The Mechanics of Mistletoe - Liz Isaacson Page 0,100

minutes into the show, he got a text and said he had to go make a phone call.” Oakley shrugged, though her shoulders barely moved against the cushy couch. “I get it. I run a business too.”

Ranger said nothing, but he also didn’t look away from her. Oakley didn’t know what to do with the silent, brooding type. Her nerves screamed at her, and she pressed her fingertips together.

“He left, and he never came back. It was over an hour, and I decided to call him.” She shook her head. “He didn’t answer, but not ten seconds later, I got a text back from him. It wasn’t the one I wanted.”

“What did he say?”

“He said I was ‘fun and all,’ but that he didn’t think we should see each other anymore.” Desperation and tears built up inside her again, and Oakley determined not to hold them in as long as she had last time.

“That was that?” Ranger asked. “He didn’t come back to take you home?”

She shook her head. “I texted that I didn’t want to break up and could we please talk about it?” With some of her last remaining energy, she leaned forward and handed Ranger her phone. “He sent me that.”

Ranger took the phone, a quizzical look in his eye. He swiped on her phone, and she knew the moment he saw what she’d seen. His eyes rounded, and he looked up.

Oakley’s stomach had dropped out of her body, and she’d been so angry that tears had pressed into her eyes. So angry and so betrayed.

Dave had sent her a picture of him with another woman. He’d said he’d left the club, because he wanted to go out with Terelyn and not her.

Oakley had been broken up with before—heck, the man still holding her phone had ended things between them before they’d even really gotten started. But to see Dave with another woman and know that he’d left her sitting in the comedy club all alone, with no ride home, it was as if a dam had broken.

She’d felt betrayed and lonely at the same time.

She’d realized what she’d been asking the men she’d been out with that year to do. Share her. Allow her to go out with whoever she wanted, their feelings notwithstanding.

“So I needed a ride home,” she said, taking back her phone.

He studied the floor for a moment and then met her eyes. “Who are you seeing now?” he asked.

“No one, anymore,” she said. “I was….” She cleared her throat. “I did what you suggested, Ranger. I decided to try dating one man at a time.”

If he was surprised, he didn’t show it. “And?”

“And….” How much did she lay on the line? How brave could she be? How forthcoming and straight-forward without coming across as too confident or intimidating? “And honestly?”

“I would prefer honesty, yes,” he said, focusing back on the floor again.

“I only want to go out with you,” she said. “But you aren’t asking. I texted you a few times, and you didn’t respond. I figured I might as well start somewhere.”

“Well, Dave Pratchett was a bad choice,” Ranger said, a chuckle coming from his mouth.

Oakley scoffed as the tension in the room broke up a little. “Yeah, no joke.”

Several seconds passed where the only thing that happened was the scent of freshly brewed coffee filling the air. Ranger finally lifted his head and met her gaze again, head-on. Strong. If anyone was exuding confidence and making her feel intimidated, it was him.

She sure did like that about him.

“Oakley?” he asked. “Would you like to go to dinner with me?”

Oakley blinked as her pulse skyrocketed. “Yes,” she managed to say. “Yes, I would.”

“Tomorrow night?” he asked.

“Sure,” she said.

He nodded and stood up. “Okay, great. I know where you live now, and I’ll have my brother follow me down in my truck so I can return your car.” He moved into the kitchen as easily as if he’d lived in this house his whole life. Oakley twisted as she watched him fix himself a cup of coffee.

He took one sip and called back to her, “Do you want some coffee, Oakley?”

“Yes, please,” she said. Was he really going to stay for coffee? What else did he want to talk about?

He brought her a purple mug, a bowl of sugar, and the carton of cream. “I don’t know what you like,” he said.

“Just sugar,” she said, picking up the spoon and adding three healthy teaspoons of the sweet stuff to her coffee. She