Page 1 of Moody as a Minotaur

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AN UNEXPECTED GUEST

PARKER

“Shh… Quit panicking. I didn’t forget about you,” I reassured my goldfish as they chomped down the flakes of food I scattered across the surface of the water. They wiggled excitedly as they swam around. I liked to pretend they were excited to see me, but they were probably happier about the food.

I’d adopted the fish a year ago and ever since, they had become a great sounding board. Knowing they couldn’t talk back was both a blessing and a curse. Don’t tell my mother that my closest confidants were fish, though. She already thought I was lonely. If she discovered I was talking to fish, she would start campaigning for me to move back to the city. And that would end up frustrating both of us.

I set the food container aside. There. Everything on my to-do list was done. Hallelujah.

I collapsed on the sofa and debated whether I had theenergy to crawl to my bedroom, let alone go all the way to the pub. The biggest of my fish, Sushi, eyed me through the glass. His judgment was almost tangible, like he couldn’t believe I was complaining when he swam for hours every day without moaning and groaning. But not everyone was a fish, damn it.

Besides, I’d like to see him deal with two people calling in sick, a cooler breaking down, and an entire busload of people arriving without notice about ten minutes into the lunch hour. And I didn’t even want to think about everything that’d happened after lunch…

“Being a restaurant owner isn’t all bubbles and tiny underwater castles,” I explained to my judgmental pet.

Was pet the right word? Calling an animal a pet suggested you could actually pet it, didn’t it? I was too tired to figure that out tonight. “I want to put my feet up and watch TV. We haven’t watched a baking show for a while. Or those restaurant makeovers are fun.”

Sushi flicked his fins at me, like I disappointed him.

“I know, I know. The love of my life isn’t going to woo himself,” I said as I yawned.

Okay, okay. Calling Levi Evans the love of my life overstated the situation by, like, a lot, but Sushi wouldn’t call me out on it.

Everyone in town, but especially Sushi and the rest of my fishy gang, knew I had a thing for Levi. Although, really, anyone with eyes and an appreciation for burly men would be equally smitten. From the moment he walked into my café the day it opened, I had been, and still was, captivated.

Sigh.

“You know,” I said to the fish, “I feel like I should know by now if he’s interested too.”

Sushi didn’t offer any platitudes, but he did swim to the other side of the tank like he’d had enough of my bullshit.

That was fair. He knew all about how I almost gave up my infatuation this past summer. But sometimes Levi would look at me in a way that made my toes curl and my pulse race. In those fleeting moments, I wassurehe was as attracted to me as I was to him.

When things had ramped up a few weeks ago, Sushi had front-tank seats to everything that happened. After that, Sushihadto agree with me—you know, if he talked—that Levi was at least a little interested. Because Levi had acted like he was ready to confess his undying love for me and sweep me off my feet like a character in a rom com. But unfortunately, real people didn’t do things like that, or at least Levi didn’t.

“I should probably lay off the wedding cake decorating shows for a while,” I admitted to Sushi. Those shows had obviously given me false hope. Although, I still swore I hadn’t imagined Levi’s interest.

But Sushi wasn’t paying attention. He’d already heard all about it. Hell, he’d been here to witness everything that’d happened when, for no apparent reason, Levi saw me on the street and offered to walk me home.

That day, Levi spent a couple of hours pacing around in my living room, making the most adorably awkward small talk ever, before abruptly rushing out the door. I’d justified his behavior as a sign of his nerves—which, I hoped, was a sign of the depth of his affection—but hehadn’t made a move since. No invitations to go for coffee. No texts to check how I was. No flirty banter while I prepared his regular coffee order every morning. Ugh.

Had I misinterpreted things?

I didn’t think so.He’dapproached me.He’doffered to walk me home.He’dasked if he could come inside my apartment. How could any of that be mistaken for him not being interested? Unless he was trying to distract me from something else. Huh. Because now that I thought about it, finding him and all those other people in the park by the lake on a random weekdayhadbeen a little weird.

But that had been the longest I’d been alone with Levi. Ever. So, I’d happily basked in his undivided attention and dismissed my curiosity about what might have been going on in town. Maybe I shouldn’t have.

Now Levi was back to ignoring my texts and refusing to socialize anywhere but the Willow Lake Pub. So, if I wanted to see him, I had to go there.

I know, I know. Most people would take his evasiveness as a sign he wasn’t interested; except everyone—from the town’s mechanic to the bartender at the pub to my cafe’s best pizza maker—agreed hewasinterested. It didn’t matter what Sushi thought.

And those little nuggets of encouragement kept my hope alive.

Hope. Ha! What an awful word.

And was hope the right word when I suffered from a ridiculously epic crush? The kind that, until I’d met Levi, I thought only happened to lonely, hormonal teenagers? If he kept me at arm’s length much longer, that crush waseventually going to lead me to being, well, crushed. After all, I could make as many plans for how to seduce Levi as I liked, but at some point, if he wasn’t interested, my goal would have to change to how to mend my bruised heart. But no matter how hard I tried to shake my ridiculous attraction, it wouldn’t leave.