to treat a lady. She wouldn’t settle for less. Calm down there, Micah. No one is asking you to settle down just yet.

He took her to a beautiful restaurant in downtown Boston, one she would never be able to afford. She had always looked at it with wonder, hoping to sample the fine dining it had to offer one day.

Now that she actually walked through the front doors and was given a seat at a highly sought-after table, she felt out of place. It was too nice for her. She wasn’t sure how to act, but Cameron put her at ease. He wasn’t uppity or snobby, just normal and easygoing, easy to talk to. Conversation flowed naturally between the two of them.

They talked about his work, in the same offices where Hanna worked. He asked about the job she was about to start and seemed interested in it. She found out he came from a large family in Missouri, of all places. She had been wondering about his strange accent, but didn’t want to say anything because he would only tease her about hers. The Boston accent was difficult to cover up.

Everything was going so well. She felt happy. She felt confident. She no longer thought about her insecurities or where she fell short.

She felt like the old Micah, or better yet, a new Micah. A brand-new, never-before-seen version of herself. And it felt great. She smiled as she thought about how far she had come in such a short time.

“What? Did I say something?” Cameron’s question broke through her musings. She had forgotten about him for a moment.

Oops.

“Oh, sorry. No. Nothing you said. Just a silly thought. Nothing, really. My apologies. What were you saying?”

“I was just talking about Boston sports.”

“Ooh, love ’em.”

“I was saying how I didn’t get into them.”

“Are you serious?”

He laughed. “Yes.”

“How can this be? How can you live in Boston and not enjoy all the sports we have to offer? We have the best of everything all rolled into one fine city.”

“It’s easy. I just don’t.”

“I’m floored. There’s not a single sport you get into? We’ve got it all.”

He shook his head, laughing at her reaction.

“Well, what kind of sports do you play in Missouri?”

“I don’t know. I never got into sports there, either.”

“You, sir, are quite the enigma. I just never knew it was possible.”

“Since you obviously feel differently than I do, what sports do you watch?”

“I watch them all. My friends try to all get together to have game days or game nights, whatever the sport. We’re watching football right now, obviously.”

“You get together for every game?”

“Yeah, we try to at least. It happens most of the time. It’s easy for some of us, but poor Jamie lives outside the city, so he has quite a drive every week. But he’s faithful.”

“You guys sound like an episode of Friends.”

“Ha, you’re right! We do! Although none of us has slept together...that I know of, anyway.”

They both laughed for a moment as the waiter came to serve their food and refill their wine.

As he walked her to her door later that night, her mind was racing. Her heartbeat quickened when he bent. Thankfully, his lips landed on her cheek and not her lips.

As she closed the door, she couldn’t help but wonder why she hadn’t wanted him to kiss her. They’d had fun. They had enjoyed their time together. He was great-looking, unbelievably kind and intelligent. What more could she want?

She wanted butterflies. Not just predate jitters. Was that crazy? Was she being stupid? Too picky?

“Hey. How did it go?” Sabina was waiting for her on the couch. It was actually quite cute since it was such a role reversal—Sabina was typically out every night, so staying in to wait to hear how her friend’s date went was something new for her. “Come sit down. Tell me everything. I want to know all the juicy details.”

“It went well.” Micah put down her purse, took off her jacket and sat down on the couch.

“Do you think he’ll ask you out on a second date?”

“Maybe.”

“And would you say yes to a second date?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“That didn’t sound very convincing. What was wrong? He was cute. He seemed really nice. I know for a fact he has a great job. Does he have some kind of weird fetish or does he eat with his mouth open?”

“What? No. Neither of those things.”

“Then what is it?”

“I don’t know. I can’t put my finger on it. Just something wasn’t right.”

“I’m proud of you.”

“For what?”

“For going out and taking this giant step, this leap into a world you’ve let pass you by for far too long. You’ll find someone eventually. I know you will. You have too much to offer someone.”

* * *

Why were her friends always so hard to find when she really needed them? She needed someone to talk to, and she would prefer Sabina. Where was she, anyway?

