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Okay, so we aren’t starting over.
Chapter 6
Brooke
I stepped out of my apartment, and of course I just had to bump into my insufferable neighbor who had just come back from walking Brady with his daughter Anne. We stared at each other for a second, and his eyes slowly took in my outfit before he lifted his lips into a thin line.
“Asher,” I greeted, and he replied with a stiff nod, and I mimicked his actions as I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Hi, Anne!” I greeted her cheerily, and I was sure I heard him scoff, but when I raised my head, he still had that rigid thin line on his lips.
Can’t this man smile?
“Hi, Brooke,” she smiled as she tilted her head to the side as her huge blue eyes took in my appearance before she revealed her toothless grin. “Where are you going?”
“Anne,” her father scolded gently, and I smiled as I stood up straight.
“I’m going to meet my best friend for dinner. Do you want me to come back with a gift for you?” I asked her, and she hummed as she pressed her finger on her chin.
I looked up at Asher and tilted my head to the side, silently asking him if I was allowed to buy his daughter something, and he first looked at her before turning back to face me and slightly nodded his head.
“Cake!” She raised her finger, and I giggled as I snapped my fingers.
“I got you, girl.” She giggled as she covered her mouth, and I smiled. Darn it, how could Asher have such an adorable daughter?
“How are you liking the candles?” he suddenly spoke up, and I raised my eyebrows in shock.
“They’re okay,” I nodded, but I loved them! Ugh, I was obsessed with the vanilla smell, and my apartment felt like home! I had no idea I was a vanilla scent person before the candles he gave me. “And how is Brady fitting in?”
Brady was fitting in nicely from what I could hear whenever I sat on my balcony. It seemed that Anne and Brady had quickly become friends because I would hear her call for him to come sit with her and be her guest, along with Asher, during her tea parties.
I swear Asher was blessed with the most fun and cute daughter ever!
“Good.” One word answer. Cool.
“Well, I have to go now. I’ll see you later with your cake, Anne,” I told her as I waved my hand, and she waved back excitedly. “Which flavor?”
“She’s okay with anything,” Asher confirmed my suspicions, and I stiffly nodded as I took a step away from the family.
This man was awkward, and he knew how to infuriate me all too well; it felt like I had to try extra hard just to have a conversation with him that didn’t involve us cussing each other out and hating each other’s existence.
“Alright, then. Later.” I walked away from them toward the elevator, and he called out my name before I reached the elevator. I wondered what I had done wrong in the space between “later” and walking toward the elevator. “Yes?”
He lifted his phone, and I stared at it as if it was some weird foreign object that I had never seen before even though I was holding my phone in my hands.
“Give me your number.” What?
“No,” I declined, and he sighed as he rolled his eyes.
“I’m not asking you out.” He sounded annoyed, and I took some offense in his tone. Was he trying to say that he wouldn’t be remotely interested in me?
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked in the same annoyed tone, and he breathed out harshly as he shook his head.
“Forget it.” He started to walk away, and I ran after him in my six-inch platform heels, refusing to be dismissed like that.
“I don’t think so.” I grabbed his phone from his hand and put in my number. “I don’t answer my phone after ten p.m.” I told him, and he took his phone from me, his lips slightly lifting, but he still looked rigid. “And I don’t like nudes!”
Although I would appreciate yours from the waist up, I thought to myself; he rolled his eyes, and my smile grew as I watched him walk away without saying anything.
