Page 80 of The One I Need
I laugh as the tears start falling from my face. There’s no holding them back this time. “I don’t know if you have enough swords to fight all these dragons.”
“Try me.”
Chapter27
Oliver
I didn’t thinkanything of it when Shane sent a message in the group text this morning seeing if we all wanted to go to breakfast at Mona’s Diner. In fact, I kind of expected it. I mean, my friends did just meet my wife for the first time, so that calls for coffee and waffles.
I might have expected the text, but I didn’t expect this.
Then again, I should have remembered who my friends are and their penchant for decorations and sign making. Because when I walk into Rolling Hills’s favorite small-town greasy spoon, I’m greeted by balloons, streamers, and a big sign that says “He said yes!”
“What the fuck?”
“Everyone! The guest of honor has arrived!” Simon announces from the table he’s currently standing on. “Ladies, you've had your chance. Gentlemen, you have one less man to contend with for the affections of the woman you’re trying to court. Because it’s my great pleasure to introduce the no longer single and looking to mingle…everyone’s favorite elementary teacher…Oliver Price!”
I send a glare to Simon, who looks all too pleased with himself as he causes a commotion in the diner. And not just him. Shane and Wes are standing on either side of him, making sounds with some sort of noise maker you get at a party store.
“You guys are idiots,” I say as I slide into the booth under the sign that was apparently made for me.
“Hey, this is all your fault,” Simon says.
“How so?”
“Because,” Shane says. “It was your idea to decorate Wes’s car after his divorce. Which brought out the decorating bug in all of us. So really, you only have yourself to blame.”
“Again, idiots,” I mumble as I grab a menu to look at it.
“Give me that.” Wes rips the menu out of my hand. “You can recite this menu front and back, so don’t hide in there. What happened last night after you two left?”
I can’t help but smile, even though nothing happened.
“We almost kissed.”
I watch as every person’s eyes grow wide in shock. Wes is the first to speak up, but only because he was the first to pick his jaw off the table.
“Can I ask why it was an almost?”
“Because it wasn’t the time,” I say. “Izzy’s a hard nut to crack. The little tidbits I’ve got from her about her life, and what makes her tick, are few and far between. And last night I felt like we really made some strides. I wasn’t going to ruin that by taking a chance on a kiss.”
But damn if I didn’t want to. She did, too. I could tell. The way she looked at me. The few times she accidentally licked her lips. Kissing her last night would have been the perfect ending to a perfect evening.
“Okay, that makes sense,” Shane asks. “But was that the chance? Did you miss it?”
I think about the question for a second, even though I’ve thought about this exact thing at least twenty times since last night. And every time I come up with the same answer.
“I didn’t.”
“Are you sure?” Shane leans in like he really wants me to hear this. “I’m not saying that you did or didn’t, but you’re the only one who knows.”
I nod. “I didn’t. We talked…a lot. She revealed some stuff about herself, and I opened up as well. If anything, not kissing was the best thing we could have done.”
Wes pats me on the back. “Then I’m glad. Because I get why you’ve acted so different the past few months. She’s it. You’ve finally met her.”
Wow. I didn’t expect that seal of approval. “You think so? Do you all?”
All three of my friends nod their heads in agreement.
