I thought hard and typed and erased a few times before sending the next message.
Me: I’m certainly glad I got talked into modeling today. Meeting you was worth all of those flashes in the face.
Tara: Thanks again for saving me. I don’t know what made me think that I’d be able to do such a crazy thing.
Me: Have you ever had stage fright before?
Tara: I’ve never been on stage before.
Me: For what it’s worth, I’m incredibly proud of you.
Tara: Thanks. Jessie seemed really happy with our little stunt.
Me: I certainly was. It might shock you to know that I’ve never kissed a total stranger before.
Tara: Me neither, obviously.
Me: Just because we’re doing things backwards doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t do things properly. I’d love to get to know you. Coffee around lunch tomorrow?
Those little dots hovered for a full two minutes while I practically held my breath.
Tara: Sure.
Me: I’ll text you as soon as I know when I can sneak away. See you tomorrow, gorgeous.
Tara: Good night.
Dropping my phone on the couch, I jumped up to grab my laptop from the dining room table. Even though I had to be up for work at five am, I needed to do some quick studying.
What was the best sort of conversation for a slightly shy girl? How could we get to know each other quickly? What would show her that I’m a tough guy, with a sensitive side?
There were a lot of questions to be answered before I could let myself sleep.
5
_____
Tara
It had been a long time since I had to drink my special relaxing herbal tea to be able to sleep, and even then I’d tossed and turned. The second I woke up, I bathed my eyes in a cooling gel, hoping to get rid of the excess baggage under them.
I’d never been so excited for a date in my life.
I took a year of college to learn the basics of business communications, and thought I might meet some interesting students in my course. Instead, my classes were filled with people I just didn’t click with.
I met Laura in my communications course when we walked in the door at the same time. She was studying event planning, but luckily there were a few overlapping classes.
Through tagging along with her, I met a few new people. I went on one date with a future set designer, and a handful of dates with Brad, who had said he wanted to be a composer for movie scores.
It turned out the only thing he was interested in scoring was university students, but at least my first semi-relationship had been brief, and not too emotionally messy. Now that I had a stable job, there was room for a real relationship in my life, if things felt right.
I spent my morning at work cleaning the store, serving customers, and getting ahead of things so that I could take a break whenever Jared called. He was likely busy juggling clients and meetings all day. Whatever he did, it must have been pretty high security to warrant that crazy phone case.
Somehow, I was already more emotionally invested in Jared that I’d been with Brad, who I dated for nearly a month. Something about the way Jared had taken hold of me so firmly but tenderly opened something deep inside me that had been locked away.
It was always hard for me to trust men, because quite frankly, they frightened me a bit. Especially large, hulking men. It was sexy to feel small and delicate, but only if I wasn’t nervous.
When Jared took hold of me, leaning me back for that dramatic kiss that made my toes ache and my hips squirm, I knew it couldn’t go any farther, because we were in public. It was safe. There was absolutely no reason to be nervous.