“Please don’t hold it against me.”
His head tilts. “Hold what against you?”
“The fact that I dated Ezra Thomas.” His brows lift, but he doesn’t say anything, so again, I fill in the silence. “That’s your reservation, right? That he and I dated. Well, technically, we were engaged, but I had no idea he was a total P.O.S. He was a completely different person in high school and when he came home to visit. I’m just saying that if you’re worried about him because y’all had bad blood between you, please know that I haven’t seen him in months.”
Nick opens his mouth and then closes it.
I’ve rendered the man speechless.
“You’re his ex-fiancée?” He chuckles, but it lacks humor.
“I swear I’m great with kids. If you want, I could come by to play with your daughter, no charge. Just to see if you think we vibe.”
His intensity as he stares at me makes goosebumps break out on my arms. “You’d be willing to do that without pay?”
“Absolutely. I’m not just doing this for the money. I mean, yes, the money would be great, but I’d rather work with kids than sling chicken-fried steak all summer.”
His eyes turn up to the ceiling, and I get the feeling he’s talking to himself. “What the hell? Okay, fine. Let’s give that a shot.”
Inner high five to me!
* * *
Squinting in pain, I wave my hands around as though that will stop the sting in my left eye.
Son of a biscuit with gravy.
Tonight isn’t going the way I thought it would.
When my phone rings on the bathroom counter, I accidentally knock it on the floor and bang my elbow on the cabinet.
“Abby? Are you okay?” a voice shouts from my cell.
“Roxy!” I yell as I rub my arm. “Hang on. I’m having a crisis.” Once I’m able to function again, I grab my poor beat-up iPhone. “I don’t think I’ll be able to make that blind date. I can’t get my second contact in, these fake eyelashes look like caterpillars glued to my lids, and I’m running late.”
“I bet it’s not that bad. Just wear your glasses. You don’t have to get all dolled up. It’s just drinks.”
The high I was riding this afternoon from getting the thumbs-up from Nick to play with his daughter crashed and burned once I got home and remembered I have a blind date tonight.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell Roxy about my interview, but I don’t want to jinx myself. I’ll tell her after I get the job.
I pout in the mirror. “I suck at this. You know I can’t dress myself.” With a groan, I press down on the front of my khakis. “I don’t think pleats are my friend.”
She chuckles. “Abs, it’ll be fine. You’re a beautiful woman. Now get your ass in gear before I head down there and drag you to the Cactus Cantina myself.” Her voice softens. “You can’t mope about Ezra forever. It’s time you get yourself out there.”
She’s kind enough to not say what we’re both thinking. That my ex is banging everything with two legs and has been for a while.
Even when we were together.
Once upon a time, that included Roxy. Only she didn’t know he was in a relationship until she crashed our engagement party. Ezra did us both dirty. He knocked up Roxy and wanted nothing to do with her baby. When I really think about it, she probably had it worse than I did. I was just the heartbroken fiancée.
It’s been more than a year, and I’m still not over it. I made everything exponentially worse by transferring to his college, Lone Star State, right after he proposed. I was so excited to spend more time with him and help him prepare for the draft. It didn’t matter that some of my credits didn’t transfer. I just wanted us to be together.
Which was dumb as fu—fudge.
A few weeks later, we broke up when I learned that he’d been cheating the entire time we’d been together.
And because I’d been an idiot—A.K.A. head over heels in love—and didn’t care that I’d lose college credits when I transferred, now I have to do an extra semester to graduate.
