Page 57 of Good Vibes Only
“Just fine, huh?” Raven was still standing by the window—she’d clearly been spying on us. And I could tell by her sneaky grin and wiggling eyebrows that she’d seeneverything.“Shoot, it looked better than fine to me.”
“Ah, hell,” I said, throwing my arms in the air, and my smile returned. Why hide it?! “It was great,okay? He’s sosweet.”
“Why don’t you tell me what happened?”
“I will. But first, I need you to listen.” I turned my ear to the shared wall, where the sounds of Brett’s work crew continued to pound and screech away. “Hear that?”
“Uh,yeah. We’ve been hearing it all day. Or did you forget?” she asked, her puzzled features pinching.
I wore a jubilant grin. “Well, we won’t be hearing it for much longer.”
She gasped. “Ooo! What happened?!”
I explained that right this very moment, Brett was on his way to buy soundproofing panels.
“What?! That’s cool. You really got in his ear, huh?” she asked. “What’d you do? Blow him in his car?”
“That issowrong, Rave,” I snickered, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t wanting to do exactly that just a few minutes ago. “No, the truth is, he’s already kinda unhappy with how things are turning out with his brewery.”
“Wait. I thought you said the beer was amazing?”
“Yeah, but it’s not the beer that’s the problem.”
I filled Raven in on all the details Brett told me about his project manager and the chef from 815 and everything else, too.
“Aw. That’s sweet. He really respects your opinion, you know.”
“What makes you say that?”
“It’s obvious. Just think about it. He wanted to take you to 815notbecause he loves the food, but to get your opinion. He senses something’s not right, but he’s surrounded by people who aren’t listening to his concerns.”
“He did say something like that, actually.”
“And that’s why he’s attracted to you. Because you don’t blow smoke up his ass. From the very moment you two met, you’ve been nothing but honest with him. For better or worse.”
“Huh.” I stroked my chin. “Interesting theory.”
“But how’s everything else? I mean … is there chemistry? Are you vibing?”
“Honestly?” I let the question hang to build suspense. “I’m blown away, Rave. He’s so sweet and nice. I think I’m in love.”
Raven recoiled, stunned. “Did you just saylove?”
I had. And I’d meant it as a joke. Because obviously, it was way too early to throw around a word like that. But the scary part was, the moment I’d said it, something pinged my heart like a blip on the radar.No,I’m not saying I’m in love with him, okay? Not even close. All I’m saying is, maybe I could see it on the horizon someday.
“I’m just joshin’ ya,” I said with a nervous chuckle.
“Not the kind of thing you normally joke about, but okay, sure,” she said, content to sweep that bit of controversy under the rug. “So when are you seeing him next?”
“Hm. I mean, he said he might be back later with those soundproofing panels.” I sheepishly admitted, “But, er, we didn’t really talk about next time.”
“How did you miss that?!”
“I dunno! Everything happened so fast. He gave me a goodbye kiss, but um, we just kept kissing, and things started getting really hot and I just had to get myself out of there before I did something I might regret.”
She grinned. “Girl, I know. I was watching the whole time. That washot.”
My chin practically hit the floor. “Rave!”
