“Really?” he scoffs. “You’re going there? You drive a Ford,” he accuses.
“First on Race Day.”
Chase snorts. “Just don’t be calling me when your truck is stuck on the side of the road, dead, to come pick your ass up in my BMW.”
I laugh and turn the volume up on his radio, liking the song that’s playing. When we drive into Larchmont, a small neighborhood I know well, since my parents both have businesses here, I glance around curiously.
“Coffee first,” Chase says, pulling through the drive-thru of Jumpin’ Java, my favorite coffee place. I smile on the inside that he knows this. I was with Robert for months and he didn’t pay attention to anything. I hate mushrooms, yet every time he would order our food—because he insisted on ordering—he would forget to mention to the waitress to leave them off for me. And when I would complain, he would tell me that adults eat vegetables and to stop acting like a little girl.
A few minutes later Chase pulls into a parking lot and turns off his engine. I’m not sure why we’re here, but I don’t ask, instead, grabbing my coffee and following him.
When he steps up to a nail salon, I grin. “You’re taking me to get my nails done?”
“We’re getting our nails done.” He winks playfully. “Just call me Lexi 2.0.”
“Oh my God.” I laugh. “Really? You’re getting your nails done?”
“Whatever you two were supposed to do, I’m doing it too.”
My heart swells. “Thank you, but you don’t have to do that.” And then without thought, I wrap my arms around him for a hug. I’m not expecting him to return the hug, so I’m taken aback when his hands slide around my waist and rest on the small of my back. I should back up… end the hug. But instead, I stay where I am, with my face pressed against Chase’s chest. When I breathe in, I catch a whiff of his scent. It’s clean and masculine and oddly enough smells like comfort.
I glance up, and our faces are close… too close. He looks down, his eyes landing on my lips, and I think for a second he’s going to kiss me, which causes me to panic, unsure if I want him to. On one hand, I bet he’d be a good kisser… He definitely has the experience. On the other hand, he has all that experience because he’s been with a lot of women, and I can’t become one of those women… That’s not who I am.
Before I can decide if I want him to kiss me, he retreats, clearing his throat.
“I want to,” he says.
He wants to, what?
Kiss me?
Did I voice my question out loud?
Then he adds, “Plus, I’ve been needing to get a good pedicure.” Oh! He’s referring to wanting to get his nails done with me. I sigh in relief.
“Well, if you insist… This should be fun.”
We walk inside and Chase surprises me when he tells the guy he has an appointment for us. We’re told to pick out our colors. I go with my usual: pink, and Chase chooses blue.
“You can get clear, you know,” I point out.
“Eh, what’s the fun in that?”
We sit in our assigned chairs and the lady shows him how to turn his chair massager on. “Damn, this feels good,” he moans loudly, his eyes rolling back.
Several of the employees and customers look over, making me laugh under my breath at how crazy he is. He glances over at me with a dreamy look in his eyes and shrugs, not giving a shit what anybody thinks.
I try to imagine Robert here with me and I can’t do it. He would’ve scoffed at even the idea of a man getting a pedicure. Yet, Chase is one of the manliest guys I know—I mean, he runs into burning buildings for a living—and he’s completely okay with sitting in a salon getting his toes painted.
Chase has made me laugh more this morning than I ever laughed with Robert. I was so stuck on the fact that I wasn’t right for Robert… that I wasn’t enough. When the truth is, Robert wasn’t right for me.
“What’s going through your head?” Chase asks.
“I want to find someone,” I admit.
When his brows dip in confusion, I explain. “I want to find a guy who’s right for me. Robert wasn’t.”
Chase nods in understanding. “You’ll find him, Georgia, you just have to get out of the house to look.”
He’s right, and for most women that would be easy, but for me, it’s a bit more difficult. It’s probably why I settled so quickly for Robert. He was the first guy to give me attention. I was searching for that perfect path and there he was standing there. I thought at the time it meant something… And I guess in a way it did: a lesson learned.