“Dr. Johnson, you are looking fine tonight.” Todd circled Em’s face with his finger. “I’m sensing you had a hand in turning our diamond in the rough into this vision of feminine perfection we see before us. Am I right?”
Em groaned.
“You are.” Raine pursed her lips at Em. “At least someone appreciates the effort I put into your makeover.”
“Easy for him. He didn’t have to sit—”
Raine talked over her ex-sister-in-law. “You should’ve seen what she planned to wear tonight, Todd.”
Before Em smacked Raine with her purse, Josh intervened. “You’re just about up, ladies.” He nodded at Abby handing out cards at the door and, before he second-guessed himself, pulled out his phone and texted Em. Her phone pinged inside her purse. She took it out and read his text. “Conversation starters, really? How socially inept do you think I am?”
“Don’t answer that,” Todd murmured before saying to Em, “Your turn, sunshine.”
Josh laughed, and Todd said with a grin, “No one does resting witch face better than Em, do they?”
“Not that I’ve seen,” Josh agreed and then tuned into Abby and Em’s conversation, which included Abby trying to convince Em to let her do at least one podcast from Seaton House. When Em started listing the reasons why she wouldn’t back down, Abby sighed and handed Em her cards, plus a paper.
“What’s with everyone giving me conversation starters?” Em muttered as she walked into the pub.
Josh rubbed his hand over his mouth so Em wouldn’t see him laughing if she happened to glance back. He lowered it when she disappeared from view, smiling at Abby, who handed him a set of cards to rate his dates yes, no, or maybe. He figured he might as well take part. That way Em couldn’t accuse him of being an overprotective jerk or a spy for her brother. Besides that, it would be easier to gauge how she was doing if he was one of the daters. It also sounded like there were some women he needed to apologize to. “Thanks, Abby. Great turnout.”
“I know. I’m so excited. It was a spur-of-the-moment idea but it really came together. I can’t believe how many people signed up.” She glanced over her shoulder and then returned her attention to him, lowering her voice. “I felt so bad that Neil canceled on Em. I wanted to do something to help. I think this will be easier for her, don’t you? She only has to talk to someone for five minutes, and she’ll meet twelve prospective dates before the night is over.”
“Yeah, she should be able to handle that,” Josh said, working to keep the skepticism from his voice.
But Abby must’ve picked up on it because she said, “You know, maybe you should be her first date. Kind of break the ice for her?”
“Might be a good idea,” Josh said as his phone pinged with incoming texts. One from his mother, one from Cal, and one from Bri, the three of them wanting to know if Em had shown up, and if she had, how she was doing. He responded to all three of them as he walked into Highland Brew.
Em had already taken a seat at a row of tables. Within seconds of sitting down on either side of her, Raine and Todd crossed their arms and scowled. They put Em’s resting witch face to shame. As Josh joined the men and a couple of women lining up on the opposite side of the bar, he discovered why.
Todd’s ex, Matteo, a physical therapist who Josh saw regularly for his shoulder, and Raine’s ex, Quinn, who looked like a thirtysomething Idris Elba, were leaning against the bar. From Matteo and Quinn’s expressions, they weren’t any happier to see Todd and Raine.
Josh walked over to say hello to the two men and grab a beer at the bar, which is how he missed being Em’s first date. His first date was a woman he’d gone out with last fall. “Hey, Lisa. How are you doing?”
She lifted her hands. “I’m here. How do you think I’m doing?”
“Ah… well. You look great,” he said, going through conversation starters in his head. The problem was, he already knew everything about Lisa. Including that she was upset with him for not asking her for a third date. Two was his magic number, his line in the sand. “I’m sorry if I messed things up. I never meant to hurt you. I thought I was pretty clear when I told you I didn’t want to get serious.”
She played with the rating cards. “You did, but I was hoping you’d want more. I thought we had fun.”
“We did, and I enjoyed getting to know you. But you told me you wanted to get married and have kids, and I didn’t want you to waste your time with me.”
They continued talking until Abby rang the bell, and Josh was feeling good with how it went. Until he saw Lisa’s card. She’d put yes in capital letters with an exclamation mark. Now he felt bad for putting no on his.
His next four dates went about the same as with Lisa but he enjoyed his five minutes with Robyn, the paramedic who’d been on duty the night of Em’s accident, and marked maybe on his card. He probably would’ve gone with an enthusiastic yes if not for coming face-to-face with his ex-dates.
During the refreshment break, Josh walked over to Todd to see how Em was doing.
Todd grinned and patted his chest. “Don’t tease me, Coach. I don’t think my heart can take it.”
Josh laughed, which earn him a raised eyebrow from Em, who’d returned to her table with a chocolate cupcake and a bottle of water and was talking to Lottie the ambulance driver. On the other side of the bar, through a stone archway, Highland Brew sold specialty coffees, gift baskets, and baked goods from Bites of Bliss.
As Em and Lottie bonded over their love of everything chocolate, Josh leaned toward Todd and whispered, “How’s she doing?”
Taking part in the event hadn’t been as conducive to spying on Em as Josh had initially assumed. Since he’d apparently offended half the women here, not being fully present during their one-on-one times would’ve further cemented his reputation as a jerk. But from what little he’d observed of Em’s interactions with her dates so far, it wasn’t going well at all.
Todd raised a hand to the side of his face. “The first guy got up within two minutes of sitting down. I think she’d ticketed him for something because she had her cop-face on, and if you haven’t seen it before, I can tell you from experience it’s intimidating. I kind of missed what happened with her second and third dates because mine had potential. But from the look of relief on both their faces when the bell rang, it didn’t go well. And then there was the pest control guy, who seemed into her. Em was really animated, so I thought he had potential until I heard what she was talking about. She spent the entire five minutes quizzing him about bats, rats, and raccoons.”
A water bottle cap hit the side of Todd’s head. “Stop talking about me,” Em muttered, “and focus on your own date.”
Todd rubbed his head. “I’d love to, but for some reason, he’s more interested in you than me.”
Geez, he couldn’t go five minutes without hurting someone’s feelings. “Todd, you know I’m not gay.”
“I know, and I’m as invested in Em’s dating success as you are.” He sighed. “It’s just that Matteo’s here, and look.” He waved a hand at a table five down from him. “The bell rang, and he’s still sitting at that guy’s table.”