It's A Wonderful Midlife Crisis (Good To The Last Death #1) - Robyn Peterman Page 0,86
my fault.
“I’m broken,” I whispered.
“We’re all broken in one way or another, Daisy,” he said, putting his hand under my chin and raising my eyes to his. “Let’s not call it a date. How about we call it two broken people who need to eat decide to do it together in a restaurant. Is that better?”
I smiled. I couldn’t help it. “A little,” I told him.
“Good,” he said with a grin that made my breath catch in my throat. “I’ll be back to pick you up at seven.”
“What’s the dress code?” I asked, wanting to smack myself in the head for agreeing.
“Sexy. The dress code is sexy,” Gideon replied as he walked down the steps and out into the yard. “See you at seven.”
I glanced down at my trembling hands and I sighed. This was such a bad idea. I couldn’t do it. I didn’t care how charming he was. He would crush what was left of me.
“Gideon, I can’t…” I squinted my eyes and scanned the yard. He was gone.
No car. No bike—not that I could see the Grim Reaper ever riding a bike—but how had he gotten here and where the hell did he just go?
“I’m crazy and I’m an idiot,” I muttered as I gave the driveway and yard one last look. “He just disappeared. Like magic.”
And now I was stuck having dinner with him. Dumbass should be my new middle name.
Sitting down on the same chair Gideon had just been in, I inhaled the air. His scent lingered. I loved his scent. If I was honest, I loved the way he made me feel. However, I would never love him. Gideon was the Grim Reaper for the love of everything evil. He would never be my person.
I needed my head examined.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“You can’t wear that,” Steve said, floating over our bed and shaking his head.
“Why not?” I demanded with an eye roll. He’d already vetoed six outfits. I was forty, not sixteen. I didn’t want to go. Why did it matter what I wore?
“It’s all wrong,” he said. “You look like an asexual librarian.”
Steve was right, but I needed armor. I had no plans to follow the sexy dress code.
“Look,” I said, sitting down on the bed and kicking off the sensible flats I was trying to get away with. “Gideon is not the guy for me.”
“And why not?” Steve asked, floating over and hovering next to me. “I might be gay, but I’m still a man—albeit a dead one. I know when a man likes what he sees. Gideon liked what he saw.”
“Yep, I know that,” I said and then sighed. “But I’m not cut out for casual sex, which is pretty much all he wants.”
Steve was quiet for a long moment.
“Daisy, when a person is dead, they can see inside people… kind of.”
“You mean like their guts?” I asked, wrinkling my nose.
“Umm… no, thank God or whoever is in charge,” Steve said with a chuckle. “It’s like I can see auras—colors. I can see feelings and emotions.”
“So you could clearly see that I still loved you even though I hated you last night?”
He nodded and smiled.
“Lying to a dead person is impossible then,” I said, thinking the new information through.
“Yes, but you’re a terrible liar anyway so it’s not a big deal. Right?”
I stood and began to remove the boring granny dress I’d chosen. I almost laughed when I slipped it over my head and remembered I’d bought it for a Halloween party to go as an old lady. “I suppose it’s not a big deal,” I said. “Tell me what you saw around Gideon.”
“Deep pain. Sadness—far too much for someone his age. Yet his colors changed when he saw you. They came brighter and warmer,” Steve said as he floated into the closet and looked through my clothes. “Have you not bought anything new in a year? I recognize all of this.”
“Nope. Why would I buy anything? I don’t go anywhere other than work or out with the girls,” I admitted.
“That’s going to change,” Steve muttered. “The little black dress. Put it on.”
“It shows side boob. Not gonna do that,” I told him with an eye roll.
“Put. It. On,” he insisted with a grin.
“You’re a real pain in the ass,” I snapped, yanking it off the hanger.
“Thank you.”
“It wasn’t a compliment,” I said with a laugh.
“Trust me on this, Daisy. I’m right. You have wonderful breasts and your legs are phenomenal.”
Closing my eyes, I thought about what he’d seen around Gideon—pain and sadness.