Page 23 of Life, Love, and Other Messes

“Some.” I didn’t know what engineering people did in their down time, so I left it at that.

“So I was wondering if you’re busy tonight? We could catch dinner or something?”

Wait, what? I watched the pavement as we continued to walk, listened to our footsteps. There had never been anything but pleasant small talk between us, and a proposition was the last thing I’d expected. Of course, panic kicked in. “I’m busy tonight…I’m so sorry.”

“Not a problem.” Maudie’s face went pink. “Maybe some other time.”

“Yeah. Some other time.”

She stopped in front of a white sedan. “Well, this is me.”

“Have a good weekend,” I said, waving a little and continuing on my way.

Once I got to my car, I took a long breath. My pulse was racing mightily. I had never given Maudie a second look, and here I was freaking out. I didn’t have anything going on that evening, of course, but she’d taken me by surprise. There had always been token flirting before other people asked me out. This had been completely out of nowhere.

What if she wasn’t asking me out? Shit. Who was I to assume such a thing? Vera asked me to football games all the time and she had no intention of dating me. Granted, she was straight and twice divorced and said she never wanted to go out with anyone again. I reminded myself of how Maudie had flushed when I said I was busy. Yeah, she was asking me out.

By the time I got home, I felt a little less rattled, but I was still thinking things through. I parked my bag in the middle of the dining room table so Ollie wouldn’t chew up any of my books and slipped his harness on. “Shall we go out and solve the world’s problems?” He smiled up at me with his tongue hanging out sideways and jumped at the door.

Leaves were just beginning to fall, and we crunched through acorns along the sidewalk. I waved at Mrs. Finley, who was out watering her garden. And I thought. Frankly, I didn’t know what I wanted. It had been almost four months since Veronica moved herself out of my life. It didn’t really hurt anymore except, well, when someone brought it up. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt any more if I could just move on? She sure had.

I didn’t know if I should go out with Maudie, though. I had never felt a spark from anyone at the college, and I kind of liked it that way. Although I talked a little about it with Vera and those guys, I liked to keep my personal life separate from work. And what could we possibly have in common?

Maybe it would be a good idea. I’d had some pretty bad experiences dating people from my friend group and now they probably all knew how Veronica had scammed me and were laughing about it. I hadn’t even tried to hang out with any of them in months. Maybe it would be a good idea to try to get back into circulation with someone completely random. Maybe it would be better to bumble through my first attempt with someone I wasn’t crazy about, sort of like practice. And anyway, maybe we’d hit it off. Who knows.

That was when I turned onto the Sutherlands’ street and dropped my jaw. A U-Haul trailer was parked in the driveway, attached to Corey’s truck. I slowed to the point where Ollie was tugging at the leash, fear prickling along my skin. I really didn’t want them to be moving.

I was still most of the way up the block when Corey and a man that I guessed to be his brother came out of the house carrying a mattress. I didn’t say anything, but Corey waved at me on his way back into the house. A moment later, Lisa came out, carrying two boxes stacked on one another.

I almost tripped over Ollie. “Can I grab one of those?”

She continued up to the U-Haul and set them inside. “I’ve got it. Thank you, though.”

“I can bring Ollie home and help.”

She smiled and pushed hair that had escaped her ponytail back behind her ears. “We’re good. Corey’s cousin is here.”

“Are you guys…moving?” I really hoped this was some unfortunate figment of my imagination.

“Corey is.”

“Oh. I’m so sorry,” I stammered. “Are you guys—”

“Divorcing. And don’t be sorry. It’s been a long time in coming.”

“I had no idea.” I felt my cheeks going hot. There was absolutely no reason why I should know about their relationship when all I did was walk by every day. “Are you okay with everything?”

She shrugged. “I’m fine. It is what it is, you know?”

“But you’re not moving.”

“Nope. Just Corey.”

“Good. I mean…” I stared at Ollie for a minute. “It’s always nice seeing you on our walks.”

“It’s nice seeing you, too. And you, beautiful.” She bent to nudge Ollie, who was lying on the grass, half-assed watching a bird across the street.

“If you ever need anything, I’m down on Redbud. Twenty-one fifty-seven.”