Page 27 of Under the Mistle-Foe

My mind ping-ponged from thinking of ways to win his heart and trying to convince myself I needed to be satisfied with his friendship and let this crush go. The only thing thistug-of-war inside of me accomplished was making my thoughts more chaotic.

I was so lost in thought that the sound of my phone had me jumping. I answered it mostly on instinct.

“Hey, Jett. How are you doing?”

It took me a second to place the voice as I still tried to gather my thoughts. It was only then I looked at the caller ID and confirmed it was Nick. I’d signed up for his matchmaking services a few months back.

While he’d set me up with some pretty amazing guys like Harvey, I’d end up leaving those blind dates with another friend instead of a potential partner. But the reason why things never worked out with the men didn’t lie with Nick. It was on me to keep hoping for a spark with someone new when I hadn’t resolved my old feelings yet.

After making small talk for a couple of minutes, Nick changed the topic. His tone was more professional as he said, “So I have a new potential match for you.”

My stomach dropped. The idea of going on more dates hadn’t even crossed my mind since Remy’s return.

“His name’s Leo. He’s a great guy, gay, and looking for his person. He’s easy on the eyes too.”

“I don’t know…I haven’t had the best luck with men recently.” Even Nick talking the guy up didn’t raise my interest.

I was so whipped.

Remy’s voice repeated inside my head.

Nice. Friend. Nice. Friend.

Those two words were now the bane of my existence.

“You never know. He could be the one.” Was that a hint of bitterness in his voice or was I projecting my ownindignance?

Either way, Nick was right. This Leo dude could bethe one, or maybe I’d end up leaving the date with another friend.

Who knew? But trying was better than sitting around and moping at being put in the friend zone.

“Okay. Give me the deets.”

CHAPTER 12

JETT

The next day,I didn’t head to the diner at my usual time. I told myself it was because I didn’t want to leave the cats alone when they were still getting used to the place. When, in reality, Sugar and Spice had taken to their new surroundings like champs.

I had them sleep in the room for the night, but when I went to check up on them in the morning, they escaped through the crack of the door and were already wandering around the place like they owned it.

It wasn’t until lunch that I visited the diner. I had promised Remy I would come by today, and it waspurely a coincidencethat I happened to go during their busiest time of the day.

Remy almost immediately caught sight of me when I entered. He waved through the serving hatch but quickly refocused on his task. My booth was occupied by strangers—probably tourists—so I took a seat with some familiar faces and had lunch with them.

“Was wondering why I didn’t see you this morning, but then heard you fostered some kitties,” Adam commentedwhen I went up to the register. He was sitting in his usual spot, his soda jerk hat perfectly in place on the top of his head, and his gray eyebrow raised in curiosity as he studied me.

Sometimes I felt like the man knew more than he let on. Like his eyes could see the truth you tried to hide inside. I had a feeling he knew about my affection for his son, and that was why he’d been so welcoming of me into his diner all these years.

He had the same piercing stare as Remy did, though Remy was not nearly as perceptive. That or I was justreallygood at hiding my crush.

I showed Adam some photos of the cats, and we chatted a bit about the Holiday House Light Tour that was starting up this week. Mom was impressed when I sent her photos of the finished house. She thought we had a real chance at being one of the winners this year.

I escaped the diner with the excuse of checking on the cats before Remy had finished his lunch rush clean up and had time to come out to chat with me like he’d had a habit of doing recently.

It wasn’t a lie, since I did end up accompanying the cats as I spent the rest of the day hiding at home and working on fixing bugs on the software my parents’ company was presenting next week.

They’d been busy running around getting everything ready for this final presentation that would hopefully seal the deal with this contract.

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