Page 87 of Just Another Meet Cute
Her breath was uneven, but she nodded her head. “I can’t let my family stay in a hotel. Your Bá would haunt me forever.”
Knowing how much effort it took for her to call Dad family, I wanted to give her a hug, but knew I shouldn’t since she was at work. Instead, I settled for two thumbs-up as I grinned like an idiot. “I’ll go back to the hotel and pack for Mom myself if I have to. We’ll even pick up some dinner tonight.”
As I got to the door, Aunt Sarah glanced up at me. “Oh, by the way, tell Linh that we’ll be getting a new intern next week and she won’t be faxing any case files for Ms. Susan anymore. In fact, I’m going to start locking my office door when your cousin comes.” A brief smile crossed her face. “She’ll have to find another way to confess crimes to me from now on.”
Wondering was worse than knowing.
Time to finally test out that theory.
Once I was able to check Dad and Aunt Sarah off the list of people to talk to, the next person was Ian. He wasn’t as easy to track down though. When my texts and calls to Ian went unanswered, I had to resort to stalking him again. Like Linh said, full-on stalker mode this time, with some vital help from Kathy.
Unable to stand still, I paced back and forth outside the supermarket as I waited for Ian to come out. I still wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to say. I mean, it wasn’t like I could just blurt out that I was in love with him. That may work in the movies, but real life was totally different.
Finally spotting him coming out of the entrance with a plastic bag, I popped out at him from behind the carts like a jack-in-the-box. “Finally! You took forever in there.”
Ian jumped back a foot and let out a heavy deep breath. “What are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you. We need to talk.” There was no use pretending. Ian usually saw right through my lies anyway.
His eyes narrowed. “But how did you—did Kathy tell you that I was here?”
“Maybe.”
“Seriously? Did she even need zucchini and alfredo sauce for tonight’s dinner or was it a trick to get me here?” he asked suspiciously, holding up the bag like it was a bomb.
“I have no clue.”
I hoped that once I saw him face-to-face, then we would be able to have an honest talk. That our conversation would flow like it always did. But now that he was right in front of me—all handsome and a little annoyed—I was so overwhelmed with my feelings that I didn’t even know how to start. All the words that I wanted to say were jumbled up like there was a traffic jam in my throat.
It was an extremely frustrating feeling.
His eyes softened a bit like he could tell. “What do you need, Nina?”
“You never finished answering all the questions from the list,” I finally blurt out.
“I didn’t know there was a deadline for it.”
Why did I bring up the list? Shaking my head, I took a step toward him and he immediately backed up so the distance between us didn’t change. “Why have you been avoiding me?”
He edged toward the parking lot. “I’m not. I’ve just been busy.”
“Too busy to call? Or text? Definitely not too busy to get zucchini.”
Ian’s face scrunched up like he was in pain, and he turned away. His stridewas so large and fast that I was practically running to keep up with him across the parking lot. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. But I really have to get home. I bought some ice cream and it’s going to melt.”
That was the lamest excuse I’d ever heard.
The urge to roll my eyes was overwhelming. Why was he the one who was mad? We both leaned in and almost kissed that day. Yet somehow he was acting like the victim. I was tempted to give him the silent treatment, too.
Instead, I reached out to open the passenger door. “Great, then you can drive me home, too.”
His hand came down and blocked the door from opening. “I can’t take you home.”
“Fine.” Glowering at him, I crossed my arms and didn’t budge. “Then I’ll take an Uber to meet you at your house instead. Sooner or later, you will have to talk to me.”
We had a stare down for another minute or two before Ian eventually let out a sigh hard enough to blow me over. He went to the other side of the car and tossed the groceries in the back seat—not seeming to care where the precious ice cream landed now.
Step 1: Get Ian alone. Done. I was back in the car with him.
