Some Sort of Crazy (Happy Crazy Love, #2)(11)

“Suit yourself. I’m happy to help out a friend in need.”

“I’ll remember that.” She patted my head like a puppy’s. “Enjoy. I better get back to work.”

“Do you mind if I stick around awhile? I don’t want to monopolize this table if you need it, but I have some writing to do.”

She gave me a smile soft and sweet as the cotton candy we used to share. “Stay as long as you like.”

? ? ?

A couple hours later, I could see why she wanted a day off. She was all over the place, doing everything from preparing food to serving it to pouring coffee to ringing people up, and she always had a smile on her face. As busy as she was, she made it a point to say hello to regulars and newcomers alike, and often stopped to chat with people she knew or someone with a question.

I finished my breakfast and tried to work on the novel I was writing, but I was distracted and tired. Just go home and get some sleep. You’ve been up all f*cking night. But home up here was a huge empty house, and although I liked its creaky old floors and wraparound porch and the view of the Nixon cherry orchard next door from my bedroom window, something about being there alone saddened me. I liked it in here better. I liked the happy, caffeinated mood, the hum of conversation, the Billie Holiday playing in the background, the smell of muffins in the oven and coffee in the pot.

Besides, Natalie was here, and if I was honest with myself, I’d admit the real reason I came up North was to figure out why I couldn’t get her out of my head. It made no sense—I wasn’t looking for a relationship, I knew she was still with Dan, and I had no reason to believe she’d be interested in me even if neither of those things were true. And yet for months now, maybe even the last year, the thought of her just wouldn’t quit me. Why the hell was that?

I’d told her I was up here researching sex in haunted places, and that was true enough. But the only ghost in my head was her.

I mentioned I’d f*ck a ghost, right?





Dan called me around three that afternoon. “Hey, babe.”

“Hi.” I exhaled and plunked myself onto a stool at the counter.

“Tough day?”

I rubbed one calf muscle. “Just long. Busy, which is good. But we’re closed now, just locked the door.”

“What are your plans?”

“After I finish up here, which will probably take me a while, since I’m short-staffed today, I was going to swim. You have tennis tonight, right?”

“I do, and then we were planning on going out for pizza and a few beers after that, since it’s the last night this league meets. Is that OK?”

“That’s fine.” And it was fine, although I’d sort of hoped for some alone time with him tonight. Not because I missed him, but frankly I was a little wound up with sexual tension. A good hard bang sounded pretty damn good. Didn’t he feel the same way? “But I’d like to see you tonight. Maybe we could meet up later.”

“I’m not sure how late I’ll be.”

“Oh.” Damn. If I was the kind of girl who had sex toys, I’d pull them out tonight. At least I didn’t have to feel bad about seeing Miles…but I did have to tell Dan about it. Crossing my fingers it wouldn’t cause a fight, I said, “My old friend Miles Haas is in town. You remember him?”

“Who?”

“Miles Haas.”

“The sex maniac?”

I rolled my eyes. “He’s not a maniac, he’s a writer. He blogs for—”

“I know who he is. I still can’t believe that pipsqueak * gets all those girls. He’s gotta be lying, or making shit up.” Dan sounded mad about it.

“I have no clue. Maybe he does.” I doubted it, but I didn’t feel like arguing.

“So what’s the deal? Are you meeting up with him?”

“Maybe.”

“Where?”

“No plans yet.” I took a breath. “Do you have a problem with my seeing him?”

A pause. “No.”

“We’re just friends. That’s all we’ve ever been.”

“I know.” His voice had softened. “You’d never be interested in a guy like that.”

“A guy like what?”

“A sleazebag.”

“He’s not a sleazebag. He’s just a guy having a good time and writing about it.”

“As long as he’s not having a good time with you, I don’t care what he does.”

I smiled. “I’ll make sure he has a terrible time. We’ll probably just grab dinner or something. Catch up a little.”

“All right. I’ll see you tomorrow night. We have reservations at eight, right?”

“Yes. Skylar made them. Have fun tonight. Love you,” I added, hating how rote it sounded. It felt kind of rote, too.

He hung up without another word.

Skylar was right. We are boring.

But what could I do about it? The truth was, we both had things we wanted to do tonight more than we wanted to see each other, and that happened a lot these days.

Oh well. I’d worry about that tomorrow. Tonight I’d just have some fun with an old friend.

I sat there a minute longer, realizing that I hadn’t told Dan about Miles being at the coffee shop this morning when I’d arrived, or that he’d stayed half the day. I don’t know why I didn’t; it wasn’t as if anything had happened. We hadn’t kissed. We hadn’t even almost.