Page 1 of The Deadbeat Next Door

CHAPTER ONE

Carrie

“Have you read The Hunger Games?” Jonas asked. He was seated across from me at Vince’s Italian and Barbecue restaurant, my date for the night. He was a librarian and he was cute in a boyish, Peter Pan sort of way. He should have been perfect for me. He was everything I was looking for in a man. He was employed, he valued education and books, and he loved kids.

“I’m a ninth-grade English teacher,” I said, since he hadn’t asked. He hadn’t asked a single question about me or revealed a single thing about himself, yet. Not during the fifteen-minute car ride, not during the endless bread sticks, and not over our entrees of pasta. “I have definitely read The Hunger Games.”

He smiled, his eyes a bit glazed. I imagined he was in a food coma, having just inhaled his meal, chicken parmesan, in less than five minutes. I wondered if he had a detachable jaw like a snake, because I could imagine no other way he’d managed to fit that much food in his mouth at one time. “I like the part where she’s in the woods and she’s talking to the guy. There’s so much character depth there.”

“Sure is.” I had no idea what scene he was referring to and I really didn’t care. My students could give a better book report with their eyes glued shut. Jonas had, it seemed, read every book ever written and wanted to discuss each of them in turn. I’d tried, at first, to engage in the conversation, until I realized he really didn’t want or care about my opinion.

“The author is quite talented in her ability to juxtapose fight scenes with meaningful character development.”

Awww, he used the word juxtapose correctly in a sentence, I should marry this guy. Except I’d probably murder him in his sleep and spend the rest of my life in jail. The waitress appeared and dropped the check, split at Jonas’ request, on the table.

I grabbed my purse, signed my credit card slip and stood. “Well, thank you for a lovely evening, Jonas. I’m ready to go.”

He stared up at me, his eyes round. He’d been talking and I’d interrupted him. My mother would say my lack of manners was to blame for my single-status. I would argue with her and point out that having sole guardianship of my darling nephew Harrison for most of my early twenties was more likely to blame, but my mother hated to be contradicted, much like my date, so I didn’t bother. “I thought we might sit and discuss books for a bit longer,” he said.

“I’d really rather you just take me home.”

“Okay.” He reached for the check with the speed of a sloth on tranquilizers and signed it like he was encased in glue. When he looked up at me, his blue eyes were lit with a new glow. He really did have the prettiest eyes I’d ever seen. “Would you like to come back to my place?”

“No. I want to go home alone. You seem like a really nice guy, but I don’t want to see you again.” That sounded harsh, but I felt no shame or embarrassment. I’d been on twenty dates in the past eighteen months and every one had been worse than the last. I’d found that being blunt, up-front, and honest was the only way to handle a bad date. It was best not to let the guy think he had a chance of changing my mind.

Jonas’ cheeks reddened and he frowned. He huffed out a sigh and stood. “Maybe you should find your own ride home.”

I considered my options. He worked with my best friend, Dilly, and I could use her as the leverage I needed to get him to stop being an ass and take me home, but I didn’t really feel like spending even a minute longer with him. “That’s fine,” I said. “Have a nice night, Jonas. I’m sure I’ll see you at the library.”

My easy acceptance of his refusal to drive me home only seemed to make him angrier. “Just don’t expect me to clear any more of your late fees,” he said.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

He and his pretty eyes stormed out and I made my way to the bar. I sat at an empty stool, ordered a martini, and called Dilly.

“I take it the date didn’t go well,” Dilly said, when she answered. She’d had such high hopes for me and Jonas. I should have gone with my instinct, and the fact that I’d never had even a single butterfly flutter in the guy’s presence, and turned down the date.

“He stranded me at Vince’s,” I said.

Dilly sighed. “I told him not to take you out to eat.”

I sipped my martini and swallowed the urge to scream at my best friend, because I knew she meant well. Dilly and I had been best friends since pre-school and she always meant well. “So you were aware of his supernatural ability to fit an entire bowl of pasta in his mouth in one bite?”

Dilly snort-laughed. “He’s not that bad, Carrie. Did you ever think maybe you’re too picky?”

“He talked about books the entire time.”

“You love books.”

“He didn’t even ask me where I work.”

“That’s because I already told him. He was probably just nervous. He’s a really good guy when you get to know him.”

“A really good guy who stranded me at Vince’s.” I bit my lip to stop myself from growling at her. It wasn’t her fault. “Please, just come get me.”

“I’ll be there in fifteen.”

I hung up and put my phone on the bar top. I rubbed my temples and took a sip of my drink. I just wanted to go on one date where I wasn’t counting the minutes until I got home, just one date where I felt some sort of attraction to the man sitting across from me. Was that too much to ask? Okay, so I also wanted to meet Mr. Right and get married and have four kids, so I had to have high standards. Standards were a good thing. Not a bad thing. Never a bad thing.

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