Page 7 of Almost Dating
“But then I take it a step further. You can take a picture of the bird with your phone and match it that way, or if it’s not in the guide, add it as an alternate match. It would help with conservation efforts to have that kind of shared information at our fingertips. Oh, and you can also tap on a bird picture and hear the bird’s song. That, of course, is going to take a while to program. A lot of data points, plus accounting for new data being fed in by end users, but I thought it worthwhile.”
“Barry, that is so cool. Is that why you asked me if I liked birds before?”
He nodded, relieved to have his dorkiness for blurting out that bird thing earlier explained. He should stop talking about birds, though. He could go on all night, and he really wanted to get to know more about her.
She stood and poured them both a cup of coffee. “So what do you call your app?”
He shook his head. “It’s silly. Just a name I call it. I don’t know if I’ll keep it.”
She set a mug down in front of him. He grinned. It was Cookie Monster with a space on the bottom for cookies. “Nice.”
“One of my students gave it to me.” She took her seat, with a mug that read Absurd.
He pointed at her mug. “I like that one too.”
She flashed a smile, and he fell a little further in lust with her. “I designed this one. So, what’s your app called?”
“Bird Bonanza.”
“Ha!”
He waved his hand with a grin. “I told you. It’s a placeholder.”
“I like it.”
He smiled and took a sip of his coffee. Her cell vibrated on the counter. She jumped up to check it.
She frowned and returned to her seat.
“Bad news?” he asked.
“Rick cancelled on me. He’s already tired from work and just wants to head home after. He’s a bouncer at a bar in Norhaven.”
Bouncer, that he could believe. And also a big liar. He’d just seen him sucking face with another woman at Garner’s, which wasn’t work or in Norhaven. Jerk.
“You and Rick been going out a while?” he asked casually.
“Four months.” She drank her coffee, still looking upset.
“He cancel on you a lot?”
“I understand. It would’ve been late by the time he got here. It’s fine.”
He should let it drop. He really didn’t want to hear more about Rick, and he didn’t want to let slip what he knew, but he couldn’t seem to help himself.
“You and Rick exclusive?” he asked. “Pretty serious?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Are you hitting on me?”
“No, no, no.” He shook his head to emphasize it. “Absolutely not. My curiosity got the better of me. Forget I said anything.” He took a sip of coffee. “This is good.”
She stood abruptly. Damn. He’d overstepped.
“I didn’t mean anything by it,” he said.
She got out two shot glasses. “You want a drink, Barry? Cuz I could sure use one.”
“Uh, sure.”
