Page 73 of Once Smitten, Twice Shy

Before the silence can stretch on any longer and send me into a panic, I ask him, “So whatareour plans that start at five tonight?”

“It’s a surprise,” Will says.

Relief whooshes through me that he sounds fine, just like he did before.

“Can I guess?”

“You miss the part when I said it was a surprise?”

I smile, feeling playful. “Hmm. We’re going to…the museum.”

“Not doing this.”

“Bowling?” I try.

“Oh, come on.”

“What’s wrong with bowling? I love bowling!”

“Me, too,” he says. “You’re just way off the mark.”

I frown in thought. “We’re…going back to the conservatory. Since you’re bummed that we had to skip the carnivorous plant room last time because it was closed.”

“Eh, you’ve seen one Venus flytrap, you’ve seen them all.”

A laugh jumps out of me. “Jamie nearly got attacked by one, the first time he and Bea went together.”

“Really?”

“Well, it depends on who tells you the story. According to Jamie, it just grazed his shoulder; he’s very stoic about it. But how Bea tells it, you’d think he nearly lost an arm.”

Will’s deep laugh rumbles across the line.

I smile, shifting in the water. “You’re really not going to tell me our plans?”

“I will, if you want,” he says. “If it would stress you out not to know. I don’t really like surprises myself, but I’ve heard that a surprise, done well at least, can be…you know…romantic. And that’s what I’m making sure you get. Romance.”

My heart spins so fast, I feel dizzy.

Practice romance, that sensible voice reminds me.It’s all practice, Juliet.

Fine. It’s just practice. But it’s still giving me butterflies. And I intend to let them soar.

Smiling into the phone, I tell him, “Then surprise me.”

“You got it,” he says.

“When should I be ready?”

“Hmm, let’s say four thirty? That work?”

I pull my phone away long enough to read the time and kick my legs miserably. Seven hours of waiting! I’ve got to find something to do with myself today, or I’m gonna lose it.

“Four thirty,” I tell him. “I’ll be ready.”

“Excellent. And Juliet?”

“Yes, Will?”

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