The Introvert's Guide to Speed Dating (The Introvert's Guide, #2)

by Emma Hart

  “I, for one, will be ordering some for my wife to make up for whatever annoying thing I’ll do next.” He gave a throaty laugh. “Always nice to keep something in the bank.”

  “Yes. Uh.” I cleared my throat. “Did you need something from me?”

  “Yes!” He clapped his hands together. “I read those bitesize interviews you sent me—the ones with the Zumba teacher? Loved it. Great little fillers. Have you interviewed all the instructors yet?”

  “I have not. I was going to see how long the major interviews went on for then see what was left.”

  “Interview everyone and we’ll go from there. I must say, London, you have a very keen mind, and your questions are excellent. My wife read the plates one over my shoulder and I think she’s signing up!”

  “The plates? Oh, Pilates.”

  “Yes, yes, that’s the one. Anyway, more of those. Little bitesize bits people can read in a few minutes.”

  “I’ll see if I can catch Sebastian tonight when I’m there.”

  “Excellent.” He walked to the door where he stopped, turned, and smiled at me. “London? If he asks to take you out for dinner, it wouldn’t hurt to say yes.”

  “Is everyone in this town trying to marry me off?”

  “Not yet.” Mr. Chester laughed.

  ***

  “And you didn’t tell him that she threatened you?” Holley leaned in. “London!”

  “Shh,” I said, waving my hand so she’d keep it down. I didn’t want to disturb the practice or alert the attention of anyone around me. “No, I didn’t tell him. I doubt she’s being serious, plus he thought the flowers were nothing more than a nice gesture. And judging by the fact he told me to go out with him, he doesn’t care.”

  “But she’s making you miserable.”

  “She makes everyone miserable.”

  “It doesn’t matter. You need to speak to him about what she said to you.”

  I sighed. “I’m not in high school. This is my workplace. The last thing I need is for Chester to talk to Ebony. She’ll know I was the one who spoke to him and then I really will never catch a break. She’s just jealous I have the big project. She was sure it’d be hers. Besides, I can handle her.”

  Holley put her hand on my arm. “I know you can. You were always the one who stood up to bullies when we were kids, but she’s not a nine-year-old picking on me after I had chicken pox and still had the spots on my face. She’s a grown woman.”

  “I know that, but it’s easier to carry on as I am. Trust me. Mr. Chester knows she’s a problem, and…” I hesitated.

  I didn’t want to talk about what I’d overheard from one of the intern offices this afternoon when I’d left the newspaper building. As a rule, the interns did nothing more than gossip, but since that gossip had involved me…

  Well, I’d had to listen, hadn’t I?

  “What? London, tell me!”

  “Fine, but don’t say anything. Promise?”

  Holley nodded. “Promise.”

  “When I was leaving to pick Leo up from school, I overheard the interns. They have a big conference room they all work together in unless they’re needed elsewhere, like Mandy has a little space outside my office.” I paused. “I heard them talking about me. Apparently, there’s a rumor going around that if my project is successful, Mr. Chester is seriously considering promoting me.”

  A grin spread across my cousin’s face. “He’s going to fire Ebony, isn’t he?”

  “I don’t know. The assistant editor job is open, but I think he knows I’ve basically been doing her job anyway. I know he’s happy with what I’ve sent him so far, but I don’t think it’s true, for what it’s worth. The interns are known to gossip and none of it ever comes true.”

  “Well, even if it isn’t true, you should act like it is. Put together the best edition you can and show him that you deserve the job, even if he can’t give it to you right now.”

  I let my attention wander to the kids practicing. We were all outside tonight, and it was good practice since the tournament was being held here. “I don’t know, Holls. If it’s not true, and I don’t get promoted…”

  “You’ll quit?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know. I’ve really enjoyed doing this all by myself. Having a bit more creative freedom has felt really good.”

  “You could freelance?” she suggested, tapping her chin.

  “Sounds great, doesn’t it? Until you consider that I have to pay bills. There’s not enough certainty in that.”

  “You’re not allowed to move. I’m just putting that out there now.”

