Page 7 of Wish You Would

I gave myself a hard mental shake. No, I told myself. Not the time. Not the place.

Not the girl.

Nothing about this…attraction, or whatever, was convenient. I had too much going on right now to get distracted. Especially by the perfectly perfect sister of my brother’s girlfriend. She might as well have off-limits tattooed on her forehead.

Lifting her drink to her lips, she took a sip. As she put the glass back down, she seemed to be mulling over something. “What if,” she started. But then she shook her head. “Never mind.”

“What if, what?” Behind me, there was a cacophony of sound. Probably, Kai spilled the mop bucket on their way back. I winced.

Parker glanced behind me, worry creasing her brow. “Should you go check on that?”

I waved her off. “Nah, I’m sure it’s fine. The new kid’s finding their footing.”

She huffed a quiet laugh. “They’re cute, at least.”

“At least,” I agreed. “Anyway. What if, what?”

Her gaze met mine, and I could see her wavering. In her own head, trying to decide if she wanted to voice whatever thought had taken hold. “Out with it, Samuels.”

“Okay, fine.” She inhaled, and then she let her question go in a rushed exhale. “Can you maybe introduce me to Halle?” Her lips twisted with chagrin. Shaking her head, she sat back, eyes squeezed shut. “Never mind. Forget I asked.” Opening her eyes, she met my gaze. “God, I’m ridiculous.”

“You’re not.” I looked her over, sympathy warring with something else I didn’t want to give life to. Well, not any more than I already had. Instead, I focused on the facts: I’d been in her shoes before. I’d been her. Anxious and unsure. Nervous to take the first step. Afraid of rejection.

I didn’t want her to feel that way.

She shifted under my gaze, and I blinked myself back to the moment. “Sure,” I said before I’d even registered that I was speaking. “Okay.”

“Sure?” Parker repeated, brows lifting. “Okay?”

I laughed and pushed my chair away from the table. I had to get out of here. Before I changed my mind. “Next weekend.”

“Thank—”

“Just an intro,” I interrupted, more gruff than I meant it to sound. “Everything else is up to you, Samuels.”

Parker nodded, lips pressed together in a barely-contained smile. I smiled in return. I couldn’t help it. She was adorable. “Now, get outta here and get some sleep. It’s past your bedtime.”

I walked away, feeling her stare after me. Something niggled at the back of my mind, but I didn’t have time to poke at it. I had a disaster human in the back to train.

4

PARKER

MMMBOP

The next day, I trudged into Holy Grounds for my shift to find Simon manning the helm through the mid-morning rush. He almost always took the morning shifts here, which worked well for me, since I was almost always up too late studying. I got home from Heathcliff’s sometime after three this morning, and I felt every hour of sleep I did not get. It was going to be a rough shift.

Waving hello to Simon, I wove my way through the line of patrons awaiting their caffeine fix and ducked behind the counter. Simon dipped his head in acknowledgement as he pulled the handle down on the steamer. He looked nonplussed amid the chaos, which never failed to impress me.

When I first started here about six months ago, I was drowning. Too many drinks to memorize, a plethora of equipment to learn. An army of customers waiting not-so-patiently as I figured it all out. Simon was the stillness in that storm.

And now, he was the stillness in my life, too.

I smiled at the thought as I dropped my things off in the break room and clocked in. He was chaos when I wanted crazy and calm when I needed to slow down. Which was basically always. At least here at work.

Tying my apron on, I rushed to the front. I could already feel the anxiety rising in my chest. I didn’t hate working here. The opposite, really. But putting a hardcore people pleaser in a position to disappoint people…well, that was an issue.

“Afternoon,” Simon said as I took my place behind the register. “You’re looking annoyingly gorg for someone who, I know for a fact, didn’t make it home till after three a.m.”

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