Still, Viv hesitated. Despite her anger at him, there was still chemistry between them. That much was undeniable.
Apparently, his mom picked up on it as well, and was… playing matchmaker?
“Sure,” Viv said. “Dinner sounds nice. Thank you.”
She might as well. It wasn’t like she had any plans that night. If it turned out to be a disaster, then fine. At least she wouldn’t be stuck wondering what could have been.
“Wonderful.” Tracey took her phone from a pocket in her leggings. “What’s your number, hon? I’ll text you the address.”
Viv gave it to her, Markus watching the whole while. When she was done, she shot him a look, as if to say ‘see? It’s not that hard to get a girl’s number.’
He bowed his head, either knowing he’d done wrong or pretending to know.
Whatever.
One dinner. One night. Maybe she’d even get an explanation or an excuse out of him.
“See you at six?” Tracey asked.
“Sounds great. See you then.”
She didn’t bother looking at Markus again as she turned around and jogged back to her apartment building. The run so far had been so strenuous that she was spent and didn’t think she would make it much further.
As she let herself into the apartment, she couldn’t help but smile. Life had a funny way of doing things.
The rest of the afternoon passed with figuring out what to wear for dinner. She felt like a high schooler going out on her first date. Except she didn’t so much as want to impress Markus as she wanted to show him what he was missing.
Finally, she settled on a pink baby doll dress with a short-sleeved jean jacket and wedge sandals. It was both cute and sexy—depending on who was looking.
Since Tracey’s house wasn’t that far away, a walk was in order. Plus, there was a liquor store on the way there. After picking up a bottle of white, Viv finished the rest of the trek with her heart hammering.
She wasn’t sure how she should be feeling. Some of her friends would tell her to forget all about Markus, while others would say give him a chance. For the time being, she remained somewhere in the middle.
Tracey’s house turned out to be a cute little cottage with a white picket fence in the front and its backside facing the beach. Two cars were in the driveway: a blue electric vehicle and a black sedan with tinted windows. Best guess was the latter one belonged to Markus. It seemed like such a guy car.
Drawing a deep breath, Viv let herself in through the gate and knocked on the front door. It opened nearly right away.
“Hi,” Markus said.
He’d changed since their run-in earlier. Tight, dark jeans and a gray T-shirt hugged his muscles. For a moment, Viv couldn’t find her words.
“H—hi,” she eventually managed.
“Come on in.” He took the wine from her. “You didn’t have to bring this.”
“I wanted to.” Feeling awkward, she stepped into the house.
“Thanks. Mom loves chardonnay.” His lips stretched with what seemed to be a genuine smile.
“Great.”
Markus closed the door, and they stood in the living room, looking at each other. The distinct smell of cooking shrimp filled the air, but his mom was nowhere to be seen.
“I’m sorry,” he said, taking her by surprise.
“Oh… oh.” She didn’t know her shoulders had been drawn up until she dropped them.
“I had a really nice time with you. I didn’t want to leave.”
“You didn’t?” She lowered her face to the rug. “I can imagine how awkward it felt in the morning, though.”
“No, not at all.” He took a step forward and touched her arm.
Viv looked at him, waiting for more.
“I left because…” He winced. “I’m not in the best place right now.”
“What do you mean?” She blinked in confusion. “Are you in recovery or something?”
“No.” He chuckled lightly.
“Still an addict?”
“No, and I never have been.”
She folded her arms. “Then you’re involved with someone?”
“No.” He relaxed his hold on her arm, but the intensity remained in his dark eyes. “I don’t have a girlfriend. Before the other night, it had been months since I was even on a date.”
“O-kay.” She shrugged. “What, then?”
“It has to do with work.” He rubbed the back of his neck.
“What do you do?”
He hesitated. “I’m really… I’m in between jobs right now.”
“Oh,” she said and laughed. “That’s no big deal.”
Still, he looked uncertain. “I dunno…”
“You were embarrassed about that?”
“Kinda.” He grimaced.
“What did you used to do?”
“Um, well, thing is, I’ve bounced around. A lot.”
“So you haven’t figured out what you want to do yet.” She took the bottle from his hands.
“Yeah.” Markus’ face softened. “I haven’t.”
“There’s really no shame in that. Let’s open this up and get the party going, shall we?” She jerked her head in the direction of the kitchen.
“Sounds good to me.” He pressed his hand against the small of her back and guided her to the kitchen.
She was so distracted by his touch, she didn’t even notice Tracey sitting at the table trimming snap peas until they were right in front of her.
“Vivian!” Tracey called out like she was seeing an old friend. “How are you?”
“I’m good, thanks. Thank you for having me over.”
“It’s our pleasure.”
“Can I help?”
“Oh, no. You two can keep chatting. Have fun.”
“Really.” Viv took a seat at the table. “I would love to help.”
Tracey gave her son a look that was meant to imply how impressed she was.
“I’m not good with idle hands,” Viv explained.
She also still felt a little nervous being there. Even though Markus had explained his actions the other weekend, things didn’t feel completely comfortable yet.
“I do have a lot of peas to snap,” Tracey said.
“Perfect.”
From a drawer, Markus brought out a wine key. “And we can have wine while we do it.”
“Even more perfect.” Viv laughed.
“So.” Tracey turned her gaze on Viv. “What do you do, honey?”
“I’m a sales rep at HW Pharmaceuticals.” She took her first sip of wine and then realized she needed to correct herself. “Actually, I won’t be doing that for much longer. I put in my one-month’s notice this week.”
“Really?” both of them asked.
Viv laughed. Like mother, like son.
“Yeah.”
Markus took the seat next to her. She couldn’t help but notice the very limited amount of space between their knees.
“Why’d you do that?” Markus asked.
She reached for a snap pea. “I feel like there’s no way I can do it anymore. It’s a good job, but I’m not making a difference. Hell, I’m probably hurting some people.”