Page 16 of Finding Their Place

Me: You go first. Tell me all about you—your wants, your hates, your needs.

Haley: Are you going to cut me off halfway through to talk about yourself?

Her reply came back in a snap as if she used speech to text—and I could hear the wariness in her typed words.

Me: I’m guessing you’ve been out with a lot of selfish assholes lately.

Haley: Understatement of the year.

I was no narcissist, but I could be honest. I might drop in my two cents here and there if something you say hits me in the right way, but it won’t be an attempt to turn the conversation to me if that’s what you’re concerned about.

Haley: I’m untrusting because of past experiences, that’s for damn sure, so sorry in advance if I’m a bit prickly. My cousin and roommate use that adjective for me all the time.

Her blunt honesty turned me on.

Me: Some of nature’s delights grow thorns to protect themselves from predators.

Haley: Wyatt just earned a checkmark in the plus category.

I laughed and let her know her frankness earned one on my tally card too.

Haley: I could ramble on, but it’s weird texting out my life. How about we play fifty questions instead and see where our score sheets end up at the end? If we’re still interested, we can do the whole spilling of our stories over the phone one night.

Me: I’m game if you have time.

Haley: Coffee or tea?

She started out in the same place I would have. Coffee.

Haley: Same.

Morning person or night owl? I asked next.

Haley: Afternoon delight. You?

I choked on a laugh, shaking my head. Morning person, I replied, hoping that didn’t get a negative checkmark like it usually did with anyone I dated. Nothing better than the sunrise over the ocean though. Politics or religion?

Haley: No thanks, but I’m all about equal rights and keeping the second out of the first.

“My kind of girl,” I stated quietly, grinning again like an idiot.

Haley: Old white men have no place telling me how and what I can or can’t do with my body, thank you very much.

Me: I’m not big on either of those topics, but I’ll hold your hand while you’re up on that box for however long you need, Haley.

Haley: You have no idea how happy I am to hear that. Summer or winter?

Shit, that was a hard one. Summer, I went with, but only because it’s the busiest time of year for me.

Haley: What do you do for work?

Me: Landscaping, and it gets too damn hot in the summer. How about you?

Haley: I’m a winter girl, and I manage Pieces, an upscale boutique downtown.

Me: Do you enjoy it?

Haley: It pays the bills, but my boss is a bitch, and finding good help is hard as fuck.

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