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Carly looked nervously out the window and glanced at the entrance from time to time. She’d decided to keep her long, blonde hair down. The signal they’d decided on was chocolate milkshake. If Carly ordered a chocolate milkshake, it would signal to Charlotte and Steph that she wasn’t enjoying herself, or that NYJedi007 was a psycho. Everyone knew that Carly did not like chocolate milkshake. Her friends knew that she was a strawberry milkshake kind of girl. Classic. Sweet. Fresh. Delicious.
She checked her watch. He was five minutes late. That’s okay, she thought. He could be on the road. He was coming from New York, after all.
Carly tried to calm herself. “He should be here soon. Any minute now—soon,” she whispered under her breath.
Ten minutes later and a couple of health checks from Charlotte—Are you okay? Yes, I’m okay—a wave of worry passed over her. What if he doesn’t come? Carly bit her nail and quickly pulled it away, curling her hand into a fist instead. Relax, she told herself. Breathe and count to ten.
One—inhale and exhale, Carly guided herself to a calm place through self-talk.
Two—he will love you, Carly thought. Just as you are. That was the whole point of Love Is Blind, right? To fall in love with the person and not how they look.
Three—Three. The number of emails exchanged with NYJedi007 before I realized I had found a match. The one.
Four—The number of times I had wanted to tell him I love him.
Five—He had given me five pet names. I counted them. Sweet one. Buttercup. Bunny. Cupcake. And lastly, my favorite, Willow Girl. Carly smiled with each one... every time he’d used them.
Six—the number of magical months that we have been chatting online. Six magical months of getting to know him.
“Carly?”
Carly looked up at the interruption of a male voice. “Mick!” she said, quickly recognizing the eldest of the Myers siblings. Carly stood up and gave him a hug. “Oh my gosh, it’s so good to see you! I swear, you look more and more like that silver fox, George Clooney, every time I see you!”
Mick chuckled softly.
“What are you doing here?” Carly asked excitedly. She wasn’t lying when she called him a silver fox. Mick was actually very good looking. He was still as hot as he was when she last saw him.
“Uh”—Mick ran a hand through his salt and pepper hair—“just in the area for work, and I thought I’d pop in and check on the ol’ town. How are you?”
“Missing the small-town vibe, are you?” Carly teased. Her smile was quickly followed by a frown as she sat back down. “I think I might have just been stood up,” she said, resting her chin on her hand. “Care to join me?”
Mick pulled a chair out and sat across from her. “I can’t imagine that anyone would stand you up on purpose,” he said.
Carly sighed. “And here I was thinking he was the one.”
Mick raised his eyebrows. “The one, huh?”
Carly nodded. “Yeah,” she said with a long exhale.
“That’s a pretty big deal. Anyone I know?”
“Nope,” she said, giving an extra pop on the p. She shook her head in defeat. “In fact, you know what? He could be just about anybody! Or nobody,” Carly said, slightly panicked. I could have wasted the last six months of my life chatting with a robot. Or some scammer from Nigeria—or anywhere else in the world. I’m such a loser! I really should have known better.” Carly told Mick about NYJedi007 and how they were supposed to meet. “It’s lucky I didn’t sit here with a rose, or arrange to go and meet him at the Empire State Building or something like that. I’d have felt like a bigger fool.”
* * *
MICK STUDIED CARLY’S face. It hurt him to know that he was causing her the strife she was obviously feeling. When he saw her from the door, he knew he couldn’t just leave her there waiting. It would have been wrong to hurt her like that. He was certain it would hurt her. They’d spent the last six months talking about when they might finally meet. Today was supposed to be that day.
“Hey,” he placed a hand over hers. “You don’t know what’s happened yet. He might have—I don’t know—gotten into an accident.”
Carly looked up at him. Tears slowly formed around the rims.
He’d never noticed her eyes before. What were they? Hazel? Honey?
“Thanks, but that’s highly unlikely.” Carly said with a weak smile.
“I don’t think he’d knowingly leave you sitting around here on your own. He wouldn’t dare.”
“Mick Myers!” Charlotte said as she approached their table. “I’d know that fancy hairdo from a mile away—how are you?”
Mick flashed Charlotte a smile and stood up to greet her. “How’s it going, Charlotte?” he asked, as he took her into an embrace.
“I’m awesome—as always,” Charlotte said, holding her hands up to her sides as if to show the world around her. “What brings you here?”
“I—uh—”
Mick had just begun to answer when a realization flashed across her face. “You’re not”—she pointed between him and Carly—“are you? Are you NY-Jedi-double-oh-seven?”
Carly waved her hand in the air. “No, no, no, Charlotte. It’s not him.”
Charlotte laughed at herself and brought one hand to her chest and the other on Mick’s shoulder. “You almost had me there! I thought you were her internet prince!”
“Afraid not.” Mick pressed his lips together. “A prince, maybe... but not an internet one. I’m definitely not a Jedi either.”
Thankfully, they all laughed at his joke.
Charlotte’s reaction was probably one of the main reasons he could never pursue a relationship with Carly. Carly was too young for him and the whole of Willow would just swallow them up and make them the talk of the town for years to come. Mick shook his head at the thought.
“Ah well... can I get you guys a drink? Coffee? Tea? A milkshake?”
Mick shook his head. “Uh-uh, no milkshake for me, thanks. I could do with a coffee though.” He turned to Carly. “Do you mind if I join you and have a coffee?”
Carly glanced at Charlotte. “What do you think?”
“Better than staring out the window.” Charlotte shrugged. “Or you could have a chocolate milkshake, if you prefer?”
Carly smiled. “I’d love a strawberry milkshake, please.”
Charlotte raised an eyebrow. “Strawberry milkshake and a coffee coming right up!”
When Charlotte turned towards the kitchen, Mick focused his attention on Carly. He’d never noticed her smile before and was admittedly quite taken with it. He closed his eyes for a second to sort himself out. You can’t, he reminded himself.
“You okay?” Carly asked.
Mick opened his eyes. “Yeah—yeah. I was just—I just remembered something.”
“Oh, do you have to go? You don’t have to stay with me. I mean, if that’s what you’re doing.”
“No, no—it was just something for work.” Mick sat upright. “So, tell me about your date. This what’s his name? The Jedi.”
“You’ll think it’s stupid.” Carly blushed and looked down. “Even I think it’s stupid.”
Mick wished that he could reach out and take her hands in his. He wished that he could tell her everything he’d wanted to tell her when she was his WillowCup717. “I’m sure I won’t.” He wanted to tell her that it wasn’t stupid, and that he felt everything she was feeling too. “Let’s start with your handle... if he’s a Star Wars James Bond, who are you? Princess Leia?”
Carly smiled again. It was a beautiful smile. She sighed her handle, “WillowCup717.”
Mick raised his eyebrows. “WillowCup—I get. Because you work at a cake shop, right? And what about 717? Birthday? Lucky digits? ATM pin?”
“717 Cherry Oak Drive. It’s my house number.”
“Ah... that would have been my next guess!”
“Here we go,” Charlotte sang. “One coffee and a strawberry milkshake for our girl.”
“Thanks, Charlotte.”
“Thanks, Charlotte,” Mick grinned.
“Coolio—just let me know if you kids need anything else.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m older than you,” Mick said.
“Yeah, you are. I just didn’t want to make you feel out of place,” Charlotte teased, laughing out loud at her own joke. “I’m joking! I’ll leave you two to it.”
“Go on,” Mick chided. “Get outta here!”