Page 57 of Perfect Date
14
The next week passes without incident. Justin and I continue to text back and forth and work is busy. It seems we have an uptick in business and my schedule is back-to-back and I leave work fairly exhausted most days.
Hearing from Justin always manages to put a bounce in my step and gives me a boost of energy.
Kimberly makes fun of me at work, “You’re always wearing a dopey smile on your face. I don’t even know who you are anymore.”
“Oh, please, you’re dramatic,” I say but inside I feel pleased.
I feel happy.
It’s when I talk to my mom on the phone for our weekly call, where I find myself talking a lot about Justin. She doesn’t say anything about it, but I can hear the smile in her voice as she asks me questions and laughs when I tell her the embarrassing things that have happened.
“Sounds like he’s a keeper if he still showed up at your place after that,” she teases.
“Hey! Did you not hear the part about how it wasn’t my fault?”
“Oh, I heard. But the man still saw you covered in feces, honey.”
“True, mom. That’s very true. Don’t remind me.”
When I get my hair done one night after work, finally taking the plunge due to a cut, style and color being long overdue, the gossip mill strikes again.
“So, I hear that you’ve been spending some time with Justin over in Rebel River,” Shaina, my hair stylist says to me clearly fishing for gossip.
“Yeah, he’s a really good friend,” I reply carefully.
“My sister went to school with him, so I know him pretty well,” she says as if she’s bragging though I’m not sure how her sister going to school with him means she knows him well, but what do I know?
“Is that right?” I ask, trying to be kind.
“Yeah. It was sad when his dad and grandfather passed. Hard on the family if I remember.”
“Hmm,” I nod as I watch her grab another tin foil to place in my hair.
“I love his place, the Greedy Goose, a lot. I don’t go there often enough though I really should. When I have been there, I’ve really enjoyed myself, such a great atmosphere.”
“Yeah, it’s a great place,” I nod.
“Everyone was super surprised when he hired his ex-fiancée, Sam. Their break up was pretty hard core so no one thought he’d be willing to give her another chance like that.”
“His… fiancée?” I ask trying not to show my surprise.
“Some people think that he’s still got a thing for her. I mean everyone knows she still does for him. It’s her fault it ended the way it did anyway with her cheating on him and all - I mean that’s why he doesn’t do serious relationships anymore - but honestly, I think it’s because he doesn’t care for her that way anymore. I mean, that’s why she works there. Because he could care less about it, or her,” she continues to speak a million miles a minute completely oblivious to the fact that I didn’t know any of what she just revealed. Or that I may care more than just another conversationalist.
I mean, it makes sense that I wouldn’t. Why would he tell me all of this stuff? I never asked him, ‘Hey have you ever been engaged?’ It’s not really information you just offer up and what does it have to do with me or him now?
But what if he does still have feelings for her?
What if he’s using me to make her jealous?
Suddenly I remember the look on her face as she watched the two of us talk at the bar. She was nice enough, but there seemed to be an underlying emotion there, an edge. Is she still carrying a torch for him? Is he for her?
My heart drops and it’s all I can think about the rest of the time I get my hair done. The fact that my feelings for him may not be reciprocated, makes my eyes sting. I feel ridiculous. I barely know him really.
Maybe I’m making more out of my emotions than I should. Perhaps this is hitting me hard and raising questions because I had such bad dates with those other guys, and not that our dates were remarkable given the bad luck I clearly seem to have, but he was fun to be around, I enjoy his personality, and the way he makes me feel.
There’s only one thing I can do, and once I leave Serenity, the hair salon, I take action.
