Page 61 of The Broken Heart Playlist
“What? No.”
He heaves a sigh. “Guess you’ll have to build that desk yourself.” He gets to his feet and Uno follows suit. “Thanks for the juice.”
“Gideon!”
“Good luck with the desk.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I’m as serious as you were about the orange juice.”
Tess’s plea for me to give Gideon a chance drifts into my head. Never mind that I can’t stop thinking about that squirrel trapped behind the glass. “Fine!” I agree huffily. “Dinner it is.”
He gives me a cocky two-fingered salute. “I look forward to it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
[MESSAGES]
Joel:Hey, want to grab that drink I mentioned?
Kate:Sure. How about this afternoon? My sister is taking Lisset to a pottery class for a couple of hours.
Joel:Sounds good. Shall I pick you up?
Kate:If it’s not too much trouble.
Joel:No trouble at all. I’ll see you later.
When Joel pulls up to my house later that afternoon, my mind is still replaying this morning’s interaction with Gideon. A smile tugs at my lips every time I remember his expression when I gave him his orange juice. He handled it with good grace though. And somehow managed to turn the situation around to wrangle a dinner invitation from me. That took some impressive maneuvering.
I lock up the house and meet Joel in the driveway. He’s wearing jeans and a collared shirt and looks his usual handsome self. “Am I going to have to fend off waitresses again?”
He opens the car door for me, embarrassment staining his cheeks. “That was one time.”
“I know, but it’s emblazoned in my memory. I mean, the waitress put a folded love note in your wrap. You could have choked.” I’m in a lighthearted mood and he’s the unfortunate recipient of my teasing. “For your protection, perhaps weshould look at hiring a meeting room instead of meeting at a restaurant.”
He shakes his head at me. “You seem to be enjoying this way too much.”
“I am.”
I’m about to climb into his car when I notice Gideon exiting his house holding a gym bag. He straightens when he sees me. I give him a friendly wave and he raises his hand in greeting. He doesn’t stop staring at us as Joel gets into the car and drives away.
“Who’s that?” Joel asks.
“My new neighbor. He runs the Reading Dog Program at Lisset’s school, the one I was telling you about.”
Joel nods. “I remember.” He’s quiet for a moment. “I was imagining an elderly gentleman in charge of the program.”
“Gideon’s definitely not elderly.”
“No, he’s not,” he agrees, his tone thoughtful.
Joel has booked us a table at a local café. We order coffees and he brings me up to speed on a potential cookbook shoot. My pulse picks up with excitement when I learn it will be a seven-day shoot involving a large team of people, including art directors, prop stylists, chefs, and all the various assistants. The aim of the cookbook is to showcase a range of different recipes from different chefs in the region. With so many moving parts, the challenging nature of the project sounds right up my alley.
“You interested?” Joel asks as he drains his coffee.
“Are you kidding? Of course I’m interested.”
