Single Wide Female: The Bucket List Mega Bundle - 24 Books (Books #1-24) (27 page)

When Richard’s new burger was delivered he took a huge bite. I watched as bits of meat tumbled down along his lips and chin. I tried not to look at it, but it was like a car accident that I couldn’t look away from. Richard was a decent guy but somebody needed to clean him up a bit.

“So, Richard, what are your interests?” I asked. I was hoping his answer would distract me from his messy eating.

“I like to read. I like to watch movies,” he said. “And yours?”

I frowned. He had summed himself up in two sentences. I was sure that there was much more to him than that.

“Actually, I’ve been having some adventures lately,” I said. “I’m really into trying new things. I like to get out of my comfort zone.”

“Why would you want to do that?” he asked. “Why can’t being comfortable be good enough? I think people are crazy going sky diving and parasailing and all of that nonsense.”

“Well, I guess it’s just fun to explore a little,” I said. “Haven’t you ever wanted to just shake things up?”

“Not really,” he said. “That’s what most women are looking for, I guess. A fun and dangerous man. I’m not either of those things. I go to work each day and I come home each night and watch my shows. I like that kind of life. I know it’s not fashionable to be so boring, but it’s who I am. Sorry.”

“You should never feel like you need to apologize for who you are,” I said. “There’s nothing wrong with being content with life. I wish I was more content sometimes. I’ve always been pretty restless—”

“Oh, this is unbelievable,” Richard interrupted me, sounding annoyed. He was staring down at the last bite of his burger. “I told them not to burn it—look at this.” He jabbed his finger at the edge of his burger, which was slightly blackened. “This is the worst service I have ever gotten. Waitress!”

I shrunk down in my chair. I was embarrassed by how demanding and picky he was being. The waitress walked over.

“What is it, sir?” she asked.

“My burger is burned,” he said. “I’m not paying for this.”

“You ate the whole thing,” the waitress said.

“But it’s not what I asked for.”

“Fine, no charge for the burger.” She rolled her eyes as she walked away.

Richard popped the last bit of burger into his mouth.

“Would you like to get some dessert?” he asked.

“I think I’m good,” I said. “I have some things I have to do this afternoon.”

Aside from the little mishaps with the waitress and our complete lack of common interests, Richard had actually turned out to be enjoyable company. He wasn’t someone I would date, but he was someone that I could see myself being friends with. And the way I saw it, he could really use some advice from a good female friend when it came to dating.

“Alright then, let me get the check.” Richard was raising his hand towards the waitress. The waitress dropped the check off and he scrutinized the bill.

“I’d like to pay for my meal,” I said.

“Why? I invited you, didn’t I?” he asked.

“Because it just doesn’t seem right for you to pay for everything.”

“Nope, none of that modern woman stuff. I’m paying.” He slapped the money down to cover the bill.

“Thanks, Richard,” I said.

When he wasn’t looking I added an ample tip that would be enough to cover the charge for his burger as well. The waitress caught my eye as we were walking out and smiled at me. Once we were outside the restaurant we stood awkwardly beside each other.

“It was nice meeting you, Richard,” I said.

“Even though I was late and a little deceitful?” he asked.

“I still had a good time. I think we could be friends,” I said.

“Ah, friends, yes.”

“I’m sure the right person for you is out there, Richard.” I could see his smile fading. A part of me wanted to fix it for him, by pretending I had feelings for him. But there was zero chemistry between us and I knew that wouldn’t change with time. “I mean it when I say I’d like to be friends.”

“I’d like that too,” he said. “To be honest, you’re not really my type. You’re gorgeous, but I think you would wear me out.”

“Thanks, I guess,” I said. I laughed a little.

“Good luck on your search, Samantha.”

“Thank you. Good luck to you too.”

As we parted ways I felt a pang of guilt. I knew he was a fellow lonely soul that only wanted to be appreciated for who he was. But fake affection was no better than being treated poorly. I had been in more than one situation where the man had claimed to be in love, when really he only wanted one thing. I didn’t want to be that to Richard. I wanted to be his friend.

