Page 35 of His Curvy Happiness
DirtyLife
Same. But I do love a good pumpkin muffin.
TooBusy
I’ve never had one.
DirtyLife
You’re missing out. It’ll change your life. Or pumpkin cookies. Have you ever had those?
TooBusy
I think you’re talking nonsense. Where does one get these things?
DirtyLife
Stick with me, sweetheart. I’ll share all my secrets.
TooBusy
LOL! It sounds like you’re a really good guy to know.
DirtyLife
You bet I am.
I smiled at my phone, wondering if I could get her to fall for me online and in person at the same time.
Then I realized what I thought and tossed my phone onto the coffee table. It dinged, but I ignored it.
I was not going to fall for Casey. Either Casey. She wasn’t looking for the same thing I was. She’d already admitted that to me in both places. I had to keep that in mind.
Or I’d end up hurt all over again.
9
Casey
I stared at my phone and waited for DirtyLife to reply. It was a good five minutes before I realized he wasn’t going to. My body flashed hot, his rejection stinging more than I should have allowed.
I thought I was flirting. I thought it was going well. I put myself out there and asked if he wanted to meet. It wasn’t a blatant rejection, just a brush-off followed by an attempt to reschedule. I thought it was going well.
But he just stopped replying.
I swallowed against the tightness in my throat and stood. I shook my entire body, needing the movement and to let go. We weren’t dating, or married, or anything beyond text friends. It was on me if I was making more of whatever was going on than he felt. Sure, we were on a dating app, but that didn’t mean he wanted to date me.
Heat flooded me again at the thought. I felt like such a fool.
I turned my phone off to stop myself from looking at the app a million more times before I went to sleep, then focused on the rest of my night. I had an hour or two of data entry to do before I could go to sleep. Mikayla was already in bed, and quiet thankfully. She came home over the moon excited to share she’d been chosen for a solo in her chorus concert after the musical. The solo was a good boost for her confidence, and a good sign her teacher would give her a part in the musical. I didn’t think she was going to be able to sleep, so the silence was a good thing.
I powered up my computer and found the data sent to me for the day. I accessed the system and got to work on everything, letting the steady work pull my entire focus and attention.
When I keyed in the last entry, I drew a breath and stretched. I verified that every cell was filled and everything was complete, then saved the work one more time and submitted it. I never knew what kind of data I’d be working on, but it didn’t matter to me. I was surprised companies still used outside sources for data entry, but I wouldn’t complain about a job that paid well enough to help support me.
I did a quick check of the apartment and made sure everything was picked up for the night. Mikayla’s lunchbox was packed and in the fridge for the morning, next to mine. A breakfast casserole was ready to be cooked when I got up to make my coffee. I was ready for the next day.
On my way to my room, I glared at my phone. I picked it up and decided to charge it in the kitchen instead of my bedroom. I plugged it in and walked away before it powered on and alerted me to the missed messages.
