Page 9 of Love Me Not

I cut right, toward my car, and instead of cutting left to hers, Georgie followed me. “You can’t tell me you don’t find him attractive.”

Like a dog with a bone she was.

“Finding a person attractive and being attracted to them is not the same thing.” Stopping beside my Buick, I spun to face her. “You of all people know there’s more to attraction than looks alone. Can you really imagine me with a football coach? I’d rather walk on hot coals than watch, let alone talk about, sports. We’d have nothing in common.”

All of this was moot because Trey Collins could be any man and I’d feel the same way. Even if I wasn’t committed to being single, I’d never date a fellow teacher.

“You don’t know that,” Georgie said.

I unlocked the car and tossed my bag onto the passenger seat. “I don’t know what?”

“That you’d have nothing in common. Do you know that he not only did a dual major in history and education, but he has a master’s degree?”

I should have known she’d research him. “So he’s educated. So is every other teacher in our building, and you aren’t pushing me to date any of them.”

“None of them are single.”

That was not true. “Have you forgotten that you are single?”

Georgie shook her head and again lifted the sliding tote onto her shoulder. “I’m far too old for Coach Collins, and besides, I prefer my men on the leaner side.”

This was a pointless conversation, but I couldn’t help but wonder. “How do you know the coach is single?”

She shrugged. “I asked him.”

Oh, hell. “You did not.”

“I did too. We were having a nice chat in the cafeteria, and I asked if he had a significant other. He said no.”

“If you chose that moment to tell him I’m also single I’m never going to speak to you again.”

As if sensing danger, she stepped back. “I didn’t. That would have been too obvious.”

“But flat out asking him if he’s single isn’t obvious?” Reminding myself she meant well, I took a deep breath and unclenched my fists. “I know you love love, and I know you’re heart is in the right place. But by all that is holy, woman, let this go. I will concede that maybe, in some far off land, the universe has created a man for me. But I need you to hear me when I say I don’t want him.”

“Right now,” she added.

“Not ever,” I growled.

“You need to keep an open mind.”

Deciding to change tactics, I asked, “When was the last time you went on a date?”

“Last weekend.”

“I… What?”

She moved the tote to the other shoulder. “I go on dates all the time.”

How had this never come up? “Why haven’t you told me?”

With a quick head tilt, she said, “They’re just casual. I meet for coffee or at a bookstore. One time at the airport, but that was a weird situation.”

“The airport?” This sounded familiar. “Didn’t that happen in one of your books?”

“Of course. Where do you think I get my ideas? Everything is fodder for the stories, and when I get stuck, I line up a date.”

An uneasy feeling washed over me. “Have you put me in a book?”

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