Page 30 of She Likes It, Hey Micah
Does she really not know how the male world perceives her? I could see it the instant we met at Ember. “Whatever you’re doing,” I say, “it’s clearly working. Your whole sunshine act pulls them right in.”
“Are you upset that Brennan asked me out?”
“I’m not upset.” The way I grunt those words says otherwise, but I can’t help it. There’s no way she’s this naive when she literally has men lining up to date her. She puts on an innocent front, but not even Micah Taylor could be that oblivious. There was no surprise in her words when he asked her out, and she had a ready restaurant in mind. This is why we wouldn’t suit even if I were interested in dating. She would move on long before I was ready to let her go.
“Fischer, did I do something wrong?”
My steps falter as soon as I hear the waver in her voice. Cursing under my breath, I count to five before I turn to face her, and then my heart sinks at the sight of her confusion. She really doesn’t know? I have a hard time believing anyone can be so ignorant, but I’ve never seen Micah fake emotion before. She’ll tease, but when it comes to the real stuff, she’s more genuine than anyone I’ve ever met.
I groan, ducking my head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. We can drop the subject and talk about…” I can’t even think of a topic because there’s nothing I hate more than small talk. “We should get back to the office in case they come back.”
“We should make a plan in case they’ve already scheduled things that aren’t going to work,” Micah mumbles back.Great. I broke her.
“Hopefully they only made decisions, and they’ll leave the doing up to us.”
“Hopefully,” she agrees.
And then we walk the rest of the way in silence.
Chapter Nine
Micah
At this point, Kinley isjust as invested in my dates as I am, and I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. It’s how we became friends, so I guess it’s good? It only took her a couple of weeks to recognize me every time I met a date at the restaurant where she works, and after a few weeks she timidly pulled me aside to ask why I kept meeting so many different men. She thought maybe I was having business meetings or something because no one would go on that many different dates so frequently.
Iwould. Do. And I don’t need anyone to tell me that it’s getting a little ridiculous. But how else am I going to find my soulmate?
“Hey, girly!” she says when I walk into La Bella a few minutes before seven. She pats the stool next to her. “Got a new one tonight?”
I roll my eyes. “When was the last time I actually went on a second date?”
“I’m choosing to remain optimistic. I’m still trying to figure out how none of them ever stick.”
I sigh. You would think, with how many men ask me out, I wouldn’t have this problem of never finding a relationship, but I literally can’t remember the last time I clicked with a guy enough to pursue anything beyond the first date. It’s more than a little disheartening. “You and me both.”
“How did you meet tonight’s victim?”
A middle-aged couple comes into the restaurant, so I have to wait until Kinley directs them to a table and returns to the front.
“He ran into me at the park,” I say.
“Oh, did you already know him?”
“No, he literally ran into me at the park.” I played it off as nothing, but I definitely have a bruise from Brennan’s elbow slamming into my arm. He may not have been the most creative when it came to finding a way to meet me, but I appreciated his clever twist of Fischer’s veiled insult.
Speaking of Fischer… “I have news.”
Kinley’s eyes light up. “Fischer news?” I told her about him last week, after the whole catering thing, and she’s been asking about him ever since.
“He hasmuscles, Kinley.”
“No!” Grabbing my arm, she jumps up and down a few times. She’s very much like me in enthusiasm, which is why I always plan my dates around when she’s working. She never makes me feel silly for getting excited about things. “There’s no way!”
“There is a way, and it comes in the form of seriously delightful forearms.” Despite falling into him when we first met, I had pretty much forgotten that he was a solid man because he’s always wearing button ups and suit coats. But today at the park, when he rolled up his sleeves, I got my first look at the man beneath the business casual. He kept his sleeves rolled up when we got back to the office and got orders from Grant and Lila, andhoo boy.
Fischer wasn’t happy. While he listened to Grant describe what might have been the worst song lineup in history, he kept clenching and unclenching his hands, giving me an up close and personal view of Forearm City. I can only imagine what the rest of him looks like.
“Are you still texting him?” Kinley asks.
