“What are you talking about?” He stopped again. The horse in the stall next to them peeked over as if curious about Jamie’s response as well. He had been right—when men talked about their feelings, it got awkward.
“You have feelings for Micah.”
“Wha—?” Josh was dumbfounded. “No way.”
Jamie continued his work, moving on to the next stall, while Josh just stood there speechless, the horse nudging him with its nose. Josh ignored the horse, too caught up in Jamie’s words.
“You’re jealous. That is what you are currently feeling, but too dense to realize. Sabina tells you she’s setting Micah up on some dates, and you got jealous.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s all over your face, not to mention the fact that you only come to visit me when something is bothering you.”
“I do not.”
“Stop lying to yourself.”
“I can’t have feelings for Micah.”
“Why not?”
“Because she belongs to Drew. That’s why.”
“She belonged to Drew. Past tense.”
“He may be gone, but one, she is obviously still in love with him and hung up on him. And two, he was one of my best friends. That’s like breaking some kind of bro code.”
Jamie shook his head. “Sounds like a bunch of excuses to me.”
* * *
Micah was on the road to recovery. Finally. She had a plan in place and would have this conquered in no time. First things first. Her job.
She had worked as a nanny since she was in college. It was comfortable. It represented complacency and security, things that no longer had a place in her life. So she quit.
She had a business degree. It was time to put it to use. After a quick call to Hanna, who used her connections, Micah scored a great interview.
Her second part of the plan was to start taking better care of herself. It was time to get rid of the ice cream. No more crying into a tub of chocolate with marshmallow swirl.
She was also in desperate need of a haircut, and maybe even a little update to the wardrobe. Sabina went shopping with her and helped her out. She fought past the urge to reject every suggestion her roommate gave her, but she had to face the truth. The girl was doing something right, and maybe, just maybe, some of that might rub off onto Micah.
It felt good, as though she was recapturing some of her old self little by little.
Micah used her knee to bang on the door of Josh’s apartment. It was Sunday, which meant an afternoon of football and food with her friends. She had spent the last few days avoiding Josh, but it was time to face him. She couldn’t ignore him forever.
The girls were responsible for the food this week and somehow she had gotten saddled with the task of picking it all up. Her arms were heavy-laden with the grocery bags, as she hadn’t wanted to take more than one trip up three flights of stairs.
Jamie answered the door. “Oh, hey! Let me help you with that. Why didn’t you call? I would have come down and grabbed them for you.”
“You know I like to pretend I’m fiercely independent.” He transferred the bags from her arms to his as she shut the apartment door.
Micah entered the living room area and saw Josh sitting on the couch, with his three-year-old niece cuddled up on his lap. She wasn’t prepared for the rush she felt at seeing him again. She had told herself her initial reaction the other night had been completely imagined. After one too many drinks, she had misconstrued an accidental brush of lips and made it in to something more. There was no way she felt anything more than friendly toward Josh. The only emotion she was currently feeling was irritation or frustration or something like that.
Yeah, right. Keep telling yourself that.
She took in his hair, purposely tousled in its usual fashion, and the color of his shirt, which made his eyes stand out even more. Everything she had just told herself had been a lie.
You might be a little out of practice, but this is lust, honey. Pure and simple. Now wipe the drool and smile like you mean it.
His face lit up when he saw her enter the room. “Hey.”
Suddenly she didn’t know how to act around him. Smiling was not as easy as it once had been. She now knew what it felt like to have those lips on hers.
Instead, she focused on his niece. She could do this.
“Lily, I didn’t know you were going to be here today.” The little girl turned to her and her face lit up. She jumped off his lap and ran over to Micah. She picked her up and gave her a big bear hug. “Is your mommy here, too?”
“No, Unca Joshie watchin’ me.”
“Oh, well, that’s fun.”
Josh stood up and walked over to her to grab the remaining grocery bag. “Here, let me.”
He tried to take the bag, but Lily wanted her uncle back and lunged toward him. He abandoned the bag and caught her just in time, leaving Micah awkwardly grasping at both the girl and the bag wedged between them.
“Silly girl.” He placed a raspberry on Lily’s cheek before turning his attention back to Micah. Once he had the little girl in check, he grabbed hold of the remaining groceries with his free hand.
His eyes seemed to question her, gauge how she was doing, but she seemed to pass inspection. “What are we having today?”
“All kinds of goodies.” Breathe, Micah. One kiss and suddenly she could no longer function. Apparently the frustration she’d felt had overshadowed this new emotion the other day when he came over. She might need to find something to get angry about again.
“Looking forward to it.”
Micah headed to the kitchen and began to organize everything to make quick work of the food preparation. Josh stood in the kitchen, making it seem much too small all of a sudden. He drew close and peeked over her shoulder to see what all she had.
He was so close she could smell him, feel the heat radiating off his body. Lily’s giggle broke her spell.
“Let’s see what she’s got here, Lily.”
“Ooh! Chips!”
“You want some?” Micah opened the bag and held it out for the little girl. Lily grabbed a handful, which with her tiny chubby fingers meant two. Kind child that she was, she shared with her uncle, feeding a chip to him. He opened wide, pretending he was a monster devouring the chip. She giggled and fed him the other chip, too.
“You’re gonna give Joshie all your chips?”
“He’s hungry monstah.”
“Well, then you need to keep feeding him.” She handed Lily a couple more chips.
“No. You feed him!” Lily, with a big smile on her face, pushed the chips back at Micah. “I scared.”
Scared? Yeah, you and me both, kid! Josh looked at her over Lily’s head, mouth wide open, waiting to be fed a chip. Micah placed the chip in his mouth, her fingertips grazing his lips. Something flared in his eyes, but quickly disappeared. Instead he winked at her as he chomped down on the chip. Monstah, indeed.
“Now get out of here, you two. I have some food to prepare.” She balled up her tingling fingertips before trying to shake the feeling from them. Snap out of it!
Hanna arrived a few minutes later and together they were able to get lunch and snacks going quickly. The game had started already and the boys were watching while the girls remained in the kitchen.