In Full Bloom (Second Chances 1)

She smiled, happy to see him. She didn’t look all that surprised. He realized now, this had been planned. Dropping into the chair next to Taryn, he looked over at her.

She looked at him, her eyes a little sad, and said, “Hi.”

“Hey, Princess.”

“This really sucks,” she said, staring into her drink.

“It does. I miss you,” he said quietly.

“Being around you wouldn’t be so difficult to deal with if I didn’t like you. But I do. And it is,” she said, standing up. “I can’t do this right now. I’m sorry.”

He watched her walk away and then stood up.

He said, “I’m gonna get going, Jamie.”

Jamie immediately stood up and said, “No, no. Shoot a game of pool with me. Have a beer. It will be fine.”

Not really in the mood, he let Jamie drag him to the pool table. A couple beers later, he was feeling a little better. He’d been able to mostly block her out. Cora had gone up and done karaoke, which had been really funny. That poor girl was tone deaf.

He was in the midst of kicking Jamie’s ass in pool for the second game in a row when he heard Taryn say, “Cora! Really? You picked this song?”

Looking across the room, he saw Cora laughing hysterically at the table along with a few other women. Setting his pool stick down, he listened. Shaking his head when he recognized the tune, he decided that the world must be conspiring against him. If he wasn’t mistaken, the song she was about to sing was “I Touch Myself” by the Divinyls.

He looked over at his brother who was trying not to laugh but failing miserably. He looked up at Evan and said, “The universe is trying to tell you something, Ev.”

“Ya think?” he asked, rubbing a hand over his face.

She actually sang fairly well, which made it even worse. He hadn’t been able to look away from the time she’d started singing until the time she’d handed the microphone back to the deejay. Setting his pool cue down, he said, “I need another beer.”

Jamie laughed and said, “Grab me one, too, Ev.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbled, heading up to the bar.

Walking toward the bar, he decided, to hell with it. He’d been fighting this attraction since he met her and it was clear that she felt the same way. It was making them both miserable. He’d been trying to avoid complication, since every other part of his life was in flux now, but every time he walked away from her it seemed to make things worse.

He was being an idiot. He may not have much to offer right now, but at the very least, he decided, he’d be willing to try. Feeling a flooding sense of relief, he waited for Darla to head down so he could place his order.

As he waited, four deep at the bar, he heard Taryn’s unmistakable laughter further down the bar. Glancing down he bar he saw a college guy a little younger than her toying with the ribbons that tied her cape on.

Without much thought, he walked over to them. Standing next to her, he looked at the frat boy and said, “Go. Now. She’s busy.” When the boy continued to stand there, he gave him a hard stare.

The guy looked a little confused for a moment, then must have realized that he hadn’t been kidding, because he scurried away with a backward glance at Taryn.

A second later he felt her shove her hand into the middle of his chest a second before she yelled, “What the hell was that about?”

She dragged him off to the side of the bar and angrily asked him, “Do you not think that I might enjoy talking to a guy that might actually want me? You won’t touch me but no one else can either?”

“I don’t normally do jealousy, but I couldn’t help myself. I’m not entirely pleased by it either, I have to say.”

“Oh, no? Gee, sorry you’re not having a good time,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I was wrong.”

She seemed a bit more calm when she replied, “Okay. I’ll accept that. That doesn’t change any of what’s going on between us though. We keep going back and forth. I don’t want—”

“I mean that I was wrong about us.” Seeing the confused look on her face, he said, “

I moved across country and sank my life savings into a business that I’m not entirely sure I know how to run. The majority of my time and energy are going to be directed that way. My life is complicated. I’m not sure if getting involved with anybody is a great idea, let alone with a tenant. There are logical reasons why I should walk away but I don’t want to. Not again. Just be sure this is what you want.”