  “I have no intention of moving.” I laughed and shook my head. “No, I’m happy here. So is Leo. It’s nice to be with family again, even if Mom avoids you all like the plague.”

  Holley snorted. “She avoids Grandma like the plague. We all would if we could, but we can’t.”

  Amen to that.

  Although if she didn’t live at the crazy place that was the senior center, she’d probably be a lot more tolerable to visit. It was the other residents that were slightly on the whacky side.

  I was being nice when I said slightly, okay?

  “All done!” Ollie blew his whistle to end the session and called all the kids in. knew he was about to select his team for the weekend, and not all the kids could make it. It really sucked, and my mom heart squeezed for all the parents who would have to comfort their kids tonight.

  My mom heart was also happy because I’d have a happy kid.

  Such was life.

  “Hey, are you done?” Seb joined us. “Ooh, is he announcing his team?”

  “Yep,” I replied. “It’s gonna be rough for some of those kids.”

  “He’s splitting the practice after this tournament,” he muttered in my ear after kissing Holley. “The kids who don’t make his team are going to have different sessions to the ones who do. He wants to train the team as a team, not as a full collective.”

  “Wait, don’t we already have a local team?”

  Seb licked his lips. “Not in White Peak, no.”

  “You’re making a local team?” I whispered.

  Holley nodded. “Starting with soccer. It’s the easiest one, then probably baseball. I ran the numbers and it’s absolutely possible.”

  “Of course you did.”

  “If they get top three in the tournament, Mr. Chester has agreed to have the newspaper sponsor their kits,” Seb explained, ever so slightly louder now that all the parents had dissipated from us. “I think Ollie’s really excited about it, even if it means we need another coach to train the other kids. We’re doing it for all the age groups from six up.”

  “That’s so cool,” I replied. “And great for the kids to have something to aim for, too.”

  “Agreed. I’m also hoping it might convince him to stay here. He mentioned to you in his interview, right?”

  “Oh. That he might go back to England? I think so.” I tucked my hair behind my ear.

  “It’s why she won’t go out with him,” Holley said brightly.

  “Momma!” Leo burst out of the group of people with his arms held out. “I’m in goal, I’m in goal!”

  Like that wasn’t obvious from the one-on-one lessons.

  God bless kids.

  “Good job, monster!” I bent down and scooped him up into a giant hug. “Wow! You’ve worked so hard!”

  “Auntie Holley! Uncle Seb! I’m in goooooal!”

  That was my ear.

  I put him down so he could accept his hugs and congrats from them. I was going to pretend my cousin hadn’t mentioned me and Ollie, mostly because there was technically nothing going on there and I knew Sebastian was a master meddler when it came to romance.

  “Right, we need to go,” I said to Leo, ruffling his hair. “Dad’s calling you soon and we don’t want to be late. Say goodbye to Auntie Holley and Uncle Seb.”

  Leo did just that and took my hand as we headed for the parking lot. “Dad’s coming tomorrow, right?”
/>   “Friday, after practice. He has a late meeting this week,” I answered, leading him out. “Do you need to use the bathroom before we go?”

  “No.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay.” I took him to the car, and he got in the back. I tossed his things in with him and got in myself, starting the engine. “What do you want for dinner tonight?”

  “Umm, I don’t know. Pizza?”

  “Pizza tomorrow. Ollie is coming over again to do more soccer practice with you.”

  He gasped. “He is?”

  “Sure is.” I pulled out of the parking lot. “And you said you wanted to make pizza then because you’re with Dad on Friday. Remember?”

  “Oh, I remember.” He went silent for a moment. “Momma?”

  “Yes, Leo?”

  “Are you dating Ollie?”

  I almost choked on my saliva. “No, I’m not dating him. Why do you ask that?”

  “My friend at soccer, Hayden, his sister works at the newspaper, too. She said you got flowers from Ollie today.”

  Great. Did everyone know?

  “I did. They’re the pretty ones on the kitchen table.” I pulled up at the intersection. “He sent me flowers today to thank me for dinner last night. It’s the polite thing to do when someone does something nice for you. His momma raised him with good manners.”

