Page 21 of Objection to Love

Em’s mouth pinched to the side. She really wanted to say yes. But she couldn’t. “No.”

“Great. Then do something about it.”

“I don’t have any hobbies. What am I supposed to do for fun?”

“Hey, I thought your favorite hobbies were sleeping and bathing.”

“Thank you, but I can’t really prove to my coworkers that I’m fun by doing those in abundance.” Em glared at him, but it felt half-hearted.Shefelt half-hearted. As if she’d just realized that, according to everyone else, she was living half a life. It hadn’t ever bothered her before that her whole life was centered around work. It wasn’t like she’d grown up that way… It had happened gradually. So gradually she hadn’t even realized until now.

Switching from swim team to debate in high school when her parents never showed up for her swim meets but did for her debate competitions. Heading home early to study during undergrad so the next time Mom or Dad called, she was able to prove how hard she was working for her good grades. Planning to accept the next lunch invitation, but then worrying that, if she did, she wouldn’t have a chance to finish prep on her next case.

When had she become… boring?

Garrett had crossed to the stool she’d vacated and sat down while she was busy visiting memory lane. “Okay,” he drew out the word, clearly turning something over in his head. “I have a plan.”

“I don’t think I’m going to like this.”

He grinned at her. “Probably not. I propose a deal.”

“A deal?”

“Yes. A deal of fun. And it should be a great deal of fun, if I may make such a bad pun.” He laughed at himself, and Em almost smiled, though the frozen realization of just how lame she was had her lips wanting to stay in a flat line.

“Okay. I’m listening.”

“You start coming home from work early every day—say, by six or something. And reserve three hours every Saturday for one fun activity of my choosing.”

“That sounds more like a challenge than a deal. And not a veryfunchallenge.”

“Ha ha, good point. Okay, we’ll make it a deal. What do you want?”

Em stood up. Her chin was throbbing a little less, and she realized how ridiculous this whole situation was. She and Garrett were not friends. The people at work weren’t even her friends. She didn’t need to prove anything to anyone.

Garrett was watching her expectantly.

Em cleared her throat. “Nothing. I take it back. I don’t care what my coworkers say about me. Iama workaholic. And I’m proud of it. If more people were workaholics, the world would be a much better place.” If she said it a little louder, maybe she’d believe it.

His head cocked to the side. A challenging look entered his expression.

She spoke again before he could, “Thanks for helping me clean this up. With no first aid stuff, I would have ended up taping a piece of toilet paper to my chin or something.” Oh gosh, she was talking about toilet paper. Time to wrap things up. “I’ll replace the stuff I used. Thanks again.”

He rose slowly from the barstool. “Okay.” His eyes moved between both of hers, searching for something. She almost looked away but managed to hold her ground.

Finally, he nodded. “I’ll just head out then. Have a good night.”

“Thanks, you too.” The words came out too brightly, but he didn’t notice. He was too busy leaving.

Em breathed a sigh of relief when the door closed behind him. She rubbed the side of her head, feeling a headache coming on beneath the residual pain of her chin and wrist. She’d nearly made a big mistake. Sure, she was a little boring… but it had served her well all these years. She hadn’t been in the top five percent of her graduating law cohort by skipping studying on the weekends. She hadn’t been given this high-profile case because she wasa fun timeafter work. No. Her way of life might not be for everyone, but it was perfect for her.

She reached down to scratch Mr. Winkles behind the ears, but the cat dodged her, slinking off. Em watched her leave, piling on more reasons to fill the weird emptiness settling in her chest. Plus… she needed all the extra time she could find to prep for this case.

And… and she couldn’t make deals with her neighbor. She couldn’t be all buddy-buddy with him at all. Something told her the second she let him in, he’d weasel his way straight to her heart. And romance was not a distraction she could handle right now.

Em had only one goal on Tuesday morning: get through the Clayton hearing successfully, and set a trial date. But first she had to get to her car, and in order to get to her car, she had to pass Garrett.

From the window in her living room, she could see him out on his porch sipping his herbal tea, which was really strange, because he had the appearance of a man who would only drink black coffee or protein drinks. What other idiosyncrasies did he have?

She shook her head at her wayward thoughts. It was already 6:40, and if she didn’t leave now, she was going to be late to work.

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