I was still a little disappointed when I reached my apartment. In my mind I had dreamed up a perfect specimen, who would sweep me off my feet. Richard hadn’t been my Prince Charming, but I was glad to have met him.

I let myself into my apartment. My shoes came off one after the other. Into the kitchen I trudged, ready to drown my sorrows in a glass of wine. I had just begun to pour the wine when there was a knock on the door. I felt a little anxious as I looked toward it. Had I misjudged Richard? Had he followed me home to slaughter me?

With fear rising inside me I crept toward the door. “Who is it?”

“Are you alone?” Max asked.

I shook my head at his familiar voice and unlocked the door.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. I walked back toward the kitchen to finish pouring my wine. Max stepped into the apartment behind me and closed the door.

“I had to make sure you didn’t end up in bits and pieces.” He followed after me into the kitchen. “Do you have all of your limbs? Did anyone harvest any of your organs?”

“Oh, shut up, Max.” I rolled my eyes and finished pouring my wine.

“Me too?” he asked. He looked at me with pleading eyes.

I tried not to be ensnared by his pouting lips. I tried not to be absolutely wrapped up in how close he was to me as he leaned against the counter. After my date with Richard, the chemistry between Max and me was so much more noticeable. I could barely breathe through the thick tension. But of course it was one-sided.

Chapter 10

I pulled down another wine glass and filled it to the brim for him. “I’m not in bits and pieces. I have all of my organs and I had a nice time.”

“But you’re alone,” he said.

I finished pouring his glass of wine and handed it to him. I thought his fingertips lingered along my hand longer than they needed to, but I forced myself to ignore it.

“So it must not have gone well.”

“It went just fine. Not all dates end the way
yours
do.” I didn’t hide the bite to my tone.

“They should.” He laughed and took another sip of his wine.

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. I wished there was a switch that I could just turn off so that he would no longer have any power over me.

“You don’t exactly have a successful track record, Mr. Casanova,” I said.

“It depends on your definition of success.” I could tell that he was getting annoyed by what I was saying.

“I guess it depends on what it is that you actually want,” I said.

“I guess it does.”

As we walked into the living room I tried to force down my desire. Max was not an option, I told myself. I made a point of sitting on the overstuffed easy chair so that he could not sit next to me. After all of the fantasizing I had done lately, I didn’t need to be tempted or confused by his attention.

“My definition includes meaningful conversation, emotional interaction, and the potential for a long future together,” I said. I pulled my feet up beneath me and relaxed into the chair.

Max plopped down on the couch across from me. I watched as his body sprawled out. It was infuriating to me that I found the strangest things about him attractive. Most women would notice his strong jaw or the playful way his hair always fell in his eyes. I was past that. I liked the way his wrist flexed when he rested his head on it. I was intoxicated by the way his fingers curled over the curve of his chin. It was very irritating that he was so beautiful to me.

“In that case, I guess I’m a huge failure,” he said. He didn’t smile, or laugh, as I expected him to. Instead he nearly finished his glass of wine. “So tell me what happened.”

I closed my eyes and thought about the date I’d just had. Even though there had been zero physical attraction towards Richard, I honestly couldn’t imagine feeling attracted to any other man and it was infuriating. While Max, who had made it clear more than once that he was only interested in me as a friend, made my head spin with just the mild quirk of his lips. Ugh. I really had it bad.

“What happened is that I had a very nice lunch, with a nice man, who I hope will be a new friend of mine,” I said. He leaned forward on the couch. I avoided looking directly into his eyes.

“So not the man of your dreams?” he asked.

“Not this time. But someone I never would have had the chance to meet otherwise.”

“I just don’t see the point of it,” he said. I watched as he slouched back on the couch.

“The point is, we go through our lives barely noticing people. We walk past people on the street every day without even giving them a second glance. Unless there’s something spectacular that catches our attention, it’s not worth striking up a conversation.”

