Page 39 of She Likes It, Hey Micah
I huff a laugh. “I don’t know if anyone can enjoy working for Grant.”
“He can’t be that bad,” she argues.
“He’s worse than Lila.” Okay, that’s probably not true. There may be days where Grant would rather strangle me than hand me a paycheck, but I can’t imagine him insulting me to a colleague. He may be a pain in the neck, but he knows that I’m valuable.
When Micah doesn’t say anything, my stomach twists in my gut. “Sorry,” I tell her. “I shouldn’t have brought her up.”
She folds her hands in her lap again, as if she wants to make sure she isn’t too exuberant. “Ask me one of your questions,” she says quietly.
She’s currently sitting on my phone, so I’ll have to work off of my mental list. “If you were an animal, what would you be?”
That one question tugs at the corner of her mouth, bringing back her light. “A quokka.”
“A what?”
“A quokka. They live on some Australian islands and don’t have any natural predators, so they look like the happiest animals in the world. They smile for pictures with people and stuff because they don’t have any natural fear of them.”
As soon as I’m no longer driving, I’m going to look up that animal. And see if I can adopt one. I need more smiles in my life, and I only get to keep Micah for so long.
“If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?” I ask.
Her smile grows. “Some Australian islands where these little creatures called quokkas live.”
Dang, she’s good. I have to cover my mouth with my hand and pretend to rub my jaw so she doesn’t catch my smile when I’m not ready for her. “IfIwas an animal, what would I be?”
She studies me—not uncomfortable at all—and hesitates with her answer. For good reason. “A skunk.”
I frown. “Hey!”
“It’s not an insult!”
“How is that not an insult?”
“Skunks are adorable!”
My breath catches, and I’m lucky I don’t jerk the steering wheel again. “You think I’m adorable?”
“I think you’re exceptionally cute but you purposely scare people away because you don’t want them to know you are actually a softy.”
Exceptionally cute.It’s not devilishly handsome or super attractive, but still. Exceptionally cute. Micah thinks I’m cute.ShethinksIam cute. Oh boy. I’m going to fixate on that when I definitely shouldn’t. Ava’s backseat might have been a better option after all.
“I’m not a softy,” I grumble, as if there is any benefit at all to pretending this girl hasn’t completely melted my icy heart by this point.
Micah reaches over, putting her hand on my arm for the third time since we started this drive. I have no idea what she’s hoping to accomplish, but she is pushing the realm of safety here with her touch if she wants me to stay focused on the road. “Would you rather be a porcupine?”
I scrunch up my nose. “I think that’s worse.”
Her laughter fills the car so thoroughly that I know I’m in trouble. The car is tainted now.Drivingis tainted. My playlist, which plays softly in the background, is going to have traces of Micah Taylor for the rest of my life. I doubt I will see her after we open the Greenwood, but I’m glad that I get to know her for the next week.
Ugh, that sounds so depressing! Depressing, but true. Without any projects needing events in the near future, I’ll have no professional reasons to see her. And despite all of the personal reasons I want her around—of which there are many—I am not the sort of man a woman like Micah ends up with. I’m not the sort of mananyoneends up with. It isn’t in the cards for me, and I’ve come to terms with that.
I have not come to terms with the thought of giving up my time with Micah. In the short time I’ve known her so far, she has already changed my life. She brought me to life again.
“Oh! I love this song!” Pulling her hand away, Micah turns the music up a few notches and starts singing along with a voice that instantly has me captivated. She wasn’t kidding when she said she could sing, and each line steals another piece of my heart.
I hope next week never comes because I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready to say goodbye to Micah and her sunshine.
Chapter Twelve
