Page 24 of Love Unexpected
Back upstairs, I dropped into my desk chair with a dramatic sigh.
“How did it go?” Greta asked. “Alex told me you were watching the taping.”
I leaned my head back into my seat. “I got it so bad, Greta.”
She smiled, sympathy evident in her eyes. “I know, sweetie. When are you going totellhim?”
I pulled my glasses off and dropped them onto my desk, cursing the mascara that kept me from rubbing the heels of my hands into my eye sockets. A week ago, I’d been absolutely certain that I would never know Isaac personally—that our relationship would always remain strictly professional. My daydreams obviously included more elaborate interactions, but I was a realist. I didn’t actually expect them to ever happen.
But then, that wasn’t exactly true. I hadn’t moved all the way from Kansas City just so I could chill with my cat and admire Isaac from afar. Which is exactly why Bridget and her sacrilegious use of Isaac’s Red Renegade t-shirt had compelled me to action. Because fears aside, I reallydidwant Isaac to know me.
So what was I so afraid of?
It was easy enough to realize, even if I didn’t want to admit the truth out loud.
I liked me well enough. I was happy in my not particularly toned but still functional body. I liked my quirky, dialed-down fashion sense and felt confident of my value, even when I spent Friday nights in fuzzy socks, snuggling with my cat.
I didn’tneedIsaac’s approval.
But I still recognized that attraction couldn’t be forced. And there was no guarantee that Isaac wouldn’t take one look at me in person and decide I wasn’t what he was looking for after all. He’d been so quick to put me in the friend zone. Why would he feel any differently if he found out Ana was actually me?
Still, the longer our online relationship went on, the harder it would be to tell him the truth. Because at some point, it would start to feel like I was being dishonest. Like I was intentionally keeping secrets from him.
Alex stopped in front of Greta’s desk, handing her a sticky note. “This is the guy at CyberWorks that you need to call. They’ve figured out the problem. It’s just a matter of implementing the fix. If you call him and tell him Harrison gave you his number, he’ll get us up and running within the half-hour.”
“Perfect,” Greta said. “Thank you.”
“Sure thing,” Alex said. He looked my way. “Did you enjoy the show?”
I nodded. “You were right. It is fun seeing it live.”
“The energy’s a little different, right?”
“Isaac definitely knows how to light up a room,” I said. “It’s even more obvious in person.”
Alex narrowed his eyes in a way that made me wonder if I’d said too much. “Yeah. That’s a good way of saying it.”
He tapped his knuckles on Greta’s desk. “You let me know if this doesn’t get things fixed and I’ll call Harrison back.”
She nodded. “You got it.”
She shot me some side-eye as soon as Alex was out of earshot. “Try to get the stars out of your eyes before you talk about Isaac with any of his family members again, k?”
My hands flew to my cheeks. “Was I really that bad?”
Greta smirked. “I’m not going to lie to you. But it’s possible Alex only saw you as an adoring fan instead of someone who’s actually in love.”
She picked up her phone and dialed the number scrawled across the sticky note Alex had handed her. While she waited for the call to pick up, she nudged my chair with her foot and motioned to my to-do list still pulled up on my screen. She covered the mouthpiece of her phone and widened her eyes. “I’m pretty sure you’ve done exactly nothing off that list today. Get busy. And as long as I’m giving orders, tell him, Rosie. You know it’s inevitable. Just do it now and save yourself some drama.”
I did know it.
That didn’t mean I wanted to admit it.
It definitely didn’t mean I had to like it.
Chapter Nine
Rosie
