Page 49 of Fun Together
“Nice to officially meet you,” I say.
“It’s nice to meet you too.”
A woman comes up to counter. “Excuse me,” she says. “Do you have any French loaves left today?”
Cameron nods to the pastries in my hand. “Hope you like it. I’ll see you around?”
I nod emphatically. “Definitely.”
When I turn around to head back to the table, I notice Eli was absolutely breaking his promise and was not only watching the entire thing, but sitting up biting his nails like he’s trying to expend some kind of nervous energy.
“You said you wouldn’t watch,” I say, as he stands up to let me back to my seat.
“It looks like it went well?”
“I think so. I got his name.”
“And?”
“That’s it?”
His face changes and he now beams at me, like I’ve done something very impressive. “Well, that’s a start. Maybe next time you can get his astrological sign.”
I roll my eyes and hand him one of the pastries. “For your help today.”
“Thank you,” he says, smiling like I just gave him a gift he’s always wanted.
I take a bite of the danish. It’s good, but a little crumbly and some of it falls into my lap. I brush the crumbs off and in the process, they fall onto Eli’s lap.
He looks at me and arches a brow. “Was that payback for forcing you talk to him?”
I cover my mouth to hide my smile. “No, I’m sorry.” I almost reach down to brush them off his lap before catching myself. “I feel like I owe you more than a danish. Is there anything I can help you with, so I don’t feel like such a leech?”
“You’re not a leech.” He shows me his phone screen. I see a string of texts from his mom. “Got any ideas for how to help with a meddling mother?”
One good thing about having a completely hands-off mother is that at least she’s not a meddler.
“Who is Dani?”
“A woman she’s trying to set me up with.” He sighs and sets his phone down. “Apparently I have offered to take her to dinner this Saturday night.”
The butterflies that belong to Eli sink down, like they’re disappointed in this development. But this is good. Him encouraging me to talk to other guys and telling me about his dates with other women. I need the reminder that his help is strictly friendly.
“And you don’t want to go?”
“For some reason a blind date seems so . . . I don’t know. Bleak?”
“I get it. Kind of feels like the final dating frontier or something.”
“Exactly. My mom just worries about me, I think. My parents have a big anniversary coming up, and she’s got her mind on matrimonial bliss.”
“How long have they been married?”
“Thirty years.”
“Wow, that’s . . . rare.”
“Yeah, it is. And now they want me to give a speech.” He shakes his head and puffs air out of his cheeks. “Not sure how I got roped into that.”
