King of the Friend Zone (Power of the Matchmaker)

by Pratt, Sheralyn

  “Nope,” Grace said, reaching for her carton as well. “Pretty sure what you’re going through is self-inflicted, not the universe conspiring against you.”

  “Darnit,” Esme said on a melodramatic sigh. “I had a whole Pity Me speech prepared and everything.”

  “Sorry.”

  For a moment, they both ate ice cream and looked out over the bay.

  “So what do I do?” Esme asked at last.

  “You tell him.”

  “He’s hurt. He’ll shut me down.”

  “So plan on that,” Grace said easily. “Tell him how you feel as clearly as possible, then give him space to process it. Then, when he’s ready, he’ll come to you. Once his mind wraps around the fact that you’re really willing to give him a chance, he’ll be knocking on your door. But first you need to let him know you’ve unlocked it for him and he’s invited over.”

  With that simple thought, Esme’s ice cream suddenly had flavor again. She leaned back against the jets of the hot tub, allowing the luxury to relax her as she played out Grace’s suggestion over and over in her mind.

  Her friend was right. Esme had fallen off the love cliff long ago, and she’d been waiting forever for Hunter catch her. Her mistake? She’d never asked him to catch her. She’d always told him she wanted someone else to.

  It was time to change that.

  Chapter 52

  Hunter felt her before he saw her. He straightened in his chair, feeling like someone had opened a window in the bar letting light in, or like someone left the door open and a breeze snuck in and touched his cheek. He instinctively knew who he’d see if he looked over his shoulder.

  So he didn’t look.

  Instead, he glanced in the direction of the men’s room, willing Luke to come back. But apparently, he and Luke needed to work on their psychic connection because the door stayed shut. Great. The one and only time they’d been separated all night, and Esme chooses that moment to walk in. Such was his luck in life, apparently.

  Hunter spun his glass in his hand, trying to pick a game plan. Up until a month ago, he’d actively wished for a scenario like this, where Esme would seek him out and say she was sorry and ask for him to come back into her life. But things had changed in the past month as he’d realized that there was no going back for him. Only forward. He had to move forward. Life in the friend zone was paralyzing. There was no progress there. No life. No love. If Hunter allowed himself to go back there with Esme, he could see the rest of his life all too well because it would be the same as every day he’d known before.

  Forward. Even if it felt like cutting off the right side of his body to do so, he had to move forward. He deserved to move forward. He and Tanya may not have been a love match, but he’d actually enjoyed spending time with her. He’d never really dated anyone seriously out of his misguided loyalty to Esme, so it was a bit of a revelation to learn that hanging out with the same person week after week could actually be fun. Meeting new friend groups could be fun. Connecting on social media, being informed of events in the area, and actually going was fun. Hunter had made more friends in the past four weeks than in the past four years.

  As he felt Esme draw closer behind him, he debated heading into the bathroom himself. Esme didn’t know that he knew she was there. He could get out of the danger zone and leave her hanging, just like she always left him hanging.

  Unfortunately, Hunter wasn’t a coward.

  As good as it would feel to run, that wasn’t his thing. When trouble came his way, he looked it in the eye, and that’s what he had to do now. Look Esme in the eye and let her know that she wasn’t the only one who had moved on. He had to. Maybe he was still in love with her and maybe he always would be, but he still had to move on.

  So he stayed where he was until a pair of heels clicked against the floor to his right and a pink skirt and blonde hair appeared in his peripheral vision.

  Strong. He had to be strong. No matter what endearing looks her azure eyes threw at him, he had to be a brick wall.

  Brick wall. Brick wall. Brick wall, Hunter was chanting to himself when Esme stood next to the chair Luke should have been sitting in. The traitor. What dude took that long in the bathroom?

  Esme gestured to Luke’s chair. “Is this seat taken?”

