Lib Novel Page 8
I included a few things that actually mattered to me, just in case something this stupid actually worked. He would make me feel safe. He’d care for animals. He’d listen with his eyes and ears.
But then came the specifics. He’d like country music and have a good singing voice. He’d have deep dimples and hair with curls I could wind my fingers through. He’d have blue eyes with flecks of gold.
I paused, my pen between my lips as I tried to think of a few more things. My grandma was now at the kitchen sink, humming as she washed the syrup from the plates.
“I left my heart, in San Francisco…” she warbled out, singing the same Tony Bennett song she always sang when she was happy. “Sugar, can you pass me that plate,” she said, pointing at my dish on the table. I handed it to her, then went back to my list.
He’d have ties to San Francisco where Nanna Dot met Grandpa, he’d like Tony Bennett, and he’d call me Sugar.
Holding the list in my hands now, my mouth drops open. It’s Brayden. From the way he saved me to the way he called me Sugar, this list is all about him. I go over each item one by one, just to make sure. Then I go over it again.
It’s him. Ten years ago, I made a list about Brayden, and I didn’t even know it. I’d even been to his ranch! And tonight, he walked me home to make sure I was safe—and I let him get away. Even though he was the man I’d conjured up all those years ago. Even though I thought he was an impossibility.
And to just prove how impossible he is…this perfect man I conjured up has a girlfriend.
Fuck my life.
“He has a girlfriend?” Maren steals another one of my fries as I slouch in my seat. She and Claire met me for lunch at Coastal Plate. Actually, I’d only invited Maren. But these days, with the planning of Claire’s wedding and all, these two are joined at the hip. I couldn’t have Maren without Claire. And Claire? I mean she’s all right if you like perfect, thin, and blonde. I find her perky perfection a bit annoying, favoring Maren’s moodiness any day. But that’s just me.
“Yeah, which is just so fitting for a list of a man I can’t have, right?”
“I don’t know,” Claire pipes in, and I roll my eyes in her direction, waiting for her oh so brilliant, not asked for input. She doesn’t even notice—or she’s ignoring the bored look on my face. “I mean, this list could be about anyone. It doesn’t have to be him.”
“Shut your mouth,” Maren says, then sticks a French fry in her mouth just to prove a point. Claire doesn’t get mad, just laughs as she chews the fry. “This list is not just about anyone.” Maren grabs the list from my hands then reads from it. “I mean, Tony Bennett? Blue eyes with gold flecks? Calls her Sugar? Fucking San Francisco? She found all these things to be true about Brayden in the matter of an hour. How can that not be some sort of conjuring magic?”
“Don’t tell me you believe in this,” Claire laughs.
“How can you not? You work with romance authors every day for your job. Have you not read those stories?”
“Those are fiction.” Claire leans back in her chair, as if that proves her point.
“And this is fate,” Maren replies, crossing her arms in front of her. “Besides, you can’t argue against chemistry, and they obviously have it. Right Nina?”
“I guess.” I fiddle with a fry, thinking back to last night. We did, right? “He saved me from those guys, so it’s possible I might be seeing things that weren’t there. Maybe that’s why I felt so safe around him. But…” I pause, thinking back to our walk home, how it felt to walk beside him. The moment we almost kissed. “There was something there. I felt it, and I know he did too. Even though he’s taken, he still wanted to keep in contact with me. Just as friends, but still. He even sent me this.”
I pick my phone up off the table, unlock it and open his text from this morning. I push it across the table for both of them to see.
Brayden: Hey there friend. I have a free afternoon today and wondered if you wanted to go horseback riding, just for old time’s sake.
“You didn’t respond,” Maren pointed out, pushing my phone back to me. “Why didn’t you tell him hell yes, you want to come over and ride him.”
“Ride the horse, Maren,” Claire says, laughing.
“Right. The horse.” Maren looks at me and winks.
“I can’t,” I moan, putting the phone back in my purse.
“Because of his girlfriend? That has never stopped you before.” Maren arches an eyebrow, then ducks when Claire smacks her on the arm.
“I think that’s a healthy boundary,” Claire says. “It wouldn’t be right.”
“It’s not about that,” I admit. “I have no idea who this girlfriend is, and I don’t care. It’s never bothered me before because I didn’t care about the guy either, but Brayden is different. There’s something about him that makes me think I could really fall for him. He’s so good and caring, so thoughtful, and I figured all this out in just the time it took for him to walk me home. Also, I’m insanely attracted to him. There’s too much at stake if I mess around with him. For one, I could catch deeper feelings and he’ll just go back to his girlfriend, or she’ll find out and break his heart, and I don’t want to see him get hurt.”
Maren and Claire are silent for a moment. Then Maren lets out a whoosh of air. “Man, Nina. You really like this guy.”
“I know,” I moan. “Which is why this is friggen unfair.”
“Oh, I meant to send this to you earlier,” Claire says, digging through her bag. “This is weird timing, but I don’t want to forget or Ethan will never forgive me.” She hands me an envelope with my name on it, and I can already tell it’s her wedding invitation. Ethan is my cousin, so of course I’m invited to the wedding. But I can’t help finding some humor in the way Claire stresses it’s his idea and not hers. She’d never say that out loud, of course, but I find it funny that we tolerate each other only because we’re both friends with Maren and I’m related to her fiancé.