Page 29 of The Write Off

“I’m not sure. Wait. What?” I look up from the menu to find Stuart looking at me expectantly.

“You’ve met a brilliant, beautiful, age-appropriate woman that you like. Why haven’t you asked her out?”

I stare at him blankly. “I’m her editor. That would be inappropriate. Unprofessional at best.”

“Lots of people in relationships work together. Besides, you said you were pretty much done with the book. You don’t have to continue working together if it makes either of you uncomfortable.”

“I…a relationship?”

“Sure.” He rests his elbows on the table as he leans forward. “You said you like her.”

“I do like her.” I like working with her. Talking with her. Looking at her. Hell, I even enjoy arguing with her. I’ve never met someone who challenges me like she does. She says what she feels and doesn’t apologize for it.

In truth, my attraction towards Rilla is an unforeseen distraction that occupies my thoughts more with every moment we spend together.

“Do you think she likes you?”

Attempting to figure out what’s going on in Rilla Pine’s mind is like trying to cross an active minefield on the back of a seasick elephant. It’s dangerous and messy.

Yes. I think she does like me. I could be projecting and maybe she just considers me a work friend. An ally in an industry full of Bryces. But lately our back-and-forth has bordered on being flirtatious.

“It’s possible,” I admit. “But liking me and wanting to be in a relationship with me are not necessarily the same thing.”

Rilla is a free spirit. A live grenade in human form. She probably dates rock stars or entire biker gangs, not guys with an app on their phone that reminds them which of their house plants needs to be watered on what days.

“I’m not telling you to show up at her door with a dozen roses and a ring.” Stuart chuckles as he sips his coffee. “But you like her and you think she likes you. Maybe explore that outside of work. Ask her to do something. See what happens.”

I can’t believe I’m considering taking dating advice from a man who was alive before Queen Elizabeth the second ascended the throne.

“What would you suggest?”

“Does she like hockey?”

Chapter 14

Rilla

“It’s not a date.”

Betty looks up from the towels she’s folding into perfect, hotel-worthy, squares. They’re stacked neatly on her floral bedspread in identical towers.

“I never implied that it was.” Her green eyes almost giggle at me as she finishes one towel and reaches for another. She didn’t seem phased at all to find me waiting outside her door when she arrived home from work.

The layouts of our apartments are very similar, but where mine often looks like a bomb went off in it, Betty’s is tidy enough to pass a drill sergeant’s inspection.

While her anxiety is well-controlled, she does have to work at it daily. One of her coping mechanisms is keeping a clean house. Not only would I voluntarily eat off her floor, the woman makes organization look like an artform. Everything has a place.

“You were thinking it,” I say as I dig through the closet she shares with my brother. It’s such an odd mix of clothes. Betty’s business analyst attire for her office job combined with Josh’s athletic wear. Sometimes I think my brother decided to be a gym teacher so he never had to wear a tie.

“What am I thinking right now?” she asks, picking up a stack of towels.

I place my fingers on my temples, close my eyes, and hum. “That I’m being hypersensitive about it not being a date because, in reality, I think it might be?”

“Wow. You are good.” She backs out of the room and disappears down the hall to her linen closet while I continue my search.

I find what I’m looking for buried behind a stack of t-shirts and slip it on over my fitted long-sleeved shirt and leggings. Josh’s Bruins jersey is so big on me that it’s funny. It’s been almost two years since I’ve been to a hockey game, so I thought I should dress the part.

Also, this saves me the hassle of deciding on what to wear on this date/non-date with Logan.

---