“What’s so wrong with that?” he asked.

“I never would have even bothered to say hello to Richard if I hadn’t gone on this date with him. He’s a good guy, and I would have missed out on knowing him, just because he didn’t catch my eye. I’d hate to think that I was missing out on getting to know people just because I didn’t take the time to see what was right in front of me.”

I lifted my gaze boldly to his. I wondered if he could hear the accusation in my tone. I wasn’t spectacular enough to get Max’s attention, even after years of friendship.

Max set his glass of wine down on the coffee table. He didn’t look away from me as he did.

“Well, I guess if you’re not wise enough to see it in the first place, maybe you don’t deserve it,” he said.

His words were so cryptic that I had no idea what to think of them.

He stood up from the couch and smiled down at me. “If it makes you happy, Sammy, that’s all that matters to me. Just make sure you pick someone who is worthy of the amazing person that you are.”

“I’ll try,” I said.

“Night, Sam.” He ruffled my hair and then walked toward the door.

Part of me wanted to jump up from the chair and demand that he explain what he meant. Did it have to do with me? Did it have nothing to do with me? But as he opened the door and stepped out, I held my tongue.

Max was everything to me, as my friend—and that was worth more to me than any romance ever could be. He knew where I was, if he ever wanted to come to his senses. Until then, I was getting right back on the horse. I walked over to my computer and sat down in front of it. After checking my blog I logged on to the dating site. There were four more messages from new guys. Men I never would have met without putting myself out there. It might be a game of trial and error, but all it took was once for the man of my dreams to end up right under my nose.

Single Wide Female: The Bucket List

#8 Learn Yoga

By

Lillianna Blake

Copyright © 2015 Lillianna Blake

Cover design by
Beetiful Book Covers

All rights reserved.

LilliannaBlake.com

Chapter 1

His sweet smile was frozen in time. The slightly arrogant squint of his eyes along with his confident expression made him seem all too sure of himself. It was probably that confidence that grabbed the attention of just about every woman he met, including me. I stared at him with a mix of adoration and disdain. No matter what I tried to do, I couldn’t escape him. He was always there, haunting me from the inside. I glared straight into his eyes. He wasn’t going to torture me for the rest of my life, no matter how beautiful he was. I had to find a way to get out from under his spell.

“I guess I could start by turning my phone off,” I said.

I pressed the off button on my phone and Max’s selfie disappeared. I had banned myself from his Facebook and Instagram pages but he still insisted on texting me pictures which I could not avoid looking at.

I dropped my phone into my purse and tried not to think about what he might be doing right at that moment. To distract myself I flipped on the television. Of course the television show that Max and I loved to watch together was on.

“Ugh!”

I stomped into the kitchen. There was one dish in the sink from that morning’s breakfast. I scrubbed it until it was sparkling clean.

The problem with having a crush on your best friend that you’ve known for over ten years is that you can’t erase him from your life. Max was a big part of just about every good and bad memory that I had of the past decade, so everything I said and did reminded me of him. Not to mention the fact that he had a key to my apartment and a habit of dropping by at work each day to see me. I couldn’t very well tell him to scram, since I didn’t want to lose him as my best friend.

I had tried to distract myself with other men, but none of them made me feel the way that Max did. Instead, I would typically spend the entire date comparing everything the man I was with said and did, to Max. Max always won. He was just the whole package, and I couldn’t bring myself to settle for a poor substitute. Of course, it occurred to me that I wasn’t giving the other men a fair shot.

Really, I just wanted to appreciate Max for who he was, rather than expecting something more than he was obviously willing to give.

Max certainly didn’t even seem to notice, I thought. He was likely out on yet another date with yet another woman. He never hit a dry spell, like I had. He was all about fun and variety. The very idea of Max making a commitment was almost laughable. He was always honest with the women he was with about his free-spirited nature. I once asked him why he didn’t have longer relationships.

“Why waste my time with the wrong one, when I could be out looking for the right one?” he’d said.

“How do you know they’re the wrong woman?”