  She looked gorgeous. She always looked good, but he knew her well enough to know that she’d put some effort into getting ready before showing up. Her hair was down, flowing past her shoulders. He loved it down, although he was pretty sure she didn’t know that. He also loved it when she didn’t wear lipstick…and she wasn’t. Just a gloss that made it hard not to look at the bow of her lip. And was it him, or was she a bit curvier than the last time he saw her? He could swear she was, and he liked it.

  The sad thing was, one glance at her was enough to derail all his thoughts of pushing her away. She made him weak, and Hunter hated being weak.

  Still, he did his best to send nothing more than a dismissive glance her way as he answered. “Yep. It’s taken. Sorry.”

  “Mind if I sit here anyway?” she asked. “I won’t stay long.”

  “Actually, I do mind,” Hunter said, right as a man from the bar walked up to Esme from behind, his eyes locked on her rear up until he reached out to tap her on the shoulder. When Esme turned to see who had touched her, the man smiled.

  “Hello there, beautiful,” the guy said. “Do you have a name?”

  “Of course,” she said, her smile pinched as she offered him her hand. “Esme.”

  “My name is Blaine,” the guy said, one hand gripping hers while the other came up to sandwich her lone hand between the two of his possessively. “But a woman like you can call me whatever she wants.”

  “Thanks, Blaine,” she said, eyes twinkling as she met his gaze head on. “I’m looking forward to that.”

  Hunter hid a smile. That was his girl. Hunter may have the reputation for being a jerk, but the truth was that he took a distant second place to Esme in the art of snark. When he dissed people, they almost always knew it. When Esme dissed, people purred. The woman had a gift.

  Blaine beamed. “Can I get you a drink?”

  “Not now,” Esme said. “But thank you for the offer. I need to talk to this man.”

  “Okay,” Blaine said. “Whenever you’re ready.”

  “Thanks, Blaine,” Esme said before dropping into the seat across from Hunter. When he said nothing, she simply smiled. “So…trying out new bars?”

  Hunter shrugged. “This one has more pool tables.”

  “Of course,” she said, as if everything suddenly made sense. They hadn’t spoken in eight weeks and Esme was making small talk. She was up to something.

  Whatever it was, he wasn’t going to play along.

  “You here with Daryl or Luke?”

  “Luke.” Daryl was too in love to spend a free night away from his lady these days. “He’s in the bathroom.”

  Esme glanced around the bar, her eyes landing on the three empty pool tables. “Why aren’t you playing?”

  “I said I came here because it had more pool tables. I didn’t say I wanted to play.”

  She smiled. “Of course.”

  Silence. Awkward silence that Esme pretended to ignore, but Hunter knew her better than that. Esme knew she was being awkward. The question was why, and Hunter knew she wouldn’t leave him alone until she’d said her piece. Might as well get the ball rolling.

  “What are you doing here, Esme?”

  “I miss you.”

  There was nothing good to say to that, so Hunter stuck with shaking his head.

  She leaned forward, looking him in the eye. “I want you back.”

  That one got a laugh of him. “Yeah? What does Jon think about that?”

  “What Jon thinks is no longer one of my priorities.”

  Once upon a time, the news of Esme breaking up with Jon would have gotten a cheer out of Hunter. But those days were past.

  “Sorry, babe,” Hunter said, taking a drink. “Not
interested in listening to you cry about your most recent break up. I only do crap like that for friends.”

  “And if I want to be back in your life again?” she asked.

  “Well then, I suggest you rewind time about three months and talk to yourself about what it actually means to be a friend.”

  Across from him, Esme chewed her bottom lip. “I might deserve that.”

  Where was Luke? The dude sure was taking his time in the bathroom. Hunter bobbed his head in Blaine’s direction. “You can go get that drink with your admirer now. I’m sure Blaine would love to hear your sob story.”

  Esme didn’t budge. She just watched him with eyes that dared him to blink first. “You’re going to make this hard for me, aren’t you?”

  Hunter set his drink down and stood. It was time to close his tab. Apparently Luke had decided to move into the bathroom full time and abandon him, but it didn’t matter. Hunter could walk home.