  “Oh. Didn’t he say thank you?”

  I laughed, making the turn. “He did. The flowers were to give me an extra thank you, which was very nice of him.”

  “So if my teacher helps me on something I’m really stuck on, I should buy her flowers?”

  “Maybe pick some daisies,” I said slowly. “That’s a lot of money for a math problem, Leo.”

  “Can we buy her flowers at the end of the year for being a great teacher?”

  “We sure can. If you want to make it special, you can do extra chores to earn that money and buy them yourself.” I turned onto the road that would lead us home. “It would be good for you, and she’d like that a lot.”

  “Okay. But is Ollie your friends?”

  “Yes, baby, he’s my friend.”

  “Do you kiss? Like Dad and his girlfriend do?”

  “We do not,” I said firmly. “When did you see your dad and Carrie kiss?”

  I caught him wrinkling his face up in the mirror. “When he called me before he came. She kissed him on camera before he told her to go away.”

  Ah. Before the breakup. Did Leo know they weren’t together?

  Hmm. It wasn’t my place.

  “I see.” I pulled into the driveway and stopped the car. “Have you decided what you want to eat yet?”

  “Can we have burgers?”

  I started the engine. “Pit stop at the store! Let’s go.”

  CHAPTER TEN – LONDON

  RULE TEN: IF YOU THINK IT’S TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE…

  KISS IT. THE FROG COULD BE A PRINCE, AFTER ALL.

  “Momma! You’re so bad at this!”

  I laughed and buried my face in my hands. “I’m not a soccer player, Leo!”

  “And thank God for that,” Ollie retorted, looking me up and down. “Did you even kick the ball this time?”

  “Look here, mister!” I jabbed my finger in his arm. “I touched it with the side of my foot.”

  “It moved,” Leo confirmed.

  “Hmm.” Ollie looked between us skeptically. “I’m not sure your mum’s cut out for this, Leo.”

  Leo shook his head. “She’s bad.”

  “Great. In that case, does anyone mind if I go inside and start getting the pizza bases rolled out?” I held out my hands. “Because I’m going to put my back out if I keep trying this.”

  “I’m hungry,” Leo said to me. “Are we doing the cheese and stuff?”

  I nodded. “I’ll call you in when they’re done.”

  “Do you need any help?” Ollie asked. “We’re done here. He can run drills by himself.”

  “Thank you, but it’s fine. I’ve done this a thousand times.”

  “I haven’t. Leo, are you good here? Keep practicing those runs with the cones, okay?”

  “I got it!” Leo threw the soccer ball and caught it again. “You bought pepperoni, Momma, right?”

  “Like I’d forget.” I winked at him then turned to Ollie. “Come on, then. If you insist. You know the dough is made, right?”

  “Yeah, but I’ve never done that whole hand thing where they spin it.” He waved in hands in what I thought was supposed to be a pizza base tossing motion but just looked like he was conjuring some kind of demon. “Do you do that?”

  “Yes. I’ll teach you.” I nodded for him to follow me into the kitchen. I’d set everything up on the kitchen table because it gave me more room to roll than the counter did. “Can you get the mixing bowl out of the fridge, please? It’s got the dough in.”

  Ollie did as I asked as I spread flour over the table. He set the bowl down on the table and I took the dough out, splitting it into three, and took the first, smaller lump for Leo.

  “You’re doing yours,” I warned him. “So watch me do Leo’s.”

  “That looks smaller than the other dough balls.”

  “It is.” I grinned, coating the ball with flour before I grabbed my rolling pin and started rolling it out. I talked Ollie through the whole process, showing him every bit of it, then set Leo’s base on one of the pizza trays.

  “How do you know how to do this?” Ollie asked, taking one of the dough balls.

  “My roommate in college was half-Italian,” I answered. “Leo! Come and wash your hands and do your pizza!” I called, then turned back to Ollie. “Sorry. Her mom grew up in Italy before she moved here, so she knew how to do it. We moved off-campus in our third year into a small apartment and she taught me then.”

