Page 36 of Summer Affair
Besides making his big comeback, there wasn’t room in his life for much else. And he wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but it wasn’t a relationship. A friendship with a woman who brought something real to his world? That he could handle. He wasn’t looking for forever, but wanted more than a right now. Problem was, right woman, wrong time.
“I owe it to her to hear from me that I’m coaching Sammy’s team. Get her read on it before I commit.” And that’s all that he was going to do.
Chapter Eleven
Resolutions from Jillian’s Journal
Flirt with the world.
Jillian had stood outside Stout for twenty minutes while perspiration formed on her forehead from the hot evening air, debating if she should go in or go home.
She knew Clay was inside, she’d seen his car parked on the street. She wanted to talk to him, straighten things out and apologize for being a coward, but then she’d taken one look at him, surrounded by friends and family, and ducked out. That’s when she had run into Ken—literally. He was coming and she was going, and they’d collided.
He was a recently single dad who’d complimented her shoes, then asked to buy her a drink. Her first response had been a polite no, then she remembered her week’s homework. And if there was one thing that scared Jillian more than approaching Clay, it was failing a homework assignment.
Ken had turned to walk off and she grabbed his elbow and did something so nerve-racking, her palms began sweating. She took him up on his offer. She’d tried to convince him to go to the bar across the street, but he said he was meeting friends later. Telling herself that a single kiss—okay, three—didn’t have to mean anything more than she decided it would mean, she told Ken she’d meet him inside in a moment. After he disappeared, Jillian put in her earpods and hit Play on the podcast. She’d listened to it earlier but wanted a refresher.
Someone approaches you, offers to buy you a drink or maybe even invites you to a coffee meet-up. What do you do? Say yes! A conversation doesn’t have to be anything more than a way to separate a yes from a no, a way to start figuring out what you are looking for in a partner and what you’re not.
Your first few times might be uncomfortable or even a little awkward. That’s okay, you’re just getting your footing. If you find yourself looking for the exit, channel that Girl on Fire and see where the conversation leads. Not sure where to start? Just think F.O.R.M. Family. Occupation. Recreation. Message. What is the message? Depends on the connection. It could be thanking them for the drink and walking away, or it could be exchanging contact info for a future date. You are in control, you make the rules. All you have to do is put yourself out there.
Jillian closed her eyes and channeled that Girl of Fire who wore stilettos, accepted drinks from strange men, and flirted for flirt’s sake. Only she’d stepped inside, took a second once-over at Clay, looking handsome in his blue shirt, and her heart began to race. Then he’d waved and she’d nearly lost her balance.
If Ken hadn’t lifted a hand, letting her know where he was, she would have bolted. But she wasn’t about to stand up a sweet guy because she was embarrassed by the way she’d behaved with another guy. Or because he didn’t check off many of her boxes—that much was clear three minutes into their conversation.
“So, I just go up and ask her to go out with me?” Ken asked.
“I think that’s how it works.”
“This is all knew to me. To be honest, my friends forced me to come out,” Ken said. “I haven’t had a drink with a woman in over a year.”
Ken was handsome in that engineer kind of way, dressed in techie casual—khakis, an untucked button-down shirt, and tan dress shoes. His hair was blond, he was a little under six-foot, and he had a kind face—he was also clearly not any more dating savvy than Jillian.
“I’m also kind of getting back out there myself,” she admitted. “If you hadn’t asked me to join you for a drink, I was going to go home.”
“I could tell you were waffling, and I thought that maybe if we came in together, it would be easier.”
His comment should have eased her nerves, only the cause of her growing panic was Clay. She didn’t want him to think she’d come here with a date on purpose. The only reason she had come at all was that Darcy and Piper had threatened to drag her here—sweats or not.
“I’m finding this whole dating thing overwhelming,” she admitted. “And I wonder if maybe I’m just not cut out for—”
“I hate to do this, but my co-workers arrived, and I just want to tell them I’m with someone.”
Five minutes later, Ken was still across the bar laughing with a group of techies. She hadn’t even gotten to the F.O.R.M. part of the evening and she’d scared him off. Not that she was interested, but her drink had just arrived and now she was about to sit in a booth all by herself. And everyone knew what sitting alone in a booth meant—she’d been stood up or left to sip her drink alone.
“No rush,” she said, glancing over to see her friends, who were at the bar giving her embarrassing thumbs up and clapping every time she said something. When Ken had walked off, Piper did a palms up gesture and Jillian waved that she was fine. When the truth was she was far from fine.
When Ken had disappeared into the crowd, she’d focused on her drink, trying to figure out what she’d done wrong. She hadn’t said yes to some kind of commitment, just a drink. In fact, Ken wasn’t even her type, but she’d said yes because he looked as nervous as she.
Well, as every Girl on Fire knows, Jillian was one more no closer to that big yes. Even though she felt that her yes was sitting at the bar behind her.
Maybe she wasn’t ready for this.
“Is this seat taken?”
Jillian looked up to find gorgeous towering over her table. His eyes were a soft blue tonight and his expression a mix of caution and uncertainty, something she’d never witnessed on the confident woman-magnet.
She looked over her shoulder at Ken, who was laughing at something one of his buddies said and her face heated. “Ken saw some friend. I’m not sure if he’s coming back.”