  Esme stood as well. “Hunter, let’s talk about this.”

  “Nothing to talk about,” he said, turning away and walking over to the bar.

  “Really?” she said, trailing him. “Because I’ve learned that I don’t really work without you, and I have a feeling you’ve come to the same realization.”

  “You’re right,” he said, holding out his credit card to the bartender. “I don’t work without me either. I’ve known that for a while.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  Hunter kept his eyes on the bartender as he ran the card. “I know. I just don’t care. Not since you asked me not to.”

  “I never asked for that.”

  Hunter shook his head and scoffed, willing the bartender to hurry up.

  “I didn’t.”

  “No,” Hunter said, trying for apathetic and failing. “You let me know you were done with me and replaced me. And guess what? I did the same with you, although I have to say I honestly thought it would be harder. I didn’t think any other woman could fill the gap, but as it turns out? Not that hard. There are a lot of good women out there.”

  Lie. It was a total lie, but whatever. Maybe someday it would be true.

  “Yeah?” Esme said, leaning against the bar. “Look me in the eye and say that.”

  The bartender returned with the receipt and a pen. Finally. It was like the whole world was moving in slow motion just to spite him.

  “I’m waiting,” Esme teased, and Hunter shook his head.

  “I’m not at your beck and call anymore, Ez,” he said as he added a tip and scribbled his name. “You heard what I said and I’m not going to repeat myself.”

  “Okay,” she said, those too-observant blue eyes of hers watching him like a hawk as he slid his credit card back into his wallet. “So you’re seeing someone?”

  “Yep.”

  “What’s her name?”

  “Tanya,” he said before mentally kicking himself. One peek on Facebook would show Esme that was over. But whatever. What was done was done. “She’s nice.”

  “I’ll bet,” Esme said, her expression unreadable.

  When he turned and started away without saying goodbye, the soft hand on his arm made him pause.

  “Hunter?”

  He didn’t turn. “What.”

  “I came here to tell you I love you,” she said softly over his shoulder. “Choose me. Be with me.”

  The words hit him like a harpoon through the chest, skewering his soul and threatening to drag him aboard the Good Ship Esme. If he so much as turned…if he so much as looked her in the eye in that moment, he’d be gone.

  So he didn’t turn and he didn’t look.

  “That ship has sailed, Ez,” he said, shrugging her hand off his arm and walking out the front door.

  Chapter 53

  Hunter had reacted exactly how Esme had expected, so why did she still feel crushed? Why had she stared at the ceiling all night and woken up incapable of taking even a sip of her morning smoothie?

  Esme didn’t take sick days often, but today was definitely one. On a professional level, she was useless. No point in trying to fake it. Instead, she set up an auto-response on her email and stayed in bed. When that got old, she sat on her balcony and stared at the bay. Or that’s what she told herself she was doing when really she kept glancing down at her phone.

  No calls from Hunter. No texts.

  Around two o’clock, Esme went inside and passed out on the couch, finally getting a few hours sleep before waking up a little after four.

  She really needed a shower. Getting out of her pajamas would be a good idea too, because…dignity. Also, what if Hunter showed up at her door? She didn’t want to be frumped out and covered in a film of grossness from sitting around all day.

  So she showered. She got dressed. And Hunter didn’t come.

  By 5:30 that evening, staying in her silent house was too depressing, so she grabbed her keys and headed into the city.

  Rush hour was moving out of the city and she was moving in, so it didn’t take long until she was in the city with no idea where she was going. That meant she ended up at the spot she always ended up in when she wanted to think.

  As always, walking through the Palace of Fine Arts was like strolling through echoes of her life and letting them play memories back to her. There was the spot she’d broken her first bone…the bench where her mom had told Esme she was about to have a little brother…the place where Jon had proposed to her…the spot where she discovered cookies could be decadent…the patch of grass where she’d pushed Hunter away…

  Esme didn’t intentionally seek out that particular patch of grass, but it was where she was sitting when Miss Pearl abandoned her cookie cart and walked up the grass to join her. Maybe it should have been odd that the woman didn’t say anything as she sat next to Esme, but for some reason it felt totally normal. Comforting, even.

