Page 27 of The Catch

Free coffee for a yearwas no joke, and Cat had no intention of wasting any more time than necessary winning that prize. She just had to see Josh a few more times and wait for reality to come crashing down.

She’d been working on her rational response to him during their phone calls and texts leading up to this date. She even made a mental list of all of the reasons Josh wasn’t as perfect as he’d seemed.

1. He texted in full sentences with proper punctuation, which felt a little judgy.

2. He called to the exact minute of the time he said he was going to. Only a psycho or someone who was totally anal-retentive would do that.

That was all she had so far, but she was sure there was more.

In the six days since they’d left the beach, she’d built a nice little wall of composure to wrap around herself Saturday afternoon as she walked down the street from her office building to the park where she’d agreed to meet him.

Josh had suggested the daytime date. She’d found it a bit conservative, considering he’d already had his hands inside her bathing suit, but she also really appreciated the sentiment. He was good at the gentleman thing.

In the same vein, he’d also insisted on coming to the city instead of her traveling to him. She’d already gone through all of the possibilities there. Maybe his place was a pigsty. Or worse yet, a shrine to his previous marriage. Maybe he had a girlfriend in town and didn’t want the neighbors talking!

Or maybe he was just being considerate. She really couldn’t decide.

Emma and Sonya had read her the riot act for that list of maybes and what-ifs. Emma, with her calm therapist voice, had started in again on her self-help book speech about being open to opportunity and not letting past mistakes dictate her future. Sonya, a flurry of flying hands and curse words, had shamed her for being “emotionally stunted” and accused her of trying to sabotage herself. Dani had kept quiet during the exchange, silently smirking the wordcowardin her direction.

After taking into account her friends’ unsolicited advice, as well as the annoying, persistent butterfly feeling in her belly, she’d set aside her worry and decided the only way she could win was to play. So that morning, she strapped on some sparkly (but flat) sandals, a pale peach-colored romper with flowing bell sleeves, and just enough makeup to avoid being accused of not trying, and here she was.

And there he was looking perfect.

She spotted him across the street, leaning casually against what she assumed was his gunmetal-grey Jeep Wrangler, wearing a pair of dark jeans that clearly knew his body intimately given the fading on the seams and pockets. A dark blue, v-neck t-shirt hugged his chest and biceps, showing off the tan he’d taken home with him from the beach.

“Cat!” Josh’s pale blue eyes sparked as he flagged her down, greeting her with a grin that belonged on the front page of a magazine. She crossed the street to meet him, and he gathered her against his chest in a hug as soon as she was in his space. He kissed her cheek, but his eyes traveled further, taking her in. “You look gorgeous,” he said, causing a wave of those butterflies to be released.

“Thank you. You look nice yourself.” With the thick crowd of pedestrians lining the sidewalk and pushing them together, he was standing almost as close as their slow dance, and her view was filled by his handsome face—clean-shaven and stuck in a perma-grin.

“I hope you didn’t have to walk too far,” he said, looking past her in the direction she’d come from. “I wish you would have let me pick you up.” She could tell it was a big concession on his part to forgo that chivalry, but she wasn’t quite ready to invite him into her space yet. She was trying to think of him as a leftover loose end from her vacation, like luggage that still needed to be unpacked. She wasn’t keeping this souvenir.

“My office is right down the road,” she said. “With the streets closed off for the festival, this was easier.”

Josh had suggested a local beer and wine festival that he’d seen a sign for, and Cat jumped at the chance of having hundreds of other people join them for their first real date. Dating was torture even when you weren’t trying to win a bet, and alcohol and distraction sounded like exactly what she needed. Between the music—loud enough that she could already hear it from a block away—and the eating and drinking, there wouldn’t be too much deep conversation. The kind they’d so easily fallen into in the ocean and on the moonlit beach. She could observe him, try to figure out exactly how he was going to disappoint her before it snuck up on her.

“Do you always work on Saturday?” Josh’s hand settled on her lower back, steering them into the crowd of people filing down the street. He pulled her close, and she noted the scent of sunscreen and salt he’d worn a week ago was replaced by a hint of clean, masculine-smelling cologne.

A couple of guys, over-dressed for a day in the park, and wearing Dylan-esque grins, passed by on her right, and Josh moved his hand to her waist, his fingers splaying across her hip. It was a possessive gesture, one that she should have found irritating on a first date, but she supposed they were working with a different set of rules after their little beach tryst. And besides, she sort of liked it.

“No. I just had so much to catch up on since I took that vacation.” Feeling as though she’d just admitted to something, she backtracked. “But I do work a lot of late nights during the week. Sometimes past dinner.”

“You mentioned that.” They approached the entrance to the festival area, a big white tent with long tables underneath, and Josh held up his phone so the staff could scan it.

“You already got the tickets?”

From behind the table, a lady wearing a purple t-shirt with a picture of a beer bottle and wine glass clinking together handed Josh a couple of lanyards with laminated passes.

“Yup. All set.” Josh slipped her pass over her head, pulling her long ponytail through the strap, then he donned his own.

“You didn’t have to do that. Let me buy lunch.”

He scrunched his nose as if she’d said something distasteful.

“Josh…”

“Cat, just let me take you out. It’s the only way I know how to do things. Please?”

She nodded, feeling a little fondness for that politeness she remembered. Maybe they could both make concessions. “Thank you.”

---