was halfway to the bookstore when he saw Tina Swift coming down the sidewalk from the other direction. Tina was recently divorced and had half the men in town sniffing after her. Hardly surprising, considering how cute she was.
Cute and stuck-up. She’d been in his class, a cheerleader and a member of the top social tier at Icicle Falls High. She’d never paid any attention to Jonathan then or in the twelve years after graduation. It was only once she’d opened a shop that sold imported lace and china three years ago and needed someone to design a website that she’d remembered his existence.
Now she’d spotted him and was smiling as if they were buds, which meant she wanted something. And it sure wasn’t a date.
Jonathan pretended not to see and crossed the street.
Undeterred, she called his name and ran after him.
Okay, he gave up. He stopped.
She hardly allowed him time to say a self-conscious hello before asking, “Did you get your reunion invitation?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“I hope you put the date on the calendar.”
“Well,” he began.
She didn’t let him finish. “It’s going to be even better than the ten-year. We’ve already heard from a ton of people. Cam Gordon...”
Football fathead and snob. There’s someone I want to see.
“Feron Prince...”
The Prince of Darkness. He stuffed me in a locker when we were freshmen.
“Kyle Long. He was a friend of yours, wasn’t he?”
“Still is.” And Jonathan didn’t need to go to the reunion to see him.
“I think Rand is coming.”
Which meant Jonathan wouldn’t be, for sure.
“Did you know he got married?”
Married? Jonathan smiled. “No.” So Rand was out of circulation. Well, well.
“Oh, and we just heard from Lissa Castle, our very own celebrity. She’s definitely coming.”
Rand was out of circulation and Lissa was coming. Was he imagining it or were the stars aligning? (Whatever that meant.) If he went to the reunion, he’d have a whole weekend of close proximity to Lissa. Maybe he could separate her from her adoring fans long enough to talk with her, impress her, maybe even dance with her. Except he couldn’t dance.
“Jonathan?”
Tina was looking at him, eyebrows raised.
He pulled himself back into the present. “What?”
“Like I just said, I was hoping you could help me out with a couple of things. We want a website for the reunion, and I thought maybe you wouldn’t mind making one. You do such good work. And you did a wonderful job designing the webpage for the chocolate festival.”
But that had been something he wanted to do. This, not so much.
“We could put a bunch of pictures from the yearbook up there, along with any current ones we get. Have a place for people to post. You know, that sort of thing.”
“You could just do that on Facebook,” he said, hoping to dodge this assignment.
“Oh, great idea! Could you do that, too?”
Wait a minute. He hadn’t said yes and already she’d doubled his work, and none of it was anything he would get paid for.
But how to say no to a pretty woman? Jonathan didn’t have a clue.
“Oh, please say yes. I need a tech wizard.”
“I guess I could.” What the heck. She was going to wear him down, anyway, and they both knew it.
He sighed inwardly. Now he could hear all about how successful his former classmates had been, see pictures of their wives and kids. Yuck.
Meanwhile, here was Tina, gushing away. “Fabulous! Thank you, Jonathan. You are just...”
A sucker.
“...the best.”
The best geek. Nothing wrong with being a geek, he reminded himself. It had worked fine for Bill Gates.
“I should get going,” Tina said. “I’m late for the committee meeting. But I’m so glad I ran into you.”
Yeah, him, too. Before he could say anything, sarcastic or otherwise, she was hurrying off down the sidewalk.
Jonathan continued on toward the bookstore, deep in thought. Lissa would be back for the reunion in August. Now that Rand was married, maybe he stood a chance of at least getting her attention for a few minutes.
Realistically, that was about all he’d get. She’d been way too popular, and practically everyone else would want to hang with her. Still, he and Lissa had known each other for years. Surely she’d want to visit with him, too.
But simply visiting wasn’t going to cut it. He had to figure out a way to shake things up, make an impression.
Hmm. Following that line of thought to its logical conclusion... If he wanted to make an impression, he had to come up with a plan.
His earlier conversation with Todd Black returned for a visit. You’ve got to hang in there.
He pulled his smartphone out of his jeans pocket and looked up Winston Churchill’s famous quote. “Never, never, never, never give up.” What chance did he have of winning Lissa’s love? About one in a million. If he didn’t even try? None.
He squared his shoulders. He was not going to give up. Somehow he was going to find a way to transform himself from zero to hero, find a way to make her see that her truest childhood friend could also be her truest love.
But how?
He needed a love coach.
Chapter Three
Adam was missing from the next Friday-night poker game. “He decided to stay up in Alaska for the weekend and fish after finishing his sales calls,” Jonathan explained to his fellow gamblers.
“Should be good salmon fishing on the Copper River about now,” said Vance. “Especially next week. I may have to take a run up there myself.”
“Going up to Alaska for a little fishing when the spirit moves you? Business must be great at the bookstore,” Kyle observed, his voice tinged with jealousy.
Vance shrugged. “It’s okay.”
With Vance’s lifestyle, it had to be doing more than okay. Vance didn’t talk about his business much. For that matter, he didn’t talk much about his life at all. Jonathan knew he’d been married and had a daughter, and that was about it. Maybe Vance had a rich uncle who died and left him a fortune. Maybe he was a Microsoft millionaire. Jonathan had no idea. When it came to sharing his personal life, Vance preferred to stick to topics such as his fishing adventures (especially the one that got away), how much he’d won or lost at the casino or his latest wine discovery.
“Okay,” Vance said, and started dealing the cards, “let’s get down to business. Five-card draw, jacks or better, to open.”
As they picked up their cards, Bernardo mused, “I don’t know how that boy can go off fishing on the weekend all the time. If I did that, my Anna would not be happy.”
“He’s already up there, anyway, since that’s part of his sales territory,” Kyle said, “so he may as well stay. I would.”
“You’re not married, amigo,” Bernardo reminded him.
That made Kyle frown. “Thanks for the update.”
“If a man wants to keep his woman