Page 20 of The Luck of Finding You
Noah’s face is soft and kind when he looks at me. “It’s really okay, Tally.”
“Right.” I get hot all over as he stares at me. I really hope he’s not thinking about me being in a towel. Gosh, am I ever going to be able to live this down? I give him a tight smile. “It still won’t happen again. I’ll get back down to the shop. Do you want to start training tomorrow?”
Noah stares at me for a moment. “Sure. I’ve been looking over some of the numbers that you sent over, and I’ve got some ideas on how we can get them up.”
“We can talk about it tomorrow.” I need to get out of this apartment before I die of heat or embarrassment. I move to grab my jacket, then I realize the dog is lying across it. I take a step toward the couch, which startles Noah. He jumps up as if he’s going to hug me goodbye. “I, uh, just need my jacket.” I point to the gray jacket half-hidden under his dog.
“Oh. Right. Mo, get down.” Noah snaps his fingers and the dog is up and moving, tail wagging.
My mind snags on the name. “Mo? Like in Simone’s books?”
“Yup, the very same.” Noah smiles down at the small white dog. It’s bigger than any pet I’d ever want, but it’s kind of cute.
“You really do like those books.” Great, we’re back to talking about books.
“I do.” These words snag on my heart. I blink away a scene of me in a white dress as it appears in my head. I’m supposed to be over daydreaming about the future and what could be. I will not start again just because Noah is standing in front of me and saying regular words. They don’t have to make me think of a wedding, ours or the one I thought I’d have with Grant. I won’t let them.
I grab my jacket. “See you later, then.” I’m moving like the speed of light to the door when a hand catches my elbow, sending sparks through my body. I pull away as if I’ve been shocked because I might as well have been.
“Tally, I…”
I risk a glance at Noah. He seems flustered, which makes me feel a tiny bit better. I’ve been flustered since he sat down at my table on Monday. Olivia has asked me four times this week if I’m all right because I’ve been so spacy. Noah’s eyes meet mine and I see something flash in them. He swallows. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I’m going to bet that’s not actually what he was going to say. What changed when he looked at me? “Okay.”
Then I turn and I’m out the door, flying down the stairs and unlocking the back door of the shop.
Okay? I didn’t even say goodbye. I bury my face in my hands. That man is going to be the death of me, or at least he’s going to crush my heart.
I hear my phone chime from where I left it in the office. I hurry to it, grateful for the distraction. It’s a message from Mo. On Wednesday I asked him if I could think about his request to meet in person. I’m not sure how he took it, but he hasn’t messaged me since he told me to take all the time I needed.
MoReads:Hey. You around to chat right now? I could use a friend.
His words remind me that we are still friends. Just because we’ve introduced the idea of meeting in person doesn’t mean anything has changed, even though it feels like everything has changed.
TheNoraReview:What’s going on?
MoReads:I’m in between jobs right now, and I feel like I’ve lost my footing.
TheNoraReview:I totally feel that. Not exactly between jobs, but I’ve had a big change at work too.
And that, my friend, is the understatement of the century.
MoReads:If you could do anything, what would you want to do?
I blink at the sudden conversation change. It makes sense, I guess, because we don’t really go into details about what we do for work or more personal stuff. But I decide to be really honest.
TheNoraReview:Travel to Scotland. I’ve never been, and my mom always wanted to take me because her family is from there. But we never got the chance.
The three bubbles appear and I wait for his reply, but a customer knocks on the front door and I let them in before getting a response.
9
NOAH
“Saturdays are usually our busiest days,” Tally is telling me as we wander around the shop. We open in ten minutes. Her hair is pulled back in a loose ponytail, and I’m wondering how it stays because her hair doesn’t seem that long. “We have one book club that meets once a month on Tuesday evenings. The next meeting is this Tuesday, if you want to watch. But you don’t really need to be there because I’m in the book club and Olivia sometimes comes, so someone from the shop is always there. If we do more book clubs, you can help host a couple to even out the load.”
I nod my head. “That sounds fine.”
