Page 19 of But He's My Grumpy Neighbor

“Two cokes, please,” Kyle says and I blink at him in shock. Paulette shoots me a look, knowing that I don’t drink soda. Even if I did, they serve Poppy’s peachy keen tea here, so I always get that.

“One coke and a peachy keen tea,” Paulette says as she scribbles in her peach-shaped notebook. “Coming right up.”

“I ordered twocokes,” Kyle says, sounding confused and annoyed. I try to reassure him with a smile.

“I come here a lot, Paulette knows I don’t drink soda so she was just having a little fun changing up the order.”

Kyle looks unamused but doesn’t say anything more. Paulette gives me another look that says she’s going to have a talk with me later before heading behind the counter to get our drinks.

We both open our menus, though I already know what I’m going to get. I always get the chicken tender basket with extra ranch. They make the ranch from scratch and it’s so good that sometimes I get the chef, Danny, to make me my own little bottle to take home.

Paulette comes back with our drinks and flips open her little notebook again to take our orders.

“Do you need to order food or does she already know that too?” Kyle asks and I frown. The coke issue should upsetmemore thanhim, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

“I’ll have the chicken tender basket with extra ranch,” I tell Paulette, instead of answering Kyle.

“I’ll get a cheeseburger meal.”

Paulette looks like she’s stabbing her notebook with her pen she’s writing so hard. I know she’s biting her tongue right now too.

“Is everything okay?” I ask Kyle once Paulette goes to put our orders in.

“Everything’s fine. I just didn’t know you were a regular here.” His face morphs into a smile again. I don’t like how easily he can do that.

“It’s one of my favorite places.” I’m careful not to say that I live around here. Right now it’s looking like I’m going to be running to Poppy’s office at the end of this. I’d leave now, but I don’t want to be rude. He did come all the way from Atlanta.

“It’s nice that you’re so humble. The last few girls I’ve dated have been total gold diggers. I took one of them to Amelio’s in Atlanta and she racked up the bill and didn’t even eat all of the food.”

I shift in my seat, resisting the urge to scowl. It’s clear he wants me to know he has money, while throwing this backhanded compliment at me.

Paulette returns and I look up at her. Her hazel eyes are filled with pity for me. Anyone within earshot knows I’m on a terrible date right now. I dig into my food right away, hoping that I can use my mouth being full as an excuse for not talking to him.

Kyle doesn’t mind talking with his mouth full. I wonder where I went so wrong. How could the app’s algorithm have put us together? And why was he so much nicer over text?

At the end of our date, Kyle pays, remarking that this was just a tenth of the amount he paid on his last date. I make a nondescript noise that I think he interprets as praise by the way he grins at me.

We walk out and I grit my teeth when he places his hand on my back.Just tell him thank you for a nice night and get to Poppy’s. Fast.

I take a deep breath before turning to face him on the sidewalk. We’re across from The Fresh Peach Market, our local grocery store, and seeing various shoppers go in and out lends me a sense of safety.

“This was nice,” I lie through my teeth.

“It was,” he says and takes a step closer. I take a step back. I’m already standing near the wall of the diner, so it feels like he’s trying to crowd me in. My hands dip into my coat pockets, one of them wrapping around the pepper spray I keep there. I don’t want to assume the worst of him, but I also don’t want to be stupid.

“I should probably get home,” I say, and his brows furrow. Another step and he’s too close. I panic when I realize my elderly neighbors probably won’t even see us in the shadows here because of how dark it’s gotten. I grip the pepper spray canister harder. He unfortunately grabs my arm that has the pepper spray. His grip isn’t painful, but when I try to pull back it tightens.

I open my mouth to try and talk him down, but before I can say anything, Kyle is grabbed and pressed up against the wall. His hand rips from my arm and I gasp in shock. But my shock melts into relief when I see who has Kyle by the collar.Adrian.

“Hey man, what’s your problem?” Kyle pushes Adrian’s chest, but he’s as immovable as stone. Kyle is taller than Adrian and has more than a few pounds on him, but this doesn’t seem to affect Adrian’s ability to hold him against the wall.

“Myproblemis that you’re forcing yourself on a woman in the street.” Adrian’s voice is dangerously low.

“I barely touched her!” Kyle whines while trying to wriggle out of Adrian’s iron grip.

“And you won’t touch her ever again, nor will you contact her.”

Kyle’s face twists up in anger.

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