Charming as Puck(34)

He studies me another minute with bright blue eyes that are way more intelligent than most people would give him credit for.

“He misses you,” he finally says.

I resist the urge to roll my eyes, and Ares gives me a small grin.

“But you should go,” he finishes.

He hands me back my phone, picks Loki up and hands him a cookie—no, I don’t know where he got a cookie, and since it’s Ares, I’m not going to ask—and I back up so he can get out of the bathroom.

“On the date?” I ask.

“No what-ifs,” he replies as he heads down the hallway back to join Felicity, Maren, and Alina. “Go.”

Well, that’s not confusing at all.

Nick misses me, but I should still go on this date.

I’d ask him what Felicity would think of his advice, except I think I know.

She’d say I should go too. I’ve met Muffy’s neighbor. He’s always been kind, he’s attractive, and he’s age-appropriate.

I dial her back quickly despite the warning signal my phone battery is flashing at me. “You mean your neighbor Josh, right?”

“The one and only.”

“Great. I’m totally in.”





Twenty





Kami



Muffy and Aunt Hilda both show up to help me get ready. Maren and Alina are still strongly objecting, but quietly with just dirty looks after Ares tells them to knock it off.

And soon, I’m in a sleek black dress with my hair swept back in a simple knot and my makeup a tad on the overdone side.

“It’s Josh’s boss getting married,” Muffy whispers to me as we stride through the lobby and toward the Lyft waiting outside. “I’d personally never do a Sunday night wedding, because people have to work on Mondays, but I guess that’s when the bride’s family could make it.”

“You look so beautiful,” Aunt Hilda gushes.

She said the same thing to Felicity, Maren, Alina, and Loki before she told Ares she used to be as big as he is, except without the height. He gave her a fist bump, and now she swears she’s never washing her knuckles again.

“I know this is going to work out,” Muffy tells me. “Josh is like the prime beef in my menu. With a side of golden potatoes roasted to perfection.”

“I miss potatoes,” Aunt Hilda sighs.

“And crème br?lée for dessert,” Muffy adds. “I can’t believe I lucked out in being there right when he needed a date. And I never thought he’d come to Muff Matchers, but he did. You’re going to have the best time. Do you think it’s too late to hook up a GoPro to your dress so I can live vicariously through you all night?”

I pin her with a look.

“Right, right. But at least record something with your phone. Even if it’s smushed between you while you dance at the reception. Please? Pretty please?”

I pause. “Muffy…did you want to go with Josh tonight?”

Her face goes cherry and she shakes her head so hard her braids whip at her cheeks. “What? No. He’s not into my type.”

“Energetic and entrepreneurial?”

“She’s too much woman for him to handle,” Aunt Hilda interjects, gesturing to her boobs.

“Mom.”

“What? It’s true. He goes for the smaller-chested women. And he’s not creative enough to truly appreciate your art.”

“You do art?” I ask Muffy.

“She means my matchmaking art. My client list is a little…different. It turns men off sometimes.”

“And women,” Aunt Hilda chimes in.

“If you like Josh—” I start.

“I like matching misfits better,” she declares in her this matter is closed tone.

I don’t ask if that means I’m a misfit, because the fact that I was hung up on Nick since high school and settled for a friends-with-benefits relationship with him instead of asking for more pretty much qualifies me for needing special help.

She shoves me into the Lyft, and she and Aunt Hilda wave as we pull away.

Ten minutes later, the driver drops me at the aquarium, and now I understand the Sunday night wedding. When you want to get married at the aquarium, you take what’s available.

Josh is at the base of the marble steps leading up to the fountain outside the glass building, checking his phone. He’s in a black tux, his sandy hair trimmed neatly, freshly shaven, and while he’s no Nick Murphy, he’s still a catch. I smile as I approach. “Josh? Hi.”

He glances up and does a double-take. His hazel eyes make a quick scan up and down before settling on my face. “Wow. You look—hi.”

He grins a lopsided smile, and my heart melts a little at the edges as he offers me his arm.

Maybe this is it.

Maybe this is finally exactly what I need.

“Shall we?” he says, his gaze still darting from my face to my dress.

“I’d love to.”

There’s something so different about being led up the steps of a public building with a man who’s not trying to keep me a secret.

I like it.

Inside the aquarium, the staff directs us to the Deep Blue gallery. We walk through the glass tunnel beneath ocean wildlife, and emerge into the theater with the floor-to-ceiling window into the giant tank where everything from grouper to stingrays to sharks live.