Page 14 of Cinnamon Roll Set Up

Georgia: Big family or small?

Miles: Hopefully more than one child

Georgia: You know I’m going to need you to drive me to pick up the bookshelf, right?

Georgia: It won’t fit in my car

Miles: I figured

Miles: I’m at your disposal

Miles: Except for this set up thing

Georgia: You know you love me

Georgia: You’d be lost without me

Miles: Undeniably

Chapter 5

Miles

“You’re doing what now?”

The incredulous look on Owen’s face confirms that Georgia’s plan to matchmake for me is just as bonkers as I imagine it to be. I see no need to mention the Kissing Corn Maze and sink his opinion of me even lower.

It’s been days, and Georgia’s talked almost nonstop about her goal to find me a date to the Andromeda Awards. After useless agonizing on my own, I enlisted my friend to join me at Lupe’s Escape for dinner. We’d barely dug into our enchiladas before I blurted out what’s bothering me.

Owen and I don’t usually have heart-to-hearts, but I’m not usually this tormented by my best friend’s “goodwill,” either.

“I am reluctantly participating in Georgia’s dating schemes,” I confirm.

He’s looking at me like I just revealed I’m secretly a cyborg here to spy on the human race. Which is probably something I should write down for brainstorming later. A secret cyborg spy could be good.

He scrapes a hand over his beard. “This is a terrible plan.”

“I know.”

Letting her set me up is a nightmare scenario. Like when I relive college in my dreams and show up to class completely unprepared, unsure if I’m in the right room, and wearing nothing but my underwear.

However, the alternative involves telling her things I don’t know that she’s ready to hear. She’s turned down every guy who’s asked her out for the last two years, possibly longer. She’s comfortable with me now, but she might see me differently the minute I tell her how I feel about her. I’m not ready to lose our closeness.

If that means I have to go on a few dates with someone else, I’ll do it.

I guess we’re both bonkers.

“I don’t have room to throw stones,” Owen says. “But this…this is a truly terrible plan.”

He shares my pain. For months now, he’s been pining after Josie, an environmental scientist new to Magnolia Ridge. She joined a couple of the book clubs that meet at Dogeared, and I see her once in a while around town. She seems lost in her own thoughts half the time, but when she speaks up, it’s clear she’s brilliant.

Owen has managed to talk to her exactly never. We’ve only been friends for two years, but I’ve never seen him lack for confidence with a woman like this. He’s a burly MMA instructor who owns every room he walks into.

Unlessshe’sin the room. Then, he stares longingly for a few minutes, avoids all possibility of actually speaking with her, and turns right around and leaves. It’s painful to watch, but so far, it seems I’m the only one who’s noticed the pattern.

“I think you’re wrong about Josie.”

You can tell when people are judging you. It’s in the way their eyes move over you or an inflection in their voice. They’ve seen something in you that doesn’t measure up,and they write you off. But Josie’s never given me those vibes.

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