Page 44 of I Could Never

“Only once, but yeah.”

Lisa told me she’d just recently relocated to Woodsboro from Minneapolis to be closer to her sister, who’d moved here with her fiancé a few years earlier. While initially Lisa had looked at the move as an adventure, she was finding life here quite boring thus far. It definitely wasn’t the best place to be if you were single.

She was nice enough, and I should have been thrilled to have an evening out, but my mind wandered throughout our conversation. I’d love to be able to tell you I was mulling over legitimate concerns, like where Scottie would end up or how far I’d be able to stretch my limited income and still have a social life. But no. I was still stewing over the fact that Lauren had asked Josh out and he was considering going. I kept trying to tell myself it bothered me because she was Scottie’s therapist, but I knew better. That uncomfortable ache in my chest was jealousy. I hadn’t experienced that since I was a teenager. Why now? Why was I jealous over a man I could never be with?

“He’s kind of cute…” Lisa interrupted my thoughts.

“Who?”

She angled her head toward the bar. “That guy over there.”

I turned around to find a dark-haired man sitting alone on one of the stools. He wore jeans, a plaid shirt with rolled-up sleeves, and clunky construction boots.

“I guess.”

A few minutes later, I turned around to look over again and found that another dark-haired guy had joined him. They looked to be in their late twenties or early thirties.

“I think I just saw them looking over here,” Lisa whispered, her eyes sparkling.

I chose to ignore that, since I wasn’t in the mood for anything more than a casual night out with a friend. But her expectations seemed a bit different.

Luckily, our food arrived as a distraction, and Lisa and I chatted while we shared a plate of nachos with our drinks.

But before we’d finished, the two men from the bar walked over.

“Are these seats taken?” one of them asked.

“Not at all.” Lisa grinned flirtatiously.

They then helped themselves to the other two seats at our table.

“How are you ladies doing tonight?” one of them asked.

“Not bad, you?” I answered.

Lisa gave me a knowing look. She was quite excited about this turn of events.

The one with the construction boots, whom Lisa had said was cute, had seated himself next to me. He held out his hand. “I’m Neil.”

I took it. “Nice to meet you. I’m Carly.”

“Are you married?” he asked.

“No.”

“Boyfriend?”

Forcing a grin, I repeated, “No.”

“Okay. I just didn’t want to be inappropriate.”

“I appreciate you asking.”

We got to talking, and I began to warm up to the whole situation. It turned out, Neil had grown up in Woodsboro and managed a construction company. We made easy conversation while his friend, Rob, chatted up Lisa.

Neil was handsome with classic features. I wouldn’t put him in the same category of hotness as Brad and Josh, but looks were only part of the equation. He seemed to have a pleasant, down-to-earth personality and most importantly, kind eyes.

But despite the fact that I was enjoying his company, I felt uncomfortable giving him too much personal information. So I kept my current situation a bit generic, only divulging that I was in town helping a friend with a personal issue, and I would only be here temporarily.