Page 4 of Love Me Not

“Like I said, I didn’t know anyone was in here.”

“You must be Coach Collins,” Georgie cut in, shoving me aside. “I’m Georgie Drysdale. Freshman English and American Lit.”

He accepted her outstretched hand. “Nice to meet you, Georgie. Please, call me Trey.”

My cohort giggled like a pre-teen. “Oh, I’m sure everyone will call you Coach, but Trey is a nice name.”

No doubt her next book hero would bear that name.

“Either works,” he said with a smile.

The three of us stood in an awkward silence for several seconds, Georgie gawking like a teenager meeting her favorite idol, and me fighting the urge to slap some sense into her.

“We were leaving,” I said, tugging the befuddled woman into the hall.

As we walked, she kept glancing back toward the lounge. “Why didn’t you tell me he smells that good? Holy crap. Did you see those eyes? Ice blue. And that jaw line. I write these guys but I never meet them in real life.” Lowering her voice, she added, “I bet there are six-pack abs under that shirt.”

“Good for him,” I muttered.

Muscles or no muscles, I wanted nothing to do with any man, Coach Collins or otherwise. They were tiresome, overbearing, and needy little creatures, and dealing with teenagers on a daily basis was all the neediness I wanted in my life.

Chapter Two

“I should work out more.” Every muscle in my body ached.

“By more do you mean work out for the first time ever?”

I opened one eye to peer menacingly at Donna Bradford from where I lay sprawled on her couch. Earlier in the year she’d purchased her grandparents’ old house, which needed a total renovation. Four months later, she not only had her dream home, but the contractor turned out to be the love of her life. Today we moved her in, and I had no idea unpacking boxes could cause this much pain.

“I stretch. Sometimes.”

Josie Danvers lifted my legs, plopped down on the couch, and dropped my feet into her lap. “I’m pooped.”

“I really appreciate all the help today.” Donna glanced around her new living room. “I can’t believe this is my place now.”

“Believe it,” I snapped, “because we are never moving you again.”

She laughed. “You didn’t even do the heavy lifting.”

That’s what the guys were for.

My friends had the relationship levels covered, while I held down the decrepit old spinster role. There was Donna’s new boo—as the kids would say—Calvin Hopkins, my childhood best friend Becca’s husband Jacob Kim, then librarian extraordinaire Megan Knox’s fiancé Ryan Stallings, and Josie’s boyfriend Miles Porter.

Becca and Jacob left early to get their little one home. At not quite four months old, Baby Noah needed a bath and his beauty sleep. In reality, he was already gorgeous with a full head of black hair and his father’s dark eyes and dimples, but, like most of us, he got cranky when tired so best to keep him on a steady sleep schedule.

Miles had a party across town so he left not long after the furniture was in. His company, Hullaballoo, was the premier children’s event planner in town.

“We almost had even more muscle today,” Josie said. “Some new coach at your school.”

She had my attention. Sitting up, I said, “What?”

“Becca says he teaches history or something. I guess since they’re both in the social studies department, he and Jacob have become friends. They tried recruiting him to help with the move, but something came up and he couldn’t make it.”

Dropping back to the couch, I thanked whatever higher power helped me dodge that bullet. After the map incident, which Georgie still insisted on calling a meet-cute, I’d passed Coach Collins in the hall a couple of times. Despite my efforts to ignore him—or maybe because of them—he made sure to smile and say hello every time.

I returned the greeting but not the smile.

“Before I forget,” Josie said, “what are we doing for Megan’s bachelorette party?”

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