  “All right. So I roll it now?”

  “Yes, until it’s about twelve inches in diameter.” I took my ball of dough and did the same thing he was, but I had to wait for the rolling pin. As I did, Leo left his shoes and gloves by the back door and went to wash his hands.

  “Okay, now you can either slap it to shape it or just go straight to tossing it.”

  Ollie looked at the dough on the table and slapped his hand against it. Hard. “Like that?”

  I blinked at him. “No. It’s pizza dough, Ollie. Not an ass. You don’t need to slap it so hard.”

  He grinned.

  “You put it on your hand and forearm and gently slap it to get lumpy bumpy bits out, but maybe you should go straight to tossing it. You know, in case you bruise it from your enthusiasm.”

  He laughed right as Leo came back in.

  “You haven’t done yours yet?” he asked me.

  “No, monster. Someone’s taking forever.” I winked at him. “Why don’t you do your toppings, and I’ll put it in? I think Ollie could take a while.”

  Leo giggled and pulled up a chair to do his. “Is he slapping it too hard? I heard you say the a-word.”

  I grimaced. “I’ll put a dollar in the jar.”

  “I’m rich.”

  Ollie laughed. “You have a swear jar?”

  “Momma says naughty words sometimes, and I like soccer balls.” Leo shrugged like it was no big deal.

  I sighed and met Ollie’s eyes. “My grandmother has a potty mouth, and when Leo told one of his friends, they told him their sister has a swear jar because she’s a teenager and very naughty. Leo decided he wanted one so that anyone who swears in his presence has to give him money.”

  “Does your grandmother do it?”

  “No, and he has a tally on the fridge of how much money she owes him.”

  Leo leaned over. “Twenty-three bucks.”

  “Wow. That’s a lot of swearing,” Ollie said, appropriately horrified.

  “She’s old and claims she forgets.” I rolled my eyes. “She’s just a belligerent pain in the—”

  Leo froze and stared at me.

  “—Behind,” I finished.<
br />
  “Oh, no,” he muttered.

  Ollie visibly fought back a laugh. “How do I toss this thing? I feel like I’m making pancakes again. Last time I did that, they stuck to the ceiling.”

  “You really aren’t good in the kitchen, are you?” I questioned, raising an eyebrow. “Can you cook at all?”

  “I can roast chicken. Boil a few vegetables. Always burn the potatoes, though,” he mused. “Not much point cooking a roast dinner for just me.”

  Damn. It must have been hard not having your comforts. I couldn’t imagine just cooking for one. I only cooked as often as I did because Leo liked to cook and often helped me. In my opinion, cooking was a vital skill, and it was one I wanted him to have.

  “Okay, copy me.” I grinned at Ollie and lifted my pizza. I slapped it gently in a few places, then showed him the position to toss. “Do it slowly and gently.”

  “It’s not a butt,” Leo interjected.

  I almost dropped the pizza. “Leo!”

  He giggled.

  “Okay.” I fought back a laugh of my own. I had deserved that, after all. “Like this.” I showed him how to do it. “Slowly.”

  Ollie moved the dough counter-clockwise, super slowly until he got the hang of the motion, when he sped up a little bit. We did three or four turns before I said, “And toss!”

  “Wait, what?” He threw the dough up in the air, eyes wide and panicked. “Ah!”

  “Catch it!” I yelled.

  He held his arms out perfectly straight in front of him, eyes still resembling dinner plates, and watched in horror as the pizza base landed on his forearms.

  And slipped right through to a pile on the table.

  Leo burst out laughing.

  I looked at Ollie. I really was trying desperately not to laugh at him. He’d tried so hard only to fail at the last hurdle, and I’d done that more times than I could count, but it…

  Well, it was funny.

  He was still standing there with his arms out in front of him, looking forlornly at the mess of dough that had slapped onto the table and made flour go everywhere in a puff of white. “That didn’t go well.”

  I bit my lip, gently putting my base down. “Do you want me to help? You might be able to unfold it, but I think you should re-knead it and start again.”