Page 10 of Sturdy & Dirty

Someone who could love me too.

Holly would be easy to love. I’d only needed ten minutes with her to know that. But even if she wasn’t, I’d had practice loving difficult people.

Don’t think about Nana and Pop right now.

They were gone. And even though it had been four years, I still missed them like hell. Hard as it was to be raised by grandparents who were two generations my senior, it was even harder to go through life without them.

But they taught me a lot about living and love, and the importance of finding someone who’d never walk away.

Too much. This was all too heavy for a first date.

A first date that might only be a joke.

I hit the button to make the machine go faster.

Goal: go so hard that my mind would have to divert its energy from chaotic thoughts to lung function in order to keep my body breathing.

Marcus cleared his throat. “So, this is real?”

I sure hoped it was. I’d find out in a few hours.

“What are you going to do?” he asked.

“I’m going to take her out, what do you think?”

“No, I mean, what’s your game plan? Dude, you gotta have a plan. Don’t you dare just wing this. It’s too important.”

I shook my head at his assessment. “How would you know if it’s important?”

He shot me a smirk. “Come onnnn. I’ve seen the way you look at her.”

“Oh? Any similarity to the way you look at Ivy?”

His smile slipped and he smashed a button on his machine, speeding up. “Everyone looks at Ivy,” he muttered. “What’s new?”

Okay. Sore subject apparently.

When we’d both worked out our frustrations and cooled down, I decided getting Marcus’s help couldn’t hurt. It’d been… well, forever… since I’d dated. I needed all the help I could get.

“I was thinking I would show up with flowers, a bunch of them. Is that too cliché?” I knew Holly liked them because of the unique design for the front of the salon.

“Nah, flowers are a win, bro. You know what kind she likes?”

I shook my head, and he tossed me a devious smile.

“Want me to find out for you?” He darted a glance to the back of the gym where Ivy was working with a trainer.

“You’d do that just for me, huh?” I goaded, knowing full well he was looking for an excuse to talk to her.

He shrugged shamelessly. “Sure. And for a reason to get Eric and his perfectly sculpted abs out of Ivy’s line of sight.”

I had a chuckle at his expense, but deep down I felt his pain.

“What else are you planning?” he asked.

“I thought maybe dinner at Mario’s—”

“Reserve one of those giant-ass booths in the back. The ones with the curtains. It’s dark back there. More romantic and shit.”

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