Page 95 of The Guy Who Became My Grumpy Boss

Going out with him wasn’t condemning me to anything except an evening with a guy I liked.

I took a deep breath, picked up my phone, and decided to give me and Danger Zone a chance to talk it out.

Jessica:I might be available. What’s your offer?

Chapter 28

-Peter-

The span of forty-eight hours had never before felt this long.

Jessica had agreed to go to the movie and then dinner with me. Which was good. That had been last night. Now it was Tuesday evening. Mrs. Santos had kicked me out of her shop because she’d run out of flowers for me to use and said I needed to do something else until the next morning.

Unfortunately, I’d already cleaned my apartment, washed and folded my laundry, caught up on a few outstanding items from work, and exercised.

This left me with hours until I went to bed and nothing to do.

My first inclination had been to sit in front of my computer and watch Jessica and her friends open storage units, but after one video, I’d decided that I’d rather have the real Jessica with me and not the YouTube version.

Aunt Mei had called today to check on me, and in our conversation, she’d once again encouraged me to take small steps outside of my comfort zone and learn to talk to people without practicing first.

I would never completely stop, because imagining the scenarios beforehand was the only way I got through most interactions, but I’d merely thought of a brief outline of what I wanted to say to Jessica the next day. I’d decided to count that as progress.

After Mrs. Santos had kicked me out—with two bouquets—and the internet had failed to keep me engaged, I’d decided to take a walk, bringing one of the arrangements of flowers. It had to go somewhere.

The storms from the day before had cleared out, leaving the city clean and somewhat fresh. I hadn’t had a plan, except to walk, but as I did so, I noticed I was near the stuffed animal shop. The open sign was still on, and on a whim, I decided to enter.

The overwhelming scents hit me first, closely followed by a greeting from Anna. The woman looked exhausted but smiled warmly when she saw me.

“Peter! How did your party go?”

That was a story I didn’t have time to tell, so I said, “There was the usual company drama, but in the end, I think everyone enjoyed themselves.”

Except me.

Anna laughed. “What can I do for you?”

I remembered the flowers and smiled. “I just wanted to thank you for the animals you supplied to our company baskets. They were well-received.”

Anna’s eyes lit up as she took the vase from me. “These are breathtaking! Did you arrange them?”

“I did.”

“Thank you!” She surprised me with a hug.

Having a woman’s arms around me reminded me of Jessica, and I allowed myself to think of her for a brief moment. Our reunion would be like this, but better. So much better.

Anna prattled on about the flowers and asked about the stuffed animals as she found a spot for the vase on her checkout stand.

I took the time to look around and spotted something that tugged on a memory.

Marissa had said she’d been changing for me for a long time, but when I’d first met her, we’d been young. I had a clear picture in my mind of her bedroom and of the stuffed pangolin that had sat on her bed.

I’d never seen another until Jessica pointed out this one in the store last week.

“How much for the pangolin?”

Anna raised her eyebrows. “I didn’t think you had kids.”

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