Page 6 of Jaime
“We’ll see.”
My phone was suddenly pressed to my hand. I took it, catching Jaime as he was backing awkwardly away.
“Bye,” he muttered and took off through the shelves before anything else could be said to him.
When I turned back, both Naomi and Nash had the same amused expression on their faces, brows raised.
“Don’t tell me you were picking up at a reading?” Nash teased.
I snorted, even as my stomach swooped.
“Please. He was just a fan.”
“Ah. A fan. I forgot that you always give your number to fans,” Naomi mused.
I groaned.
“It wasn’t that.”
“Glad to hear,” Naomi said. “He gives off stalker vibes.”
“Come on, let’s pack up,” I said, choosing to end the conversation there.
Considering that he’d seemed out of place to me too, I couldn’t really argue that. Didn’t mean I liked hearing it though. Jaime didn’t seem like a bad guy. He couldn’t have such a sweet smile if he was.
I forced myself not to look at my phone until we were all ready to go, then pulled it out and quickly checked recent calls. To my relief, there was a new number there.
I smiled softly, then caught myself and swallowed.
What the hell was I doing?
CHAPTER3
JAIME
I felt weirdlyout of sorts. Like everything was upside down.
I hadn’t thought about whether Mr. McIntosh—orEthan—would be taller than me. He was, by a solid four inches, with eyes sharper than I’d expected. They were gentle and kind, just like I’d known they would be, but when he looked straight at me, it was intense and unnerving. It felt like he could read my mind. Like I was one of his books, preschool-level complexity and all. All of five minutes required to know everything I was trying to hide.
I swallowed and looked down at Evie. She’d looked so damn perfect over his shoulder, happy and curious and sweet.
For a few minutes after I’d left the bookstore, I’d taken advantage of it, holding her in such a way that she could see the cars passing while we waited for the bus. She fell asleep almost straight away though. For some reason, being out and in my arms made her pass out more than when we were at home and I tried to make her fall asleep.
The bouncing of the bus added to the effect. She was out cold again, drooling and all.
I still couldn’t believe that Mr. McIntosh had spoken to us.Ethan!That was going to take some getting used to—or not. What was the likelihood that he would actually call me? Especially just to give me something? There was no need. He didn’t know me. He didn’t owe me anything. He shouldn’t call.
But what if he did?
My stomach squirmed with nerves. My heart sped up. Heat rose up my cheeks. It felt like the start of a panic attack butgood.
I swallowed. I wanted that message or, even better, a call.
Tonight, when I was sitting with Evie asleep in my arms, maybe he would speak to me with that nice voice of his for long enough that I’d drop into sleep myself.
Getting his attention at all, already felt like winning. I was totally unworthy, but hell, it made me feel good.
How heartwarming to learn that someone you admired on TV wasn’t a total dickwad and was, in fact, quite friendly.
