Page 29 of Clean Out of Luck

I’m on a date.

PHOENIX

Where?

SCARLETT

You’re too far away to come crash it. :P

PHOENIX

Oh, please. I haven’t ruined ALL of your dates. But seriously, if you need me, I could turn the 2-hour drive into 30 minutes.

And that is why I love my brother. He might be a nosy pain in the butt, but he really does care about me.

The door jingles, and in walks my date. He looks similar to his profile picture but a little older than I originally thought.

He’s wearing a striped blazer and dark brown pants. He glances around the bookstore then smiles when he spots me.

“Hi, there. I’m Nolan,” he says as he walks up to me and greets me with a hug. On closer look, he’s got to be almost forty. Nothing wrong with that…but it is a pretty big age gap.

Age is just a number, I remind myself. I’ve never given thought to what age I’m comfortable with. I guess it depends on how we hit it off.

“How are you?” I manage to say despite my surprise.

“Great, now that I’m seeing you in person!” He smiles and adjusts his jacket. “Am I what you expected?”

I open my mouth to reply, trying to figure out the right thing to say. “I think it’s always better to wait to meet people in person before you form an opinion.”

He nods. “A wise choice.”

“Thank you.” I laugh. “So what was the last book you read?”

“It was a book on small architecture.The Rise and Fall of the Tiny Home Movement.”

“Oh, wow. Huh.” I try to sound interested. I guess that makes sense if architecture is his career. “Was it interesting?”

“It was fascinating,” he says as he starts to walk toward the non-fiction section. “In fact, I wanted to look for something else by the same author because it really had me thinking about the future of small homes and what will make them attractive to buyers in the long run.”

Well, he’s not bad at all. A conscientious architect who cares about how his work affects the future? Maybe this is the benefit of dating an older man.

I smile and follow him to the non-fiction section, where he proceeds to talk about some of his other favorite books.

The door jingles, and I glance over my shoulder to see who’s walked in. The woman sitting at the service counter still hasn’t looked up from her book. I admire her ability to tune out the world.

The man closes the door behind him, then turns to face the inside of the store.

My shoulders tighten, and I narrow my eyes at the intruder.

Wade shrugs his shoulders and walks in as if I should have been expecting him. Maybe I should have. Now I have some serious suspicions on how he knew where I would be.

“Scarlett!” he exclaims loudly. Walking toward me with his arms in the air like he’s going to bear hug me. “What are you doing here?”

He even sounds surprised to see me.

Nolan turns around. “Who’s that?” he asks softly as Wade weaves around the tables.

“He’s a family friend,” I grind out as Wade envelops me in a hug. Somehow his arms are everywhere, and I feel like I’ve been swallowed up. His shirt is soft, and it smells amazing. His hug is so forceful, he lifts me off the ground a couple inches.

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