Page 42 of Falling into Place
He grinned, unable to think of the last time he’d smiled this much. The nurses at work should see him now.
“Deal.”
Chapter Eleven
Carly
Yes, the food here’s incredible but no, I haven’t found a margarita as good as the one at Barrios. I can’t stand the thought of you sitting at the bar alone every week—promise me you’ll take Sasha next time?
—Email from Benjamin Wheeler to Carly Porter
“Why didn’t you tell me your brother was smoking hot?”
Carly couldn’t help but laugh at the look of distress on Sasha’s face. “Ew, because he’s mybrother,” Sasha said. “Which means he’s not.”
Their friend Kendall was having none of it. She flipped her phone around on the table so that it faced Sasha and Carly, displaying theLiveOKCwebsite, and jammed her finger into Brooks’s smiling face. “He most certainly is. He’s got that sexy, smart,Stemvibe going on. Back me up here, Carly.”
“I’ll agree and take some credit,” Carly said, regarding the photo she’d looked at way more than was appropriate, probably. “Properly fitting clothes really took Brooks to the next level.”
“I’ve known you for four years and not once have you offered to set us up,” Kendall whined. “Where have you been hiding him?”
“He’s been hiding himself,” Sasha defended. “And if you want to date him, you gotta do it through the app and for everyone in town to see. Arranging something behind the scenes with someone I know would defeat the whole purpose.”
“Also, he should probably be the one in charge of who he dates,” Carly put in with a laugh. Sasha’s tendency to manhandle things to her liking came in handy sometimes, but it could also be too much. “This isn’t Regency England among the peerage.”
“Fine, I’ll do it.” Kendall pulled out her phone. “God knows I’m on enough dating apps already. What’s one more?”
Carly checked her watch. “He’s actually having coffee with someone as we speak.”
He’d texted her in a panic two hours ago, certain the outfit they’d picked out was all wrong and that he’d crash and burn in the conversation department within minutes. She’d talked him down by suggesting he recite the periodic table to himself. Slowly. “I wonder how it’s going.”
For his sake, she hoped he’d settled in just like he had with her. What had people thought when they saw her and Brooks together that night, looking like they were on a real date? Had they seemed stilted and awkward, like many first dates were, or had they looked as relaxed as she’d felt? At times, their conversation had bordered on intimate, and while she got the feeling he didn’t have those often, it hadn’t felt weird. Not even a little.
Would he tell the woman he was with tonight about his parents? Would he open up about his job or tell her she looked beautiful?
“She’s a vet tech, right?” Sasha asked, startling Carly out of her thoughts. “He wouldn’t give me the login to his account, and I couldn’t get much out of him about her.”
Carly wouldn’t let Sasha within ten miles of her dating app account, either. “Yeah, I think so. He thought maybe they’d have some things in common, both being in the medical field.”
“Should I call him to check in?”
Kendall laughed, and Carly said, “God, no,” despite having the urge to do the exact same thing herself.
“Leave the poor man alone,” Kendall said, not looking up from where she was setting up the new account on her phone. “What about you, Carly? Still on your dating hiatus until Benjamin gets back?”
“Excuse me. I’m not on a dating hiatus.”
Kendall looked up to give her the side-eye. “Have you been on a date since he left?”
“I . . . well. No.”
“She’s been hanging out with Chet Princeton, didn’t you hear?” Sasha deadpanned.
Kendall’s jaw dropped. Anyone who knew anything about this town knew about that man and his exploits.
“Ew, I am not,” Carly said, glaring at Sasha. “I hate you.”
Sasha just cackled, and Kendall said, “Not funny.”