Micah paced the living room. She was in desperate need of advice, and no one was around to give it to her. Hanna was too caught up in her blissfully happy wedding plans. Jamie was busy. And Josh...well, Josh was the one she needed advice about. She couldn’t very well ask him about him.

She had been foolish to believe one date with someone else could cure her of the feelings that had slowly been developing over the course of a decade. She just needed to talk to someone about it. Keeping it hidden from everyone was only making it worse. If she didn’t vent about it soon, she’d explode.

She pulled out her phone and sent Sabina a quick text.

Where are you?

Sabina texted back right away.

I’m at the movies with Jordan.

It would be at least two hours before she came home. Micah didn’t know if she could wait that long. She could just text Sabina about her problem. That would work.

No. Bad idea.

She put her phone down on the table and walked away. Maybe a shower would help put things in perspective. It was quite possible she might be able to solve her own predicament.

One long, hot shower later and she was still nowhere closer to an answer to her problem. She pulled her robe tight around her as she picked up her phone, once again debating whether to go ahead and text Sabina or not. The familiar ping sounded, signifying a new message. Josh.

Guess who’s playing at House of Blues this weekend.

For days she had longed for some form of communication from this man and now was the time he chose?

Ah! She needed Sabina’s advice and she couldn’t wait any longer. She couldn’t keep ignoring the Josh situation. So she grabbed a hold of her phone and started typing.

Bina, I don’t know what to do. I need to talk to you and I don’t think I can wait until you get home. Ah! I think I have feelings for Josh. Like falling-in-love feelings. Like more-than-friends feelings. What should I do?

She hit the send button, the zip sound echoing in the quiet apartment. It was the first time she had “voiced” the words. It made her nervous to admit it to anyone other than herself. It made it real. Her eyes scanned the text again.

No! No! No!

There, at the top of the text message where Sabina’s name should be prominently displayed was another name entirely. The one and only name she had been purposely avoiding. She had accidentally sent the message to Josh! There was no way she could talk herself out of this one. No way to retrieve it now, either.

Making sure she was actually texting Sabina this time, she typed out the words Emergency! Get home now! Pushing the phone away, she sat at a distance, staring at it. Had he read it yet?

It rang, her heart stopped, her breathing coming in short frantic breaths. She inched toward the phone, the happy jingle sounding shrill to her ears.

Sabina. Thank God. She hit the accept button.

“Micah, are you okay? What’s wrong? Do you need to call 911?” Sabina’s words came out in a panicked rush.

“It’s not a 911 emergency. It’s a friend emergency. It’s awful! I don’t know what to do! I think I just ruined everything! Actually, I know I just ruined everything!”

“Okay. Slow down. What are you talking about?”

“I needed advice so I was going to text you and ask you what I should do.”

“Then ask me.”

“Well, see, it’s more than that.... See, I think I’m falling in love with Josh.”

“Oh...my...gosh...”

“It gets worse. I accidentally texted him instead of you.”

“What did the text say?”

“It said just that—that I was falling in love with him. What am I going to do? I am so embarrassed! I don’t think I can recover from this. You may need to start looking for a new roommate, because I’m gonna have to move out of state.”

“Okay. I’m heading home now, but he’ll probably call you or text you before I get there.”

“I can’t talk to him right now! I was texting you to find out how to handle this.” The emotion was overwhelming; she couldn’t control the tears as they fell down her cheeks. “I’m not ready to talk to him yet. I don’t think I’ll ever be ready for this conversation.”

“Just ignore him until I get home. That way I’ll be there to hold your hand when you do take his call.”

“What have I done?”

“Stop getting yourself so worked up. Make yourself some tea and just sit tight until I get there.”

Micah hung up the phone and went about making some chamomile tea as Sabina had suggested.

Josh still hadn’t responded. Either he hadn’t received it or he was in shock and didn’t know how to respond. She had really messed this one up badly. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

The tea did nothing to calm her. She kept putting her phone down, just to pick it up again. No new messages. The stress of it all was going to be the death of her.

Knock. Knock.