“That’s worth a try. You never know.”
“I just want to...” Vivian’s whispered words trailed off into nothing. She couldn’t even put into words what she wanted. To feel like herself again. To not be so emotionally caught up in a man who didn’t want her.
“I know,” Megan said softly. “I understand. You’re going to do it. You’re going to shake him—one way or the other. You’re not always going to feel this way.”
For a few seconds, Vivian’s eyes burned with an emotion that came out of nowhere. Then she nodded resolutely and smiled. “Right. I’m going to do it. I wish our hearts followed instructions a little better than they do.”
“They’re forever going off into wild, unproductive paths. I know what it feels like to have a futile crush that makes you feel helpless, remember? I had to go all the way to France to get over it.”
Like Vivian and Tyler, Megan had grown up in this town. All through high school, she’d been desperately in love with Tyler, and he’d barely even noticed she existed. When she’d come back home after her first year of teaching abroad, she’d been completely over it. She’d been like a new woman. A composed, polished, independent one.
Vivian hadn’t understood the transformation until she’d fallen for Rick last year. Now she longed for the same kind of emotional freedom Megan had found.
Megan went to check their paninis. They were done, so she plated them up, and Vivian went to summon Britt, who was laughing in the doorway of Nash’s office.
They collected their plates and drinks and were headed toward their favorite big table in the corner when Vivian’s eyes landed on the front door.
Rick was walking in. His hair was rumpled, and his skin was slightly flushed. He’d obviously been walking around town, as he often did when he needed to stretch his legs or clear his mind.
Their eyes met across the room, and Vivian froze for just a moment. Every nerve ending in her body buzzed, and her heart jumped into her throat.
She made herself wrench her eyes away after nothing more than a quick nod.
“You didn’t have to snub the poor guy,” Britt whispered as they sat down.
“I didn’t snub him!”
“I think he wanted more than that little nod.”
“I know. I wanted to smile. I just couldn’t.” She groaned and rubbed her face with both hands. “What’s wrong with me?”
“Nothing is wrong with you. It’s hard to shake off those kinds of feelings. But you’re doing fine. You’ve got a plan, and you’ve always been strong. You can do it.”
“I can do it.”
“You can do it.”
She repeated the words to herself, over and over again as she tried not to watch Rick stride over to the counter and retrieve his laptop bag from Megan. He wore khakis and an untucked button-down today. His clothes were always of good quality, but they also looked like he’d owned them for a long time. Like he didn’t care that much about what he wore.
The faded trousers highlighted his long legs and deliciously tight ass. She loved the shape of his shoulders and back.
When she realized where her mind was drifting, she turned away and focused on her sandwich.
She could do this. She would do this. She was going to get over him.
And pretty soon Rick wouldn’t be anything more to her than a nice guy she knew from the coffee shop.
INSTEAD OF JOINING Vivian and Britt at the big table, Rick headed to a two-seater near the window. He needed to get some more real writing done this afternoon, and hanging out with them would be too big of a distraction.
At least, that was the excuse he used as he gave them a casual hello and passed on by.
Vivian hadn’t appeared all that excited to see him anyway.
Her meeting his mother the evening before had made everything harder.
His mom was clearly enchanted by Vivian and spent the entire drive back to her house asking about her and making little hints that Rick should make a move. Rick kept insisting that Vivian was too young and she wasn’t interested in him, but his mother simply wouldn’t believe him.
She’d decided Vivian was the woman for her son, and nothing would sway her to believe differently.
It took a real force of his will, but he managed to pull up his document and start to write. He got some words down in the next half-hour. They weren’t brilliant or polished or even particularly lucid, but they were words—and that was a victory.
He’d actually managed to forget about Vivian’s presence for several minutes at a time when she was suddenly right there beside him. Flopping down in the empty chair across the small table.
“Hey.”
“I’m writing.” He kept moving his fingers and staring at his screen.
“I see that. I won’t take up much of your time.”
He curled his lip slightly—annoyed not at her but at himself, because his whole body seemed to surge to attention merely because of her existence.
“If you didn’t want to be bugged, you could have gone to work somewhere else. You must have known I’d stop by today and that I’d want to talk to you when I did.”
She was right. Absolutely right. He’d had choices. Hundreds of them. He could have changed things to avoid this conversation at any point today.
He could have stopped coming to this coffee shop after the first day he’d seen her across the room and hadn’t been able to tear his eyes away. He’d known even then that there was something about her that had the potential to threaten his safe stance as a life observer.
He hadn’t stopped. He hadn’t changed anything. Because he wanted to be here. With her. Even if it meant having this conversation.
He sighed and raised his eyes to her face, immediately wishing he could trace the soft curve of her pink cheek with his fingers. Lick the sensual line of her lips.
“Did you think about it?” she asked. “About any men you know you might introduce me to?”
He had thought about it. Far too much for the past twenty-eight hours.
His temptation was to match her up with an old friend who lived in the area. He wasn’t a bad guy, but he was needy and clingy and not socially proficient and not particularly attractive. Vivian wouldn’t like him at all.
But that would be petty and immature, and Rick wasn’t going to give into the urge. Instead, he said, “I guess I might know someone. I went to high school with him. He’s an accountant. He doesn’t live in town, but he’s not far away. He got divorced a couple of years ago. He’s a good guy.”
She brightened up, her shoulders straightening. Her excitement was like a kick in his gut. “Really? He sounds like he might have potential. You wouldn’t mind setting something up?”
“I’ll talk to him. I don’t know if he’s interested or if he’s even dating someone else right now. But I can check.”
“Perfect.” Her smile was like the dawning of sunshine on a gray day. It really shouldn’t affect him like this. “Thank you so much. I knew you wouldn’t let me down.”
He grumbled wordlessly.
“And I know a bunch of smart, pretty, single women. Just let me know if you want me to find someone for you.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I do fine on my own. Thank you.”