Page 18 of Silver Linings
Unknown
It’s Hendrix the maintenance tech. Will you be home tomorrow for me to start repairs on your ceiling?
Flutters erupt in my stomach. That’s…new.
I don’t know what to do. Do I text back right away? Play it cool for a while? What is wrong with me? I’ve never been unsureof what to do when getting a text from a man. He’s just the maintenance guy; of course, you don’t wait to text back.
God, what is wrong with me?
I must be zoned in on my phone, because I don’t hear Holly when she asks me what I’m looking at, and I don’t see her when she comes up behind me, snatching the phone out of my hand.
“Who’s Hendrix?”
I try to snatch my phone back, but she evades me around a table stacked with paperback bestsellers.
“If you read the text, you nosy gremlin, you’ll see he’s the apartment’s new maintenance man,” I huff, trying to come around the table to take my phone from her grasp.
“Why, exactly, do you seem like you don’t want me to know about thismaintenance man?” She says the job title with air quotes, like she doesn’t believe me. “Oh, is maintenance man a euphemism for sex? Is it a role play thing?”
Why am I feeling shy about this? This really isn’t like me, and I need to shake myself out of it. There’s no reason I can’t tell her Hendrix is the same man I ran into on the street that day.
I tear my phone out of her hand. “No, you thief. He’s my building’s new tech.”
“Okay? What’s the big deal?”
“He’s also…him.”
“Him?” I give her a look that pleads with her to remember. She looks at me, puzzled for a moment, and then I can see the moment it clicks for her. “Oh, him! The one that got away is what I believe you called him. So, his name is Hendrix.”
“Yes.”
She’s staring at me, giving me a ‘bitch really’ look and waiting for me to divulge more. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t. I just got the second chance with Hendrix I wanted a week ago when I didn’t even know his name. I’m having a momentary lapse of sense by getting nervous, and I shake myself out of it. I amSilver James. First of her name. Queen of sex positivity. Mother of vibrators and ruler of my own mind. I will not let one man—one disturbingly gorgeous man—have me acting like a cowering maiden. No, I wanted Hendrix then, and I still want him now, and something tells me by the way he was staring at my…armchairthe other day, he may be interested too.
It’s game on.
Holly shakes me out of my internal pep talk. “So, you’re getting your second chance.” A statement, not a question. She knows my style, how I approach dating: decidedly non-committal.
“It would appear so.” I’m certain there’s a gleam in my eye that probably makes me look like a rabid raccoon that just found its next meal.
“What’s the plan?” This is why I love Holly. She encourages my delusions and feeds my feral nature without second guessing if it’s wise.
“Well, I found out he works in the building because I had a massive water leak burst through my ceiling and onto my face at six in the morning.” Holly gasps in acute horror. “Color me surprised when I open my door an hour later,in a towel, to find Hendrix on the other side.” She’s repressing laughter now, I can see it all over her face.
“That was him,” I say, motioning to my phone, “texting to see if I’ll be home tomorrow so he can start working on repairs.”
“You work tomorrow.”
“Not if you switch shifts with me.” I bat my eyelashes, pleading with her to do me this favor.
“Fine! But you and Kena have to come to Sera’s trial run workshop for her new course. She wants to make sure her curriculum and timing runs smoothly before starting the class with paying students.”
“Done. Any excuse to see Sera looking all cute and bossy in an apron.” I throw her a wink and then run out of the way when she sends a book from our donation pile soaring through the air at me.
Once I’ve survived a flying book assault, I step around a bookshelf and out of sight, pausing to look down at my phone and open my messages. I don’t second guess. I just type.
Silver
I’ll be home, and I’ll…clean up before you arrive.
