Page 28 of Karma's Kiss

This is totally absurd.I can’t talk to Sawyer. Not in front of his grandfather!Not at all!This is what I get for not leaping out of that speeding car earlier when I had the chance. What’s some light road rash compared to this awkwardness?

I can’t look at Sawyer. With the sun shining overhead, he’s lit up like a golden statue, too handsome for words. The backward baseball hat is also throwing me for a loop. If I give in to the urge to check him out, I’ll forget Kendra’s plan and accidentally demand he take me out on a second date just so I can have the pleasure of enjoying his company for a little while longer.

“Hate to break it to you, Sawyer, but this poor girl was avoiding you like the plague while y’all were in the tasting room. I figured there might be a juicy reason why.” Crawford volunteers this information with unabashed amusement.

Oh my god. I squeeze my eyes closed and pray for an earthquake.

“Is that right?” Sawyer asks with a curious lilt. “Maybe it has to do with the fact that I took her on a date Saturday night.”

My eyespingopen.

Crawford chuckles. His eyes narrow as he crosses his arms and looks at me for an explanation. “A DATE?See, she left that part off.” He looks back to Sawyer, asking, “How’d you screw it up? Forget to hold the door for her or something? Maybe that pissed her off.”

“Not that I recall,” he says with a laugh.

“Hope you cleaned up beforehand. Didn’t try to wear your work clothes, did you?”

“I dressed nicely,” Sawyer assures his grandfather while looking curiously at me.

“It was a perfectly fine date,” I insist with a snippy tone, hating every minute of this.

Crawford grimaces. “That don’t sound too good, son.” He shakes his head at the sad prognosis. “I doubt you’ll be getting a second date.”

“No! He won’t!” I say in a rush.

Sawyer’s eyebrows hit his hairline. “No?”

Crawford howls with laughter, but Sawyer doesn’t blush with embarrassment. He’s too cocky for that. “That’s a shame. I got your number from David this morning. I was planning to call you after work to see if you wanted to get together tomorrow night.”

Would I have answered if he’d called me out of the blue?

No. Absolutely not, but I would have wanted to.

How pitiful.

“Sorry you went through the trouble…”

“Maybe you should give him one more chance,” Crawford says to me. Then he pauses before continuing, “On the other hand, Sawyer, you had your chance, and if you blew it, you blew it.”

Sawyer frowns at his grandfather. “Whose side are you on, old man?”

Crawford holds up his hands in innocence. “All right, I’ll stay out of it. But between me and you, you’d be a fool not to beg her for a second chance.”

“He’s right,” Sawyer says with an endearing grin. “One more date, Madison?”

Of course he’s confident enough to insist in front of an audience. Am I the first woman who’s dared to turn him down for a date?

I have no idea how to proceed here. Going out a second time wasn’t in the cards for us, but I just want this awkward exchange to be over with, so I hurry and answer. “Fine. Whatever.”

I’ll just…ghost him or something. There’s no way I’m going on a second date!

“A SECOND DATE?!” Kendra sounds beyond enthused by the news when I call her after work.

“Yes.No.” I’m still confused. “It was a verbal agreement, nothing binding. I’ll get out of it.”

“Oh no you won’t. One more date will really seal the deal.”

“Sealwhatdeal, Kendra? This is silly! One date is all I agreed to, and it would have ended there had his grandfather not meddled.Hewas the one to convince Sawyer to ask me out again even after I made it clear that the answer would be no!”

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