Ember hoped so, too. But from the way her stomach kept turning over, she felt there was little chance of that hope coming true.
* * *
“Thanks for your help with this. I appreciate it,” Mitch Lakin said, as he ticked off the final item on his list. Lucas had been helping him make an inventory of the station – something the captain had to do every year. It was an easy job here compared to carrying it out at White City, where it took more than two men and a few hours, but it still needed doing. Lucas had come over to the station at Mitch’s request to help him out, taking a break from plumbing in the bathroom.
“Yeah, I guess I’ll head on home.” Lucas stretched his arms above his head, loosening the muscles there. Then he checked his phone again, no message from Ember. He wasn’t sure whether that made him feel anxious or pleased. He knew she was on that date tonight. She was probably sitting at Delmonico’s right now, flirting and laughing with this guy.
Yeah, the anxiety seemed to be winning. It was grabbing his stomach and squeezing like crazy.
“How’s the fair planning going?” Mitch asked, lifting his coffee mug to his lips. As soon as he’d sipped it, he wrinkled his nose and spat it back out. “Ugh. Cold.”
“It’s almost there, we’ve got another meeting next week and then the real thing. No surprises, no emergencies.”
“That’s how we like it.” Mitch smiled. “Well, how some of us like it anyway. I guess you’ll be heading back to White City soon after the fair. When are you leaving?”
Lucas shrugged, though he felt anything but casual about it. “I’ve got another four weeks.” He gave Mitch a closed-mouth smile. “Not that I’m desperate to get out of here or anything.”
Mitch burst out laughing. “Liar, and I can’t say I blame you. You must feel like all this volunteering is more of a punishment than a vacation. But I’m really grateful for your help; we’ve all appreciated having you around.” He gave Lucas a slow nod. “I’ll be letting Chief Simons know how much.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Now go home. It’s a Friday night, a young guy like you should be out on the town.”
The corner of Lucas’ lips quirked up. “Yeah, something like that.” His thoughts immediately turned to Ember, and her date at Delmonico’s. For a moment he pictured that other guy sliding his hand up Ember’s smooth thigh, and the thought made him want to hit something. “I’ll probably pick up takeout and head to the cottage.”
“I won’t be far behind you.” Mitch picked his phone up and squinted at the screen. “I’ve missed three calls from Linda. I’m betting I’m late for dinner, again.” He raised his eyebrows. “Time to make like a tree and leave.”
There were definitely some advantages of living alone. Nobody sending you messages asking when you’d be home. Nobody to disappoint when you had to work late again, and didn’t know what time you’d make it back.
Nobody who cared if you came home at all.
He picked his phone up, checking it one last time for any message from Ember – there wasn’t – and along with his wallet he shoved it in his pocket.
Time to go home and walk into his half-finished project. There was something to look forward to.
* * *
Ember couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this embarrassed. She silently passed her card to the waiter and let him press it against the machine, waiting for the receipt to print out. It wasn’t the biggest check she’d ever paid – a large bottle of water didn’t exactly break the bank. The emotional cost, however, felt huge.
Adam Michaelson hadn’t turned up.
There’d been no message, no phone call, nothing. She’d just sat here and waited, suffering the stares of the other diners and the over-effusive treatment from her waiter, as he kept checking to see if she wanted to order ‘just a little something to tide her over’.
She endured this for half an hour before she finally picked up her phone and tried to message Adam. She’d opened up the Sizzle app and pressed the screen to open her matches, but when she scrolled through them, Adam wasn’t there.
Frowning, she closed the app and opened it up again – wondering if the thing had glitched. But when she looked the second time, he still wasn’t there, and even when she pressed the search button nothing came up. Their whole conversation was missing. It was as though he hadn’t existed at all, that this whole date was a figment of her imagination.
‘It sounds like he’s unmatched you,’ Ally wrote, after Ember sent her an SOS text message. ‘Or maybe he’s blocked you. Either way he’s an asshole.’
With her awkwardness reaching a whole new level, Ember had called the waiter over and asked for the check. And when he’d asked her if she wanted to wait just a little longer to see if her guest arrived, she’d shaken her head, and hoped nobody else was listening.
She felt beyond embarrassed. It felt as though somebody had scraped all her skin off, the soft flesh beneath exposed. It was all she could do to bite down on her lip as she walked through the restaurant and toward the parking lot, trying not to see if everybody was looking at her. She’d barely walked out the door before the first tears started to sting at her eyes, and she felt her chest convulse and force all the air from her lungs.
By the time she reached her car, tears were dampening her cheeks. She wiped them away, feeling angry at her own emotions. She didn’t want to feel like this – not again – and she definitely didn’t want to be crying over a guy she didn’t even know.
And yet here she was, letting herself be vulnerable and letting Adam Michaelson hurt her before they’d even met. Why on earth had she let Ally talk her into this? The Sizzle app was supposed to protect her.
Her phone vibrated in the yellow evening purse she’d bought to match her dress. She pulled it out, expecting it to be Ally again, and tried not to be angry at her friend for starting this whole thing.