that let me know she understood something more was going on with my love life but that she wouldn’t press the issue. That she would wait until I was ready to tell her.
I didn’t think I’d ever be ready.
“Noah is . . . different.” It was the most truthful answer I could give her.
“Different how?”
I didn’t have the words to explain, so I just said, “I don’t know.”
She closed the dishwasher door. “Is it because he played Felix and Malec? Like you’re transferring your crush from them onto him?”
“No, it honestly has nothing to do with the characters he’s played. It’s him. He’s just different, and this is the first time I . . .” I couldn’t continue.
Thankfully she didn’t press me further. Another thing I loved about her—she always understood when to push and when to back down. “Well, I don’t think that’s the last you’ve heard of him.”
“How could it not be? I told him no thanks.”
She shrugged. “I just don’t think Noah Douglas is the kind of guy who gives up that easily.”
Her phone rang, and she went into the living room to grab it. I could tell from the sappy look on her face that it was Allan. Again, I felt that pang of envy that I didn’t have anyone in my life who made me feel the way Allan made Shelby feel.
Maybe you could.
It was dumb to think. Even dumber to hope for. I didn’t know how to get over my terrified-of-kissing issue. If it was just mind over matter . . . but it wasn’t. I wished it was, but I couldn’t just force myself to be fine and not have a panic attack every time I got close to a man.
The problem was, as Shelby had so often bragged, she was usually right. And she’d been right about everything so far.
That was what had me concerned.
CHAPTER SEVEN
It turned out to be a lot of worry over nothing. I didn’t hear from Noah again. My life continued on as it always had. I spent a lot of time going into different veterinarian’s offices to leave a stack of business cards with them, hoping somebody would pick one up and call me. I also went out on the few appointments I had for the week and groomed some gorgeous pooches. I hung out with Shelby a lot more than normal because Allan was working on a case that was demanding a lot of overtime, and I chatted with my mom a couple of times about her upcoming play. Ran some errands, ate some chocolate, watched some TV. Normal.
There were no restricted incoming phone calls.
A week after I’d groomed Magnus, Shelby was hanging out with Allan, which meant that I had all the time in the world to watch Noah Douglas movies. It was strange watching them now, knowing that I’d had conversations with him and he wasn’t just this actor performing on my screen, but a real, interesting, and all-too-attractive person.
I woke up and decided to have belgian chocolate ice cream for breakfast. Why not? Nobody cared when you had yogurt for breakfast, and it was basically the same thing. I was halfway through the first Duel of the Fae movie when my phone rang. I glanced at the screen. It was Shelby.
Before I could even say hi, she cut me off with, “Don’t say no.”
I paused the movie. I’d heard that tone in her voice before. She was about to beg me for a big favor, and she knew I wouldn’t like it. “Why would I say no when you haven’t even asked me yet?”
“Just promise you won’t say no.”
“Fine. I won’t say no.”
“Perfect. I need you to be a seat filler at the Academy Awards tonight.”
“No,” I responded. What if I did that and I ran into Noah? What if he thought I’d changed my mind? That I was sending him mixed signals? I mean, it would be a fair accusation, given that all I felt were extremely conflicting signals all the time where he was concerned, but I wanted to put that little footnote of my life down at the bottom of the page where it belonged and move on.
“But you were so good at it!” she protested.
“It’s not really a skill.”
She tried again. “You just promised you would!”
“I can’t be held to any promise where you tricked me into agreeing first.”
“Juliet, I need you.”
I closed my eyes. She knew I couldn’t resist when she said that. “But I have plans.”