Page 26 of The Luck of Finding You
“Right.” I squeeze the book in my hand, just to give me something to do. “I was also going to ask, do we have social media?” Once I can get the site up and running, we’ll want to connect everything together.
“Yeah, we’ve got Instagram and Twitter. We don’t have huge followings. I feel like Marsha always wanted the shop to be a word-of-mouth thing or a cute shop people saw as they walked or drove by. But we do have them.”
“I’m thinking we should do a website.” I’m bringing up way too much tonight, but Tally acts as if she’s going to run anytime I talk about anything that isn’t shop related, and I’m not ready for her to leave.
“I don’t know if we have the resources or bandwidth to take on a project like that.” Tally bites her lip as she says this, drawing my attention to the one place I’ve avoided looking all evening. Now I don’t think I’ll be able to look away. “And there isn’t money to pay someone to make one for us.”
“I’m a coder. I build websites for a living. When I said we should do a website, I meant me.”Do not think about kissing her. Do not think about kissing her.
“Oh. Right,” Tally mumbles. Crap. I’ve been staring at her lips for too long. When I meet her eyes, I know she knows exactly what I’ve been thinking. She takes a step back, right into a shelf. A few books tumble onto the floor. “Sorry.”
I can’t tell if she’s apologizing to me or the bookshelf. “It’s fine, are you okay?”
She nods, her eyes wide. She blinks and her face clears. “You wouldn’t be overwhelmed by taking on the project?”
Right. All business.
“Nah.” I shake my head. I can do this. “It would be something to do in the evenings. I’m not taking on personal clients right now, and my fingers are always itching to do something. Code something, I mean.”
Why did that sound dirtier in my mind than the way I meant? I’ve been reading one too many steamy romance novels.
Tally swallows way too hard and loudly because my eyes snap to her lips again.
“Okay,” she says.
“Okay,” I say. I think she wants me to kiss her. She’s staring at my lips, and I can’t take my eyes off of her. Her gaze snaps to mine. The shop shrinks. Neither of us move.
“I should go,” Tally says, breaking the connection.
It is a thousand degrees in here. “I hope you like the book,” she says, and I know she immediately regrets it because her face goes bright red.
“Does your boyfriend know that you read smutty books?” I tease, still trying to figure out if she’s single or not.
Tally lets out a shaky breath. “Is that what we’re calling them these days? A good story is a good story regardless if there’s sex on the page or not.”
I grin at her, and she takes a step toward the counter where her bag is. I take a step. It’s like a game of cat and mouse. “I agree. But you didn’t answer the question.”
“No boyfriend,” Tally says casually. “Lots of dates though.”
Lie. At least I think that’s a lie.
“I have one this Friday!”
She doesn’t, does she? I narrow my eyes at her, trying to call her bluff. “With whom?”
Tally scoffs. “An old friend. Why does it matter to you?”
I take a step back, remembering my place. Maybe she did just look at me like she wanted me to kiss her, but I promised her I’d be her co-worker, not even a friend. I won’t push this if she really doesn’t want it. “It doesn’t. Anyway. Cool. Have a great time on your date. I’ll see you later.”
And with that, I turn and head to the back door. I lock it behind me, watching as the lights in the shop go off as Tally heads out the front door. I head upstairs to my apartment. Mo greets me, happily wagging his tail.
I try to forget about the conversation. I try not to think about Tally going out to dinner with another man, laughing, flirting. Is it too soon to admit that just thinking about it makes me physically sick?
My phone chimes, pulling me from my thoughts. Nora.
Talking to her always gets me out of my head. Hopefully, tonight will be the same.
TheNoraReview:Ever feel like you just keep messing up things in real life so badly?
