Page 78 of My Heart to Find

I perch on the windowsill. The apartment looks even emptier now. I breathe out a sigh. Empty and lonely and quiet.

Then my phone buzzes.

Would you like to go for a coffee this afternoon?

I stare at the text from Trevor.

Have you got news?I write back.

There’s a pause in which the three floating dots appear on my screen. He’s typing.

No. I meant just...a coffee with me.

A coffee with Trevor Wathem? My heart suddenly pounds a little. Like...a date? He’s asking me out?

And it would mean I’d be getting out of this empty, quiet apartment. I mean, I’ve got to go into town anyway. I’ve still got a key toThe Red Panda,and Mr. Richards left a rather rude message on my phone last night, demanding I return it or he’ll report me for theft. Huh. I’d love to see him try.

I’d been dreading going into town, just to return the key, but now I have a reason to go that doesn’t center my whole life around Mr. Richards.

Sure, I reply to Trevor.I’d love to.

*

“SO, YOU HAVE NO SEATSin your house now?” Trevor’s staring at me.

I tried to tell it as a funny story, but I’m not really sure the humor’s come across.

“No,” I say. “None. I mean...she didn’t even pay for them. They were free to a good home. That’s what the Facebook Marketplace advert said.Free. And now she’s taken them!” I force out a laugh, and my hand on my coffee cup jolts with the sound—like I didn’t actually expect to laugh so loudly and the rest of my body wasn’t ready.

“Wow,” Trevor says. He takes another sip of his mocha. “Just...wow.” He gives me a smile—a deep smile that transforms his whole face.

And, suddenly, it hits me just how conventionally attractive he is. Bright, big eyes. Long lashes—the kind that make me a bit envious. Killer cheekbones—as in a seriously good facial structure. A square jaw with a few-days’-old stubble. He’s tall too—and I like tall men. Especially tall men that talk to me like I’m a real human being.

I find myself smiling back at him. I shift a bit in my seat. The key toThe Red Pandadigs into my pocket. I’m not looking forward to seeing Mr. Richards’s smarmy face when I drop it off later.

“Don’t suppose you know of any jobs going?” I ask, and I don’t know why I suddenly want to talk about work—or, rather, my lack of it.

“My firm’s hiring,” he says.

“Your firm?” My eyebrows shoot up, and I don’t know what Trevor actually does, but suddenly I’m imagining working alongside him, having more opportunities to talk to him. To get to know him. Because, I realize with a jolt, I do want to.

“Yeah. I work in operations management.”

“Which is?” I blink.

“We help businesses with the logistics of running operations.”

I nearly laugh. “I still don’t really know what that is.”

“We work with other companies, helping them manage their productions operations. We’ve got a quite a few clients. Lots of banks actually.”

“Ah, okay,” I say.

He laughs. “You’ve still got no idea what I do, have you?”

I give him what I hope is an endearing and cute grin. “Nope!”

I look at Trevor, across the table, and I think I could like him. Like him, properly. I mean, he looks good, that’s for sure. And I know he’s a decent bloke. A really decent bloke, who I’m currently on a date with.

---