Page 37 of Falling into Place
Several seconds passed. He blinked.
A few more, and she lifted her brows.
He gave a little cough and tapped the table lightly with his fist, glancing around the room.
She counted to five. Slowly. “Brooks!”
“What?”
“I gave you lots of ideas of things to say. Let’sgo.”
He smoothed out his shirt and nodded. “So, where are you from?”
“Oklahoma City. I grew up just a few miles from here.”
“Really? Me too.”
She feigned surprise. “No way. I wonder if we’ve ever crossed paths before?”
“Nah, I don’t think so.”
“How can you be sure?”
His gaze was direct. “I’d remember you.”
Warmth flushed across her skin, and she leaned in as if to impart a secret. “Excellent flirting. That would totally work on a real date.”
He didn’t respond right away, but eventually offered her a smile. “So, what do you do for a living?”
“I’m a personal stylist,” she said. “I mostly work with young professionals on limited budgets and prioritize clothing recycling to reduce waste by shopping at resale shops around town.”
“Wow, I could have used something like that during residency interviews.” He regarded her closely, dropping the facade. “Do you really do that? Work with regular people like me when it’s not, you know, Sasha-mandated? Because I gotta be honest, I would have thought stylists were only for the rich and famous.”
“I take whatever Mode gives me,” she said honestly. “But my boss knows I have a knack for creative shopping and staying within a budget, and honestly, those are my favorite clients. It can take a lot of time and effort to piece something together from discount- and used-clothing stores, but it’s not impossible and completely worth it. It just takes some creativity, and I want everyone I work with to feel good about themselves, no matter how much money they have.”
Brooks looked like he wanted to say more, but the server chose that moment to sidle up for their drink orders. Carly didn’t miss the way the young woman’s eyes lingered on Brooks.
When she departed, Carly lifted one brow. “I think our waitress would be happy to fill date slot Number Two. Or Three, if you want to double back for April from Empire’s number.”
Looking bewildered, Brooks glanced in the direction the woman had gone. How was this man so clueless? “I’d never ask another woman out when I was already on a date.”
“Are you saying that to avoid another date? Because you’re just delaying the inevitable, you know. Sasha will make sure of it.”
He groaned and tipped his head back. “Can you let me get through this practice and my first real date first? I can’t look that far ahead.”
“Okay, yes. Sorry.” She smiled brightly, straightened her spine, and fluffed her hair to make a show of resuming their playacting. “What about you, Brooks? What do you do for a living?”
“I’m a physician.”
“Really?” She batted her eyelashes. “Wow. You must be really smart.”
He nodded sagely. “Very.”
She laughed. “Did you always want to be a doctor?”
“No. I was always good at science, though, so I majored in biology in undergrad and it just sort of went from there. When I thought about careers in science that could help people, it seemed like one where I could have the biggest impact.”
Carly shuddered. “I was terrible at science.” Her first (and, please note,only) C on an exam was on a physics test, and after almost passing out during the first frog-dissection day, she faked the flu for the rest of the week to get out of it.
