Page 23 of Hooked
“Um…” What was happening? “Yes?”
“Cool.” He waved at Ox. “I’ll text you details tomorrow. Hey Ox, Cary said he wanted to talk to you about a new piece for his leg or something. You super busy right now?”
“I have time next week.” Ox was changing needles and looking over the back of his customer with a smile teasing the corner of his mouth. “Tell him to call me.”
“Will do.” Jeremy backed out of the shop, opening the door as an older woman walked in with two small children. “See you, Tayla.” He winked. Then he was gone.
Tayla’s eyes went wide. “What just happened?”
Emmie walked from between the shelves with a stack of books in her arms. “Did Jeremy just ask you out on a date?”
Ox was laughing from his side of the shop. “That was awesome.”
“No, it wasn’t!” Tayla turned to Emmie. “He ambushed me.”
“He did.” Ox bent over his customer’s back. “And it was awesome. Ted, I’m starting on the fill. Don’t move.”
The man sucked in a breath. “Okay.”
Emmie cocked her head at Tayla. “I thought you’d decided you weren’t going to date anyone in Metlin to avoid the—quote—‘small-town busybodies and their stupid wedding-bell assumptions.’”
“He outmaneuvered me.” She was pissed and yet simultaneously impressed. “Fine. He got me this time. I am going for a date with Jeremy Allen on Saturday.” She’d go out with Jeremy once. Then she would make it clear that she was not dating anyone in Metlin, particularly when her future was up in the air.
“I’m just saying it’s about time,” Emmie said. “You guys have been flirting shamelessly for months now.”
“But at four? Who plans a date for four?” Tayla closed her computer. “It’s too late for lunch and too early for dinner. Maybe there’s a movie he wants to see before dinner.”
A movie with Jeremy would be fun enough, especially if it was something he could geek out over. “Is there a new superhero movie opening this weekend?” Tayla was a fan of dinneraftermovies and not before. After all, it gave you something to talk about instead of staring at soup. “I don’t remember hearing about one opening.”
“Dinner and a movie?” Ox said. “Are you kidding?”
“This is Jeremy.” Emmie started ringing up her customer. “You think he’s going to do an indoor date?”
“Shit.” What did that mean? “What kind of date isn’t indoors?”
“Oh!” Emmie smiled. “Maybe you guys are going rock climbing or something cool like that.”
“Rock climbing?” She felt the color drain from her face. “No. I don’t rock climb. I don’t have a single date outfit that fits with climbing rocks.”
This was not okay.
Ox was still smiling in the corner, the smug bastard. Maybe she didn’t like Emmie’s boyfriend. He’d seemed awfully cooperative with Jeremy when he’d been taking advantage of her distraction. Tayla narrowed her eyes as she watched the front of Top Shelf Comics through the windows of the bookshop.
Jeremy Allen thought he could outmaneuver her?
The man had no idea what was going to hit him.
“Are you really pissed at Jeremy?”Emmie lounged on Tayla’s bed, staring at the closet. “I thought you liked him.”
“Do you actually think he’s going to want to go rock climbing?” Tayla stood in front of the small closet in her room at Emmie’s, staring at her clothing options for outdoor fun. “Because that would have a definite influence on my answer to that question.”
“Uh… probably not rock climbing?” Emmie said. “But also probably something outside.”
“I do like him.” Tayla pulled out various combinations of clothing, discarding one outfit, rearranging another. “But I told you we have very different lives.”
“So did Ox and I.”
“We like different stuff.”
