Page 49 of Just Another Meet Cute
A brief smile crossed his face. He shook his head and continued drawing. A couple of lines dissected the box. And tiny boxes in each section like—
“Windows. Building. Office building. Floors. Skyscraper.”
“Apartments,” Ollie offered.
Ian clapped his hands together and drew a person on top of the building.
“Contractor who fixes roofs,” I immediately said. “Daredevil. Bungee jumping.”
Letting out a loud snort, he coughed into his fist and shook his head. Then he moved to a different section on the paper and drew a simple airplane. Ian gave me a sharp look and then pointed at the drawing of the plane again.
“Me and a plane. Flights. Flying. Flying over a building.” I glanced over at the picture of the person on the roof. “A tall building. Heights.”
Ian’s eyes widened and he frantically nodded like a bobblehead. He jabbed the pencil at the drawing of the plane again, so hard that the lead point almost pierced the thin paper. He didn’t seem to notice though. He continued staring at me, mentally pushing me toward the right answer.
“Heights and planes. Heights and—” Wait, that sounded familiar … the list that Ian sent me suddenly popped into my head. “Nightmare. Worst nightmare.”
His hand reached out to grasp the top of my arm and motioned for me to continue.
“Biggest fear?”
“Yes!” Ian pulled me in for a tight hug. My face was squished against his neck, but in a nice way. Dang, he smelled good. Like clean soap with a tiny hint of cologne. I didn’t know exactly what kind, but it was fresh. I fought the urge to take another long whiff. “That’s it!”
Over our head, Ollie jumped up and down in triumph. “We win! We WIN!”
Ryan stared at us in disbelief through Kathy’s moaning. “How the hell did you get fear from a building and a plane?”
“I—” I broke off and glanced up at Ian. His arm was still wrapped around my shoulder as he grinned down at me. I couldn’t help smiling back at him. “Like I said. Luck. Lots of it.”
Unlike the uncomfortable car ride from earlier, this ride with Ian was nice. Peaceful and almost friendly in the silence. Thank God, since it was just the two of us in the car now. Ryan ended up having to stay home to help Ollie withsomething. Judging by Ollie’s bright red ears and the way he avoided my eyes, I decided not to ask.
At first, I was nervous to be alone with Ian, but the longer we drove, the more my nerves melted away. Maybe it was because of our awesome teamwork during Pictionary, but I felt like there was an unspoken truce between us now.
“Can I ask you something?”
And now the truce was over.
Wryly, I glanced over at him, but Ian was busy checking the rearview mirror as he changed lanes. “Haven’t you asked me enough questions already?”
His white teeth flashed in the dark. “One more won’t hurt.”
I doubted that. “I’ll probably regret this, but sure.”
“At the theater …” Ian trailed off a bit and chewed on his lower lip. “Who was that man you and Linh were talking to afterward?”
Oh.
I turned away to gaze out the passenger window. It was so dark that I could barely see the houses on the street unless their porch light was on. And even then, it was a quick blur.
My thumbnail scratched at the side seam of my jeans. “That was my dad.”
Ian was so quiet that I thought he didn’t hear me at first. I could see his reflection in the glass though. His head kept turning in my direction as he looked at me. But I couldn’t see the expression on his face.
“And are you okay?”
Out of all the questions hecouldhave asked,thatwas the one I least expected. And the only one that made me catch my breath. Instead of the whys and hows, he was asking about me and how I felt.
I glanced at him out of the corner of my eyes. “That’s another question.”