  They didn’t speak for a while, both simply sitting and watching tourists mill through the park. Esme kept waiting for people to stop by the cookie cart to try to get a cookie, but people kept walking past it as if they didn’t see it at all.

  “Isn’t is amazing how love can make us stupid?” Miss Pearl said after a while.

  Esme raised an eyebrow and looked at the woman. “Are you calling me stupid?”

  The corner of the woman’s lips lifted. “Was it Forest Gump who said ’stupid is as stupid does’?”

  Esme’s mouth fell open at the woman’s boldness, unsure how to defend herself against the near-stranger who was as unpredictable as she was nosy.

  “Space is not what you and Hunter need,” Miss Pearl said, eyeing Esme sagely. “Time spent alone, imagining that somehow the other would be happier with someone else, is what has kept you and your fireman apart all of these years. When you are apart, your fears set in. But when you are together and look into each other’s eyes, everything feels right. Easy. Complete.” The woman took a slow, thoughtful breath. “No. You and your fireman do not need time apart. You’ve had far too much of that already.”

  Esme couldn’t deny that, but the previous night was still too fresh in her mind. “He doesn’t want to see me.”

  “He doesn’t want you to hurt him again,” Miss Pearl corrected. “There’s a difference.”

  Okay, maybe the woman had a point.

  “Are you up for a challenge, Miss Taylor?”

  That was certainly an odd question. “What kind of challenge?”

  Miss Pearl smiled. “Two would-be lovers need you tonight.”

  Esme arched a skeptical brow.

  “Without you and Hunter, they will never meet,” Miss Pearl said. “Tonight they will be in the same place at the same time with Hunter. But without you there, they will never speak. They will never meet or find true love.”

  The woman was sly. Esme would give her that. “You talk like there’s one ‘right’ person for everyone. I don’t believe that.”

  “Interesting,” Miss Pearl said. “But you’re not wrong. There are many matches for most people. But for som
e people, there are fewer matches. For others, even fewer still that they can trust to hold their heart and lead them to their full potential.”

  Huh. When the woman put it that way, it was actually quite logical to have a small pool of potential mates.

  “The two who will meet tonight if you accept my challenge are such a couple,” Miss Pearl said, her eyes a little sad. “Two souls with damaged hearts who are perfectly suited to love each other completely…but only if you meet your fireman by his truck at the boxing gym by 7:02.”

  “7:02?” Esme said, looking at the time. “That’s very specific. And it doesn’t give me very long to get there.”

  “But enough time,” Miss Pearl said. “And where else do you have to be right now?”

  Fair point. Esme literally had nowhere to be.

  “Forget yourself tonight and meet your fireman by his truck at 7:02,” Miss Pearl said. “You and Hunter work five-times better together than you do apart. Also, I promise that if you do as I suggest, the two of you will talk about this night for years to come, and two friends will marry and bless your names for bringing them together,” Miss Pearl said before looking Esme in the eye. “Or you can sit here on this hill with me and pout. Your call.”

  Esme laughed—she couldn’t help it—before she stood and dusted off the grass that was clinging to her pants. “Well, when you put it like that.”

  The woman smiled.

  “Have a good evening, Miss Pearl. And…thanks for the kick in the pants.”

  “My pleasure,” the woman said with a cheeky smile that got a grin out of Esme in return as she started away.

  Esme made it all the way to her car before realizing how unlikely it was to think that Hunter might be at the gym right then. There was every chance that she’d drive there and his truck wouldn’t be in the lot at all.

  Oh, well. It was like Miss Pearl said. It wasn’t like she had anything else going on. So if this was a night she might truly remember for years, she might as well show up and give it a go.

  Chapter 54

  Hunter exited the boxing gym, pulling his jacket tighter around his neck. The fall air had a bit of a bite to it tonight.