Of all the guys in this town. Of all the guys to get set up on a date with…
What was the saying? Karma’s a bitch.
I’d barely entered the loft and kicked off my shoes when I heard the knock. The last thing I wanted to do was hash all this out with Lea, so I braced myself for standing my ground. I opened the door, tugging my hair loose at the same time.
It wasn’t Lea.
“What are you doing here?” I said, eyes glued to the man in front of me. Man. Oliver was a man. Not a boy. Not a boy-man. A man-man, with the shadows of a full beard and wiry chest-hair at the edge of his button-down shirt.
“I didn’t follow you,” he said. “I just…you walked past me and I just…”
He ran his hand into his hair, pushing through his short blond locks. We stared at one another for a long moment before I said flatly, “Do you want to come in?”
“I shouldn’t.”
I shook my head. “No, you shouldn’t.”
“I had no idea, Heaven. Blind dates aren’t something we do, but Jackson didn’t want to say no to RJ and it’s, it’s been a long time…”
I held up my hand. “I don’t want to know.”
“Right. I know. I know.”
His expression was grim while I tried my hardest to keep a straight face. I tucked my emotions tight, refusing to let them be seen. I couldn’t go down this road. Not even an inch. Not the slightest. I knew—he knew—we knew where it would lead.
“I’m willing to chalk this up to a crazy fluke i
f you are,” I said, trying to diffuse the situation and get him to leave.
“The craziest.”
We smiled at one another. I looked away first.
“It was good seeing you, Oliver,” I said, swallowing back a million other words.
“You, too, Heaven.” He turned to leave, knowing it was a dismissal, but he stopped, hand on the door frame.
“You look great, by the way.” His eyes skimmed over me, but they weren’t filled with heat. More like awe. “Can you tell me one thing?”
“I guess.”
“Are you happy?”
“I am,” I replied honestly.
“Good.” He nodded, seeming relived. “Good. That’s all that matters, you know?”
“I do.” I offered him a tight smile. “Good luck. Tell Jackson the same.”
He took a step back and I shut the door, closing it and twisting the lock. Not to keep him out but to hold me in. I leaned against the wood, controlling my breathing, my heartrate, all too aware that I wasn’t ready to see him—them—again. I’d made the right choice. We all had, because I couldn’t go through recovering from the Allendale Four a second time.
Once almost killed me.
5
Heaven
I didn’t sleep well, and it showed when I rolled onto the lot the following morning. The security detail at the entrance gave me a once over and I scowled at him before finding a parking place behind the empty school. The production moved around, site-to-site for whatever the story called for. This week RJ and his friends landed in a school full of zombies. Zombies were one of my favorite monsters to create, so even though I was tired, I was excited about tackling the project.