“How can you say that? You’ve never been on a date with him and I know for a fact you avoid him at work. He asked you out once, you said “no.” That’s no reason to stop talking to the poor guy.”
“Alright fine, you win. I shouldn’t say I can’t stand him if I don’t even know him, but I work with the man and that’s all I need to put him on the ‘never going to happen’ list.”
“Oh, come on, who don’t you have on that list?” She laughs and rolls her eyes at me. “Come on. Please. Pretty please?” She pauses. “Either prove to me you want to find a date, or we’re doing this.”
The entrance door chimes once again over the chatter of waiting coffee lovers, and if the person walking in isn’t a sign, I don’t know what is. Through the small space available, I watch as the doorway fills with the same tall, dark, and drop-dead sexy man that I see each day at work. Before I can pull my eyes away, his piercing blue ones glance over the entire shop. They land on me and my breath catches. Dark hair and blue eyes have always been a weakness of mine. Parker is no exception and this is the exact reason I’m always avoiding him.
Parker
“Dude, it’s going to take us forever to make it through this line. I’d like to get to work before dinner.” Miles, my brother, complains as he steps inside behind me.
The smell of fresh-ground coffee fills the air, and I inhale deeply. If only the smell alone could wake me up.
“Hey, isn’t that the chick you work with who turned you down?” He nods in Allie’s direction.
I peel my eyes away before he can notice my eyes haven’t left hers since we got here. “Yes.”
“Man, she’s hot. You should ask her out.” He says, rubbing his hands together before breathing on them.
“You honestly think I haven’t thought of that before?”
Miles laughs as we take a spot in line.
This place is packed and I can’t be late. I’ve shown up past eight enough the last few weeks that sooner or later someone is going to say something to me about it. And I don’t feel like today should be that day.
“Let’s just find another coffee shop.” I say, pointing to the door.
“Yeah, okay, but that girl is coming over here. What’s her name again?” he asks, but before I can answer she’s standing in front of me.
“Hey, Allie,” I smile as both her and her friend stop.
“Parker,” she nods. “Did you have a nice Christmas?”
“It was great. And yours?”
“Perfect.”
I keep the smile on my face as the four of us stand in a circle. After we manage to glance at the other awkwardly at least once, Allie speaks up.
“Alright, well, I’ll see you at work then.”
“Yeah, see you there.” I watch as Allie and her friend leave. Then, I return to my place in line.
“So, we aren’t leaving?” Miles asks behind me.
“No, this place is fine.”
“Want to tell me what the heck that was about? Please tell me you felt how weird that was. Have you two never spoken with each other before?”
“We have, I told you. I asked her out once.”
“And that was it? I’m guessing she said “no”, but that doesn’t explain how either of you don’t know how to hold a normal conversation. I mean, neither of you bothered to introduce us. Her friend is smoking hot and I feel jipped, sort of.”
I glare at my brother. “Yes, clearly she said “no”. Well, it was more of a mumbled “I can’t” followed by a quick exit and now, a dash in the opposite direction any time she sees me.”
“I think you should try again,” he says.
I laugh and shake my head. “I don’t think so.”
“I think you should reconsider.” Miles slaps a hand on my shoulder. “We promised Sara that we’d both have dates by the end of the day today, or we’d attend that stupid event Tim’s parents are hosting. Dark Dating or some shit.”
I nod slowly. Who could forget the possible chance of dating a complete stranger in the dark for three days? I just don’t remember why I agreed to it. Not completely anyway. “I know, trust me, I haven’t forgotten the deal we made with our sister. She’s lucky we love her. Does she even care that we can’t see our dates?”
“Sounds like she doesn’t.” He shrugs.
“This is just bullshit!” a man hollers from his place in line and storms past us out the door. A few others follow him, and we move up in the line.
“I’ll have a date by the end of the day, don’t you worry.” I glance around the coffee shop once again. How can they fit this many people in here?
“Anyway, like I said, I think you should reconsider. I’m going to skip coffee today. Call you later, okay?”
“Yeah, have a good day.”
Miles walks out the door and I move up in line.
If only he knew how many times I reconsider asking Allie out. He might actually be a bit disappointed on how hung up I am on this woman, but if he worked with her, he’d know exactly why. She’s smart, funny, and a great people person. She helps anyone who asks her without hesitation. She has this soft voice that can instantly make you relax, her laugh is always contagious, and when she smiles, the entire room lights up.
Some people might call it obsession, but I call it observation. We’ve worked together for over a year now and it’s hard not to notice a woman like Allie.
* * *
I swing my coat onto the back of my chair and set my coffee down in front of me. I look around to see everyone has already taken their seats for our morning meeting. I basically just ran here from the coffee shop to get here on time, so I’m a little out of breath when I finally sit down.
“Mr. Louis, so glad you could make it today.” Harold Martin, the Library Director, says tapping his pen against the table. “Now, that we’re all here, let’s get started.”
Great. Now, I’m on his radar and I wasn’t even late. Come on Parker, you’re twenty five years old. Get it together.
“As you all know, we have the end of the year upon us. Allie has kindly put together a few events to help us celebrate and bring in more members.”
I steal a glance her way to find her blushing. She does this anytime Harold points her out in front of the others.
“Sadly,” Harold goes on, “Lynn is going to be out of work for a few more weeks. This means, I need a volunteer to help Allie get things in motion. Someone who can help her lead the events and manage them while they’re taking place.” His gaze circles the room. Not a single person speaks up.
“I’ll do it.” I say, looking back and forth between Allie and Harold.
“I can handle it on my own, Harold. It’s fine.” Allie says, looking directly at him.
“Nonsense,” he replies. “Parker, you think you can do this? Your expertise is upstairs in the tech department not running events.”
“Yeah, I can do it.”
Shit. Even my own voice sounds unsure.
“Perfect. You and Allie can get started today and Ben can cover for you upstairs until after the New Year.”
I don’t hear anything else he said after that. All I can think about is how I’m finally going to get to work with her. Maybe this can be an ice breaker for us. She may not want to date me, but we can at least be friends, right?
JAMI WAGNER was born in Wyoming. Still living in the Cowboy State, Jami and her boyfriend are currently writing their own love story with their yellow Lab named Dax.
Jami enjoys writing New Adult Romance and published her debut novella, Date in the Dark, in 2015.
Visit and connect with Jami at jami-wagner.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/AuthorJamiWagner, on Twitter at @Jami_Wagner, or on Instagram at @JAMIWAGNER_.