Page 61 of First-Time Caller
I feel myself smile. “I’m good, thank you.” Over his shoulder, Grayson is settling into my usual seat like a king on his throne. I sigh. “This is going to either be very good or very bad.”
Aiden follows my attention with a frown. “I won’t let it be bad.” He looks back at me. “You’re sure you want to keep doing this? You don’t have to, you know.”
“This?” I ask.
“The show,” he explains. He gestures vaguely above his head. “The dates. All of it.”
“If this is anI told you somoment, you have really shitty timing.”
His frown deepens. “It’s not that.”
“I know you think this is stupid,” I whisper. “I know you don’t like it.”
His jaw tightens and relaxes. His throat bobs once. “It’s not that either.”
“You’re not using this as an opportunity to seize back control of your show?”
“Have I lost control of my show?”
“Maybe. This seems like a good opportunity for you to kick me out.” It was meant to be a joke, but my tone isn’t as teasing as I’d like.
Aiden shakes his head. “No, I don’t think I will,” he says simply.
“Okay,” I say.
Good, I think immediately after.
Tonight has been an absolute disaster, but I don’t think I could handle another rejection. Aiden might not believe in love and romance, but he’s never made me feel small. I’ve been burying the parts of myself that crave connection and belonging for years, and I’m afraid if I stop now, I’ll go right back to the way things were. I’m not sure I’ll ever be this brave again.
This show still feels like my very best shot.
I want my happy ending. I deserve it. And wanting it doesn’t make me weak or silly or any of the things Elliott sneered about over a plate of overpriced bruschetta.
Maybe that’s its own sort of bravery. That I’m willing to try again.
Just not tonight.
I nudge Aiden. “You might want to go take the microphone away from Grayson before he gets excited.”
Aiden doesn’t move. “He doesn’t have to go on tonight. You’re still the boss.”
I nod and manage a tight smile. “I’ve already been called a self-important bitch tonight. I don’t think it can get any worse.”
Aiden’s pretty eyes darken and his face settles into a mask of stone. His jaw clicks once. “He said that to you?”
I nod. Elliott said a lot of things.
Everything had started fine. I put on the fancy red dress Mateo pulled out from the back of my closet and the strappy black heels I’m pretty sure I bought for a bachelorette party I never actually went to. I straightened my hair. I let Maya do my makeup. And when I got to the restaurant, Elliott had been waiting at a table by the big window. He kissed my cheek and pulled out my chair. We made easy conversation over drink orders. I thought everything was going well.
But somewhere in between the appetizers and the wait for our entrees, I realized he wasn’t laughing with me but at me. His eyes were too sharp, his smile too smug. He told me he knew he could get me on a date if he just fed me all the right lines. That women like me were predictable. That I was self-important and unrealistic. That someone who had a kid should be grateful for any attention at all. That I shouldn’t be trying to dictate the parameters of anything. That I was damaged goods.
He was a piece of shit, obviously, but his words twisted like thorns the entire way home. How is it possible that out of all the people who have been texting theHeartstringsphone, I managed to pick the absolute worst one?
Patty was right. I really do have rotten luck.
Grayson found me angry-crying while trying to open a bottle of wine, and now we’re here.
“Aiden,” Maggie calls from the table, holding his headphones in her hand. She wiggles them at him. “Are you ready?”
