Page 11 of Made Over by Meredith

And Aiden Hart, with his terrible fashion sense and unassuming personality, threw me for a goddamn loop.

He didn’t know the rules. Didn’t even know how to play the game.

But, fuck, if that didn’t soften my hardened heart.

It was dangerous. Especially when he strolled out of the store, moved his glasses higher up his nose, and grinned at me. “Let’s go eat, teach.”

Over burgers, he asked me questions about my job as a speech therapist and repeatedly complimented me on my plan to earn my doctorate. In return, he told me how he got into endurance running in college—because a girl he had liked ran every day, so he did too. They became friends, but that was it. The friend-zone problem had apparently been a long one.

“And where did the abs come from? Fairy godmother came and poof?” I asked, snapping.

“It took a few years.” He tossed his napkin on his empty plate and jut his chin at mine. I pushed it toward him, so he could help himself to my leftover fries. “I like the order of training, seeing the calculations of distance and pace. But eventually I got bored with only running, so I started biking and swimming too. Completed a few triathlons.”

I felt my eyes go wide. “Wow.”

“It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Completing triathlons is a big deal, Aiden. It’s amazing.”

He pitched his lips to the side, and I tried and failed tonotimagine what he looked like without a shirt.

Dangerous.

Very dangerous.

So, I shifted the conversation to safer ground: Celeste. “You text your girl yet?”

My words came out completely smooth. Even as I rubbed my hand over my chest, my heart beating a little funny.

He shook his head. “Not sure what to say.”

“All right then. Let’s do it together,” I said, and he eyed me for a moment, like he wasn’t sure. “Come on, we spent all day together. You still don’t trust me to help you?”

His nostrils flared and shoulders rose on a deep breath before he produced his cell phone. He tapped on it a few times, then set his forearms on the table and staring at me, waiting for directions.

“Okay, you want to start easy. Something like, hey, it’s Aiden from the bar last night. Just texting to let you know I really enjoyed talking and would love to spend more time together. Sooner rather than later.” I flattened my hand, swiping it through the air. “Setting a timeframe lets her know you’re serious.”

He nodded and typed it up, then went back to polishing off my French fries. By the time he finished, Celeste hadn’t returned his text, and I could see his anxiety in the way his mouth tightened in the corner, how his fingers moved like it itched to do something with them.

Once the bill was paid, he checked his phone again, as if him playing with it would make her magically respond.

I stood up from the booth. “Don’t worry. She’ll text you back.”

He didn’t answer, merely followed me out to the door.

I smoothed my hand over his shoulder and down his back. “She was into you. I know she’ll text you back.”

“Here’s hoping.”

We settled into my car and talked about nothing in particular. Or, really, I talked, and Aiden brooded. I couldn’t take it anymore. “One last piece of advice for today.” I stopped at a red light. “Your goal for this whole thing is marriage, kids, picket fence, and all that, right? So, you need to put that out into the universe. Manifest it. Think you have a lot in common with Celeste, and that she will text you back. If you think she won’t talk to you or like you or whatever, you’re already closing yourself off to the next step to get to your goal. Be open to the possibilities.”

I pressed on the gas, driving through the green light as I glanced to Aiden next to me. “If it’s not Celeste, it’ll be someone else. You deserve to get what you want. That’s what you need to tell yourself. You deserve to get what you want.”

He didn’t reply, only rubbed his hand over his mouth. But once I parked in front of his building, he turned to me. “You always get what you want, huh?”

I gave him a cheeky wink and a smile.

He didn’t fall for it. “What is it you don’t think you deserve to get?”

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