I walked out of the office, fueled by my own fury, as well as that of every woman who had ever been talked down to by a know-it-all man. Bells over the door jangled seconds later, and I knew Miller had successfully seen himself out.
When I turned the corner, Rosie and Olivia sat in silence. Both held a slice of pizza and a drink, staring wide-eyed in a way that said they’d heard it all.
Rosie was the first to speak. “If you’re going to help me sell books when we open, you should consider softening your approach.”
“Very heavy-handed.” Olivia popped a pineapple between her glossy lips. “I liked it.”
“An interesting amount of...somethingin that exchange.” Rosie tapped her chin, heavy on the exaggeration. “What’s the word I’m looking for, Olivia?”
Olivia snapped her fingers as it came to her. “I think the word you’re looking for ispassion.”
“Definitely not the word.” My skin stung where my fingernails had dug into my palms.
“Miller looked like he waspassionatelyupset with you.” Olivia had the nerve to smile.
“But,” Rosie continued, “as if he’d also like to take you in the broom closet and kiss you until you can’t smell the bleach and mothballs.”
This day had been too much. I needed to go home and run a bubble bath and watch some bad reality TV. “I can assure you Miller has no interest in kissing me.” I knew what was coming next, so I beat them to the punch. “Nor do I have any interest in kissing him.” Not much anyway. Definitely not now. “No kissing. Not from either party. He’s infuriating and difficult. He has no respect for what I do.”
“Or maybe he was picking a fight to watch you get fired up,” Olivia said. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen you lay into someone like that.”
“Nope. Me neither.” Rosie returned to the table with pizza and added another slice to her plate. “Definitely had some strong feelings there.”
Ugh, the nerve of Miller James. “Like arrogance, intimidation, bossiness, and overall jerkiness?”
Olivia’s satisfied grin lit up her face. “I was thinking more like chemistry, heat, sizzle, and…wow.”
Lord help me with these two. “I apologize for the drama. It won’t happen again.” At least not in the bookshop.
“Apologize?” Olivia kicked off her heels, like she was getting comfortable for a deep dive into the topic of Miller. “Don’t apologize. That was the most excitement we’ve had in ages.”
“He’s out of line,” I said hotly. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
Olivia considered her freshly manicured nails. “Maybe we’re wasting our time with these dating apps for you, Hattie.”
Rosie’s eyes widened as some odd glimmer of an idea transferred from Olivia right to her. “You might be right.”
“Don’t say it,” I warned. “Do not utter your next words, or I swear I will withhold all painting help and never darken these doors until you open.”
“What if the man you should date is right under your nose?” Olivia did it. She went and said it.
Rosie’s smile was that of the most innocent of angels. “Our Miller.”
“Absolutely not.” I speared them all with the Sutton death stare, learned from our CIA-interrogating granny. “Miller James is out of my league. No, he’s a league I don’t even want to be in. I just got my heart broken from one jerk.” I reached for my purse and slung it over my arm with dramatic flair. I was done—with this conversation and with men in general. “I refuse to sign up for another.”
Chapter Sixteen
There was a full moon out the next night.
Every therapist, teacher, and ER nurse knew what that meant: Conditions were right for some extreme behaviors.
I didn’t know what it was about moon phases, but they shifted a person, rearranged thoughts, and nudged at previously secured boundaries.
Sitting on my porch swing Wednesday evening, this first day of September, I wondered if that explained why I had just checked the online driving directions to Mission Springs, Oklahoma. My bio-dad was a dead end. If Buck had wanted to talk to me, he’d had a few decades to reach out.
It was time to focus on something else. So I picked an area of focus only a tiny bit less stomach churning—a dating app. I was mindlessly perusing one Olivia had set up for me when a match popped up on my screen.
Lincoln McNamara.
