Page 5 of Mr. February

When he peeked at her, Jenny still looked distressed. The last thing he wanted to do was make her uncomfortable around him, so he headed for the coffee maker. He’d grab a cup of life-giving nectar and leave so the two women could enjoy the rest of their break without him making things weird.

“What are your thoughts about it, Wade?” Gloria asked.

“About fan fiction? It’s okay, I guess.”

She laughed. “No, about hookup apps.”

“Is this for your book idea?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“It’s not something I’ve thought about.” Wade wasn’t sure how to answer since he knew her question wasn’t about a book.

“You don’t have to answer that,” Jenny said. “Gloria’s just teasing.”

“I want to hear his answer,” Gloria argued. “He’s a guy, and it’d be useful to have his perspective for my book. Would you rather have mediocre sex with an ex who said nasty stuff to you, or take your chances on a hookup app?”

Wade’s eyes flew between the two women who both stared at him intently.

“Uh, neither? I’m not the kind of guy girls are looking for on an app. And if an ex said shitty things to me, I wouldn’t even talk tothem again, much less anything else. Being single is better than that.”

“Exactly!” Jenny burst out.

Gloria harrumphed but kept her opinion to herself. Wade made his coffee and perused the pastry case. The two women cleaned up to return to work. Jenny called out a “bye” as they left, and he raised a hand in farewell.

As they left, he thought Gloria said, “I just had the best idea! You should hook up with a geek, and we’ve got them in spades around here!”

Gloria’s quiet words stayed with Wade all afternoon as he tried to work. Did he hear her right? Was she encouraging Jenny to hook up with a geek? Did she have anyone in mind, or was it just a throw-away comment? Was this just to scratch an itch, or was it because Jenny didn’t want to be alone on Valentine’s Day?

Wade wouldn’t have thought she’d care about a contrived holiday, but he didn’t know her that well. Not as well as he wanted.

They had worked together on the holiday party planning a few months earlier, and he thought they had become friends. Even though they hung out often and talked regularly then, she had shared relatively few things about her personal life.

He planned to ask her out after the event was over so she wouldn’t be stressed by seeing him on the planning committee if she turned him down. It was quite a shock when she showed up at the company party with a boyfriend she never mentioned. Even more shocking was the way her boyfriend treated her.

That guy was such an asshole. It was somewhat reassuring that Gloria disliked him, too. Gloria didn’t have the hots for Jenny and could be more objective.

Wade wasn’t always the best boyfriend, but he never mocked a date in front of her colleagues or belittled what they enjoyed. Two minutes after meeting Chad, he wanted to punch the guy.Nobody should be treated like that, but someone as friendly and supportive as Jenny deserved so much better.

All afternoon, he tried to focus on work, but all he could think about was Jenny. And this time, it wasn’t the usual thoughts he had, about how she was too good for him or too pretty to be interested in someone like him. This time, he couldn’t stop thinking about Gloria’s words.

Wade wasn’t any woman’s dream guy. He wasn’t a socially inept, smelly know-it-all like so many in his industry, but he was no Prince Charming, either. The antithesis of the tall, scruffy bad boy women that was popular online, he was your typical nerd with glasses, a beard, and shoulder-length hair.

He worked out, but it was to combat the hours he spent hunched over his computer. His time in the gym was spent on the treadmill or rowing machine so he could listen to podcasts or audiobooks, but he also lifted some weights.

Despite knowing he wasn’t a catch, his mind kept circling back to what Jenny said. He was furious that some jackass said such nasty and untrue things about how she looked. She was gorgeous, a wet dream came to life. He’d woken up hard after dreams of her more times than he wanted to admit.

Her other words danced around in his head non-stop.

“If a guy’s not going to take the time to figure out what I like and what gets me off, relationship sex is just masturbation with extra steps.”

The real killer—the thing he couldn’t stop thinking about—was what she said next.

“I’ve never had an orgasm with a guy, and I don’t think a hookup app is going to change that.”

How was that even possible? What kind of selfish assholes had she dated that they didn’t want to spend the time making sure she was happy first?

Too bad he wouldn’t be around on Valentine’s Day this year.

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