on my off days. I hang out with my friends, play baseball in the summer...”
“That sounds like fun.”
“Yeah. My friends are pretty great.” Micah came to mind again. Dang, that girl could not leave him alone. “What about you?”
She was talking, and he did his best to pay attention. She deserved that much, although he wasn’t starting out too well. He had already missed a good portion of her story.
“...when my brother died, it was one of the only things that made me feel safe again.”
“I’m sorry about that... Your brother, that is.” What was it that made her feel safe?
He really should be paying attention. But as he watched her lips move, his mind was invaded by thoughts of Micah’s lips and how her bottom lip was slightly fuller than the top. And once that happened, his mind had to take a detour to remember every heated detail of their kiss. How her soft lips had responded to his. How her supple curves felt in his hands. How her body felt warm and willing beneath his.
Warm and willing? He was letting his imagination run wild, apparently. He drained his glass of ice water and motioned for the waiter to bring more.
“There’s just something about Neil Diamond’s music that reminds me of those days when my brother was still alive and my family was whole. I feel at home again, safe and secure.”
Hold the phone. She was talking about Neil Diamond?
“Do you know what I mean?” She looked at him over the rim of her glass of water. She took his silence to mean he needed further urging. “Do you have something or somewhere that makes you feel like you are safe with them?”
“Yeah. I do.” Micah.
He was a jerk, a certified jerk for taking this girl out when his heart belonged to another. His heart had no business belonging to Micah, but that did not make it any less true. He needed to work harder to change that.
“Tell me more about your brother. What was he like? Older, younger...?”
“He was older, by five years. He was in the military. That’s how he died, in the war. Before that he liked to do all kinds of things...”
She talked and he tried, but he just couldn’t pay attention. Maybe she talked too much. Maybe it was the way she talked. Maybe he was developing adult-onset ADD. It was possible. He was sure of it. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not pay attention to what she was telling him. Instead he was noticing all the people in the restaurant: a group of friends laughing in the corner, a couple having a romantic dinner, another couple who appeared to be arguing and an older gentleman who sat by himself. All of them appeared more interesting than his distraction. Not much of a distraction at all. So much for that idea.
If he wasn’t careful, he would end up just like the man sitting alone in a busy restaurant.
* * *
Josh needed a cup of coffee. His date with Taylor had been last night, and although the night had ended early for them, he had found himself walking around for hours afterward. There was a lot on his mind and it was all cluttering up his head.
He was on his way to work, a big shift ahead of him, so that cup of coffee was vital right now. He swung open the door to the coffeehouse he frequented near the fire station and stepped up to the counter. The girl behind the counter flushed bright pink as she took his order. The uniform had a tendency to do that, even when it was just the navy T-shirt with the fireman logo.
“It’s on the house.” He didn’t think her face could get pinker, but it did.
Man, did he love the perks of his job. “Thanks.”
Just as he turned to leave, a familiar flash of red caught his eye. Micah. She sat in the corner, near the window, completely immersed in a book. She did that when she read. She would get lost in the pages and be completely unaware of the world around her.
This was the Micah he was used to.
Her thick black frames sat perched on her nose as if they were sliding down and she had not realized it yet. Her hair was piled high in a messy knot on top of her head, a common look for her. She had let the girls talk her into bangs that cut straight above her eyes. He could tell they were bothering her and interfering with her concentration by the way she would blow them out of her eyes. The rebellious red fringe would float up for a moment, then settle back down onto her forehead.
He approached her slowly, not wanting to disturb her yet. He enjoyed watching this side of her. As he got closer, he could see she was biting her lip. Her soft, full bottom lip enticingly trapped between her teeth. Torture. Pure torture.
As she turned the page, she switched to biting her thumbnail. The book must be a real nail-biter. He smirked at his own pun.
“So, is this another one of those books about the color gray?”
Her head snapped up. Big brown eyes stared back up at him from behind smudged lenses. “Hey. I didn’t expect to see you here.”
There was no smile, merely an acknowledgment of his presence. She usually greeted him with a big smile, one that made him melt.
“I work right around the corner.” He indicated with his coffee cup.
“Ah. I guess I forgot about that. I’m here all the time, though, and I never see you.”
“Maybe you’re never looking. Too busy engrossed in your shady book.”
“I am not reading that kind of book!”
“Just messing with you. What are you reading? Judging by your nails—” he lifted her hand to get a closer look “—it’s pretty intense.”
“A mystery.”
“Makes sense.”
She snatched his cup of coffee and took a sip. He would never allow anyone else to do something like that, but it was just one of her annoying traits—she was always curious what others were eating or drinking.
“Uck! What is that?”
He had to laugh at the grimace she produced.
“Are you gonna call that number?”
“What number?”
“The one written on your cup.”
He lifted the paper cup and inspected it. There, above the logo, were digits hastily written in black Sharpie with a heart and the name Carrie. He looked over his shoulder to find the blushing girl leaning on the counter, staring in his direction. Upon realizing she had been caught, she quickly jumped up and got back to work.
“Um, maybe.” He liked getting a rise from Micah. He wouldn’t call her. He had no interest in blushing college students. They were a dime a dozen.
“Are you kidding me? She looks like she’s barely out of high school.”
“No, she doesn’t. She’s obviously older than that.”
“Don’t
