Page 43 of The Heart Shot
“Is there anything else y’all need?” a Chick-Fil-A employee asked, appearing out of nowhere, gesturing at our now empty tray.
Jameson gave the girl a smile and shook his head. “We’re good, thank you.”
“My pleasure,” she said before disappearing the way she had come.
His attention returned to me, excitement lighting up his eyes. “I was saying—”
“Actually, I need to get going,” I interrupted, grabbing my purse and throwing it over my shoulder. I didn’t need him to tell me what I should or shouldn’t do with writing, or to fill my heart with hopes and dreams I’d worked hard to quell. What I did now paid the bills, and that was that.There wasn’t room for anything else.
Jameson’s face fell. “Oh. All right.”
“Thanks for the shake and fries.”
It took a moment, but his dimple reappeared. “I’ll see you again soon?”
I gave a small nod. As I slid out of the booth to leave, his fingers latched onto my wrist like they had last night at my car, and my stomach swooped. Why did his touch make my body react like this? He was just a man. There were no attachments, no feelings, no romance. This was, and would remain, purely platonic. But, no matter how much I told myself that, it didn’t stop goosebumps from sliding over my skin, or the little fires that followed.
“I didn’t mean to scare you off, Elsie. I just wanted to get to know you.”
I studied his face. How did he see right through me? How could he possibly know my fears and insecurities had risen to the surface with his questions? How could he possibly know that I was terrified?
He didn’t know about my past, and I wasn’t about to sharethatbaggage.
My parents had always appeared to love each other, and I looked up to them when I was a kid, but when I turned eighteen, a switch flipped. The masks came off and the yelling started. I didn’t know if they had always been fighting, or if they simply stopped bothering to hide it once I was old enough to understand. Them walking away from each other after nearly thirty years of marriage left a deep gouge in my heart that I didn’t think anything could ever fill. It erased any hope in my heart that real love existed.
And don’t even get me started on my ex. Ben never saw me—he nevercaredto see me. He was more annoyed by all myissuesthan he was interested in learning why I was the way I was.
But Jameson wanted to get to know me, despite my attempts to ward him away. Why? Why wasn’t he running for the hills?
“You didn’t,” I lied. “I have errands to run and…things.” I struggled to come up with an excuse because the truth was, he did scare me.
He scared me so much.
“Good,” he said, thumb stroking my hand. “Then I look forward to next time.”
My tongue weighed a thousand pounds in my mouth, and I could only nod before pulling out of his grip and fleeing Chick-Fil-A like the chicken that I was.
Jameson
Iwas fully convinced my dog could sense stress. The moment I got home I collapsed on the couch after a long day of work, and Luna wasted no time plopping onto my lap and running her slimy tongue all over my face. Switching to a new clinic and meeting new patients had made this week difficult, to say the least. I kept reminding myself to be grateful for the job, but my knees ached from being on my feet for hours, and my hands throbbed from endless massaging.
Luna’s fur between my fingers calmed me as I mindlessly flipped through channels on the TV. It had been several days since I had heard from Elsie after our spontaneous chicken lunch, and I was starting to feel the time apart like a nagging caffeine headache. I had wanted to text her throughout the week, but I was so exhausted after each workday, I could barely scrounge up dinner, let alone think of a single word to say to her.
Luna let out a squeaky yawn before staring me down with those chocolate brown eyes. If she were capable of speech, I knew she would be saying, “What are you waiting for, Human? Text her!”
Well, who was I to argue with a dog?
Pulling the phone out of my pocket, I typed up the most basic message ever.
Me
Hey, what are you up to?
It took a few minutes before a response pinged on my phone.
Elsie
Every adult’s favorite past time.
