Page 76 of The Rules of Dating a Younger Man

“There’s this girl from school. I really like her, and she wants to come visit me. We’re neighbors, actually. But I don’t know about her coming. I don’t want her to see me like this, not looking my best. But I also don’t want to tell her not to come. That’s kind of rude.”

“You want to see her?”

“Yeah. Just not…like this.”

While I was relieved that his news had nothing to do with his health, I wasn’t sure what advice to give him. I scratched my chin. “Do you like her?”

“What do you think?” He glared at me. “I wouldn’t give a crap if I didn’t like her.”

“Got it.”

“I wish I didn’t like her, though. It would make things easier.”

“I feel that more than you know, buddy. Right in here.” I patted my chest. “When we like someone…it makes us self-conscious, sometimes more than we need to be. You look good, considering all you’ve been through as of late. You don’t have hair, but anyone who looks at you can still see your handsome face and your bright blue eyes.”

He seemed to perk up a bit, then shrugged. “I guess I could always wear a hat.”

“Exactly. I can’t relate to having no hair, but I know when I have a bad hair day, hats always save me.”

“Do you have a favorite hat?” he asked.

“My friend Ryan’s Eagles cap. He had a few of them. And I got one of them when he…” Shit. I stopped myself from finishing the sentence. But Will knew who I was referring to.

“Ryan is your friend who died?”

Swallowing, I nodded. I always had mixed feelings bringing up Ryan to Will, since I never wanted him to lose hope. But he’d asked me why I was involved with the hospital a while back, and I’d told him all about Ryan.

Will sighed. “I guess I shouldn’t be overthinking the Caitlin thing.”

My eyes widened. “Did you say Caitlin?”

“That’s her name.”

I chuckled. “Ah...” I’d thought I was hearing things. Can’t escape Caitlin, I guess.

“Well, if you like this girl, Caitlin, it’s totally understandable that you’re nervous about what she thinks. Believe me, I get how you feel.”

Will smirked. “What about that woman I saw you talking to here that one time? Is she your girlfriend?”

“That’s Alex.”

“Cool name for a lady. Isn’t that a guy’s name, though?”

“Funny enough, that’s sort of how we met. I thought she was a dude when I met her.”

“You thought she looked like a man?”

“No.” I laughed. “Far from it.”

“I don’t get it.”

“I’d been corresponding with her via email and thought she was a guy the whole time—until I saw her in person.”

“No way.” He laughed. “What did you do?”

“After I got over the initial shock, I fell for her pretty quickly. I’ve been making a fool of myself ever since.”

His mouth curved into a smile.

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