Page 21 of Then Came You

Kristina laid a hand on his arm. “If you don’t want her to come over here, why don’t you…”

Her voice trailed off as Gillian turned away from the counter and spotted them. She glanced from him to Kristina and back again, and he swore her brow furrowed.

He raised his hand and waved, deciding to call her over after all, but she didn’t look eager to speak to him. Instead, she gave him a brief nod and then hurried out the door.

“You should go after her,” Kristina urged.

“Nah.”

She eyed him with confusion. “Why the heck not?”

He rolled his eyes at her ineffective use of the English language.

She must have realized how silly she’d sounded too. “It just doesn’t have the same effect, does it?”

“Not at all.” He still had a couple more bites of his slice left, but he decided he’d had enough. It should have been so easy to wave Gillian over or for him to get up and talk to her, yet it hadn’t been, and he wasn’t sure if it ever would be. He should probably just give up and accept that they’d never be more than casual acquaintances.

“Tell me about her,” Kristina said, adopting a softer tone.

He hesitated for a few beats and then decided it might be good to get a woman’s opinion on the matter.

“Her name is Gillian Scott. She owns A Latte Books downtown, along with a couple of her friends.”

“I’ve heard of it, but I haven’t been in there yet.”

“It’s a cool place. They serve coffee and pastries on one side of the store and books on the other.”

“What a great idea.”

He nodded. “They haven’t been in business that long, but it seems to be taking off. Sometimes I stop by the coffee shop on my work breaks, and that’s how I know her.” His sister didn’t need to know that “sometimes” was almost every day.

“I’m surprised she didn’t come over and say hi, then.”

“We’ve just started to get to know each other, but she’s been…reluctant.”

Then he blurted out the rest. “She was engaged to a cop, but he died intercepting an armed robbery.”

“Oh no.” Kristina put her hands over her mouth.

“Yeah. So, while I’d like to get to know her better, I’m not sure it’ll ever happen. At first, she barely talked to me, but things improved after I agreed to be a guest reader for story time at the bookstore.”

“You did? How sweet.”

He shrugged. “It was fun. I was hoping that Gillian…that we…that she’d be more receptive after that, but it hasn’t happened.”

Kristina frowned. “You’re not giving up, are you?”

He opened his mouth to reply, but she interrupted. “Because you can’t.”

“Did you listen to anything I just said?”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean you should just give up.”

“Well, what would you suggest?” He was almost afraid to hear her answer.

“Ask her out, but not on some fancy date. Keep it simple. Ask her to lunch or for coffee… Oh crap…she already owns a coffee shop, so that won’t work.”

“She has a dog,” he said, realizing how inane that sounded after he’d said it.