Page 61 of Starting Back
I reasoned it was to not disrupt her life or lead her on, but it was my stunted emotions that prevented me from reaching out like I wanted to.
“I’m sure they’re glad to have you back. The fire station is within walking distance of my house.” Her chest deflated with a long exhale as she shot me a wry grin. “Small world, isn’t it?”
“It is.” I bobbed my head with a slow nod. “I just started there last week and got the job here on Monday. I wanted to wait until I was completely settled to call you, and I swear to you I was going to. Maybe I didn’t know you for very long, but…” I sucked in a breath, fighting the urge to pick up her hand. “You made a very big impression on me.”
“Same.”
I relaxed at the warm smile tilting her lips.
“Where are you staying?”
“I found an apartment close to my aunt and uncle. The condo complex up the road.”
“My sister-in-law lived there when she first moved to town.” Her brows knit together as she leaned back in her chair. “You bought a condo? I didn’t think they had rentals.”
“They do not.” I shook my head. “I plan to stay. It’s about time, I think.”
“That’s great. Congratulations.”
She flicked her wrist to glance at her watch and stood.
“I better get back.” A tiny smile danced across her lips, relaxed and warm like the Kristina I knew, or used to know.
“Listen,” I said before I stood and grabbed her wrist, letting my thumb drift back and forth over her hand, that same electricity between us sparking to life. “Since I’m new around here, I could use a friend.”
“Friend,” she said, a laugh bubbling out of her. “Is that what we are?”
I had to laugh when she used my own words against me.
“I understand either way, but I’d like to be.”
Just friends wouldn’t be enough for me, but for now, I’d take what I could get.
Earning her trust was going to be a lot harder in her regular daily life, where there would be more to it than just getting her to let loose and have fun on a beach.
“Sure,” she said, her reply as nonchalant as mine was when she’d asked to keep in touch.
I let my eyes travel down her profile when she shifted to leave. I lingered on the gorgeous slope of her neck, imagining the freckle on her collarbone that was darker than the cluster she’d gotten from the sun and the moan that had escaped her when I’d traced my tongue over it.
I’d moved here to have a real life, but it already seemed empty if I couldn’t have even a small part of hers.
TWENTY-THREE
KRISTINA
“So what’s your job like?” Edwin, my date for the evening, asked with a mouthful of tortilla chips. I’d sat through what seemed like hours of him droning on about being a mechanical engineer but had really been probably only fifteen minutes after the hostess led us to our table.
When I’d agreed to this date weeks ago, swearing it was the last one before I deleted this stupid app, I’d mostly complied because he’d suggested the new Mexican place I wanted to try. From what I’d heard, it had great food and drinks and, as a bonus, was a comfortable two towns over from Kelly Lakes.
Edwin was attractive in a Ken doll sort of way. His perfectly coiffed, dirty-blond hair hadn’t moved an inch since we’d sat down. I fixated on the part in his hair in almost fascination, which turned out to be helpful when I had to appear interested in what he had to say.
Meeting men on a dating app had turned me into a nasty version of myself that I didn’t care for. I was impatient, judgmental, and bored from the beginning, always finding a thousand things wrong with the poor guy I’d agreed to meet because my standards were too high.
Or maybe just fixed on someone else.
And now that the “someone else” lived close enough to highlight all the reminders of why no one else measured up, any dating life I attempted would never work out unless I made an effort at a change in attitude.
Edwin’s question caught me off guard as I was deep in thought about what meal would be the quickest to prepare and eat before I bade Edwin farewell.
