Page 9 of Twink Heart

Me: That’s good.

Rowan: Yeah.

?I stared at the screen, my brows furrowed in confusion. Why had this dude texted me if he wasn’t going to say anything? Maybe I needed to prod him a bit.

Me: So what’s up?

Rowan: I think I want to take you up on your offer. I don’t have any friends here and I don’t know anything about this place. Maybe you could show me those cool spots you mentioned or something.

Me: I’d be happy to! What kind of things are you into?

Rowan: I don’t know. Maybe just some place quiet.

Me: Do you like coffee?

Rowan: Yeah. It’s alright.

Me: Let’s start with a cafe then! We can just hang out and chat and get to know one another!

Rowan: Great.

Me: When are you free?

Rowan: Tonight okay? After five?

Me: Sounds perfect! I’ll text you the address and meet you there!

Rowan: Cool

?Well, he wasn’t much of a conversationalist, I’ll give him that. And judging by his use of punctuation, he seemed about as excited to hang out with me as a person going to get a flu shot. But I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. I’d already learned by accident that he was an orphan and probably grew up in the foster system. I couldn’t imagine that left people with the greatest of attitudes toward life.

?Maybe he just needed someone to show him that life could be fun. I always enjoyed helping people. In fact, if I was being totally honest, I was a fixer. The moment I saw someone in trouble or in need of help, I was there. It had gotten me into trouble several times with guys I tried to date. The problem with dating someone that needed to be fixed was that sometimes they didn’t want to be fixed. Then there was butting heads and fighting and it never ended well.

?So it was probably a good idea not to try to fix Rowan. Instead, I decided I would take a completely different approach. This time I’d just let him be himself. Sure, I’d do my best to learn what I could about him so I could understand his point of view, but I wouldn’t try to cheer him up. I’d just accept him the way he was.

?That felt like a very mature decision.

???

?A couple of hours later I was pulling into the cafe parking lot after work. I spotted Rowan’s SUV almost immediately and saw him sitting in the driver’s seat staring at his phone. He looked totally out of it, like he was doomscrolling just to pass the time.

?I tried to shut my car door loudly in the hopes of getting him to look up. But when he didn’t, I walked over and knocked on his window.

?I’d never seen a man jump so high in my life. His head nearly went through the roof of his car and his phone went flying. I tried not to, but the look on his face had tears streaming down my face as I doubled over, clutching my belly as I laughed.

?“I’m sorry!” I said as he opened the door, still cackling to myself. “I wasn’t trying not to scare you.”

?“It’s fine,” he grumbled. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

?“You looked like you were zoning out a bit.”

?“Yeah. Long day.”

?“Well,” I replied, finally straightening up. “Let’s get you some coffee and you can tell me all about it.”

?He paused. “Do they have food here?”

?I nodded. “Yeah. Not much variety, but they have sandwiches and stuff.”

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