Page 83 of First-Time Caller
No more half touches that I pretend are an accident.
Once Lucie decides she’s done with all this nonsense, I probably won’t see her again.
“Aiden seems to have forgotten where he is and what he’s doing, so I guess I’ll say it.” Lucie pokes me with aHeartstrings-issued pen and I realize I’ve been zoning out for seventy-five percent of this broadcast. “Welcome toHeartstrings. Thanks for calling in.”
She widens her eyes at me. I widen mine back.What.
Her head tilts to the side.Okay?
I nod. Yes, I’m fine. Except for the feelings I’m not supposed to be feeling and the dreams I’m not supposed to be dreaming and the excuses I’m not supposed to be making. I like Lucie. I like her so much it feels like there’s a band around my chest, constricting my breathing when she’s not around. I’m entertaining possibilities and that’s not—I need to not do that.
Lucie laughs and it yanks me out of my head. The guy on the phone just made some stupid-ass joke and she’s lit up like a firecracker.
“That’s the worst joke I’ve ever heard,” she says, but she’s smiling. She glances at me out of the corner of her eye and her smile falters. I’m always doing that. Making her smile disappear. I frown. “And that’s saying a lot, because I’m not sure Aiden even knows how to joke.”
“I make jokes,” I say. Not often, but it’s been known to happen. The guy on the phone—Owen, Oliver, something with anO— tells Lucie her laugh is beautiful and I watch her cheeks flush pink.
I’m acting like a sullen child. Hoarding my favorite toy in the corner of the classroom.
“Is there a reason you called in tonight, Otis?” I bark. Lucie gives me a questioning look. I pretend not to see it.
“Uh, Oliver, actually.” There’s an awkward pause and I make no rush to fill it. “And I don’t know. I was listening to you guys on my drive home from work and—I guess I felt like I should. I wanted to talk to Lucie.”
The lines around Lucie’s eyes deepen with her smile. “It was all the Shania Twain, wasn’t it?”
He laughs. “Yeah, you’re right. I heard ‘Man! I Feel Like a Woman!’ four times and thought, ‘God. I need to talk to the woman with that kind of confidence.’”
Lucie laughs again and I make my decision. She’s going on a date with this guy. This guy with the questionable jokes and the affinity for Shania Twain and the name that starts with anOthat I’ve already forgotten again. He might be an idiot, but he makes her smile. And Lucie deserves someone who will make her smile. Not a grumpy asshole who makes that smile disappear.
I told her I’d find her a date.
This is her date.
“Oswald,” I ask, “what does your week look like?”
AIDEN VALENTINE:Knock, knock.
LUCIE STONE:What?
AIDEN VALENTINE:That’s not how you’re supposed to respond.
LUCIE STONE:Respond to what?
AIDEN VALENTINE:To “knock, knock.”
AIDEN VALENTINE:Knock, knock.
[pause]
LUCIE STONE:What? Why are you staring at me like that?
AIDEN VALENTINE:Knock. Knock. Lucie.
AIDEN VALENTINE:There is someone knocking at the door.
LUCIE STONE:What is happening?
AIDEN VALENTINE:I’m trying to tell a joke.
