Austentatious

I couldn’t look at Beck, couldn’t risk meeting her eyes and losing it. Gabe, now focused on his plate and oblivious to the frenzy of unknowns clamoring in my head, asked. “So that’s it then? He’s out?”

“That’s it.”

“He’s the only guy you met?” Beck asked. “Him?”

“Only him,” I said, answering the unspoken question.

“You had to pick a guy with baggage—literally.” Gabe smirked.

Huh? Before I could ask Gabe what he was talking about, he pushed on with, “You have a chance here, Nic, to play with the cool kids, and as an engineer and a self-professed geek, you should jump on it.”

“I probably should object to that line of reasoning, but I’ve gotta side with Gabe on this one,” Beck said, spearing a chunk of pineapple and quirking her lips in friendly apology.

“Except that I’m not looking for cool, I’m looking for compatible.”

“Who’s to say he’s not?” Gabe was clearly rooting for this guy.

“Me!” Surely this should have been obvious. “We have nothing in common. And what about health insurance, a 401(k), job security. . . ?”

“First off, you don’t know he doesn’t have all that stuff. But even if he doesn’t, so what? Not everyone is on the fast track to a cushy retirement, Nic. And I’m guessing your main objection is that he’s not even on the sensible track. Face it, Nic,” he persisted, his smile smug, “you’re a snob.”

“I am not!” And then I wondered. Am I? I decided to concede the possibility. “Okay, maybe I am, but I’m not going to apologize for that. It’s my life.” And just like that, the fight went out of me. “It’s just not gonna work, okay?”

Gabe didn’t argue, merely quirked his lips in a rueful smile. I glanced over at Beck. She’d stayed quiet since the engineer jab, likely forming hypotheses of her own based on her insider knowledge of the journal and Fairy Jane. Or else just distracted by Gabe.

“Okay, so we’ve exhausted that topic,” I announced to the table at large. “Why don’t you go reload,” I suggested, gesturing to Gabe’s nearly empty plate, “and when you get back we’ll discuss the success of your evening. First date,” I informed Beck.

Flicking a quiet glance at Beck, Gabe slid obediently out of the booth. “You two coming?”

Beck looked down at her near-empty plate, but before she could answer, I swung my leg to smack against hers under the table, and like a pro, she looked up at Gabe and smiled. “Not yet.” So Gabe trailed off alone, none the wiser.

He wasn’t even a booth away when Beck whipped her attention back to me and whispered, “So is this true, a ruse, what? Tell me that you did not kiss a Scottish rocker, hand-picked by your fairy godmother no less, and send him on his merry way!”

“Shhhhhh! Yes, it’s true, but as I explained, he can’t have been the One. Fairy Jane must have been mistaken—or insane. Yes, he was charming and witty and sooo sexy, but he’s completely, inarguably ”—I drove this point home, hoping she’d concede the battle of wills before it began—“wrong for me.”

“How do you know it was him?”

“Take my word for it—it was definitely him.”

Her skepticism was clear, but she didn’t press it. “So really, that’s it?”

I looked away, confirming Gabe’s far-off location before falling back into the fray. “What do you mean exactly?”

“You’re just going to snub Fairy Jane and to hell with your one-of-a-kind magical journal?”

“I tried to snub her, last night after the wedding. I wrote another entry explaining why things with Sean would never work, explaining about The Plan ...”

“Oooh!” Beck had clearly put two and two together. “And she told you to pencil him in!” Her mouth fell open on a shocked smile. “I gotta say, I like the way she thinks. But how does she think you’re gonna manage that? You didn’t exchange phone numbers. Big mistake.” Seeing my glare, she added, “I’m just sayin’.”

“You’re right, we didn’t. Ergo, I will not be penciling him in. But I figure I’ll give her another shot. I even tried to steer her in the right direction.”

“You didn’t!” Beck demanded.

“Didn’t what?”

Beck and I jerked apart to stare up at Gabe as he slid into the booth with his second plate of food. He seemed to have an uncanny ability to horn in on secret powwows.

“You’re back,” Beck enthused. Her smile was winning, even in profile. “So tell me, where do you take a girl on a first date?” A little flirtatious drawl from Beck, and curiosity had clearly gone skittering from Gabe’s mind. The girl was good.

“Depends on the girl.” Very smooth, Gabe. “Last night we went to Eastside Cafe.”

“And is there a second date in your future?” I asked, wondering about Beck’s chances, pulling for them.

“All signs point to ‘hell no,’ ” he admitted, with a wry smile and a self-deprecating shrug.

Beck laughed. “Ahhh, the Magic Eight Ball. Ours was a love-hate relationship. I loved to ask, but invariably hated the answers. Same sob story with the Ouija board too.”

Gabe eyed her over the rim of his iced tea glass before informing us, “Well, you’ll love this. She was obsessed with The Amazing Race and was screening potential matches up front for their able- bodiedness, just in case.”

I couldn’t help it: I stopped chewing and stared, and when Gabe moved to shove another bite of food in his mouth, I lunged across the table to block him.

“Wait! Did you put on a good showing?”

Gabe lowered his fork, careful to look sufficiently put-upon. “I’m pretty sure I passed muster in the able- bodied department, just not in the willingness department.”

“You’re kidding. I would have thought you’d be into that.”

“I might have, but she was only interested in my body—and not in a good way. She all but pulled out a clipboard and measuring tape in the middle of dinner.”

I felt a giggle bubbling up but forcibly suppressed it.

“And after the busboy cleared the table, she actually wanted to arm wrestle.”

The mental picture this conjured was nearly too much for my self-control. I tipped my face down, feigning interest in my nearly empty plate.

“So did you?” Leave it to Beck to ask the million-dollar question. My head popped right back up again in my desperation to hear the answer.

Gabe swung his unreadable stare between the two of us, probably wondering how he’d ended up getting double-teamed, with hard-core participation from a complete stranger. Given what I’d just been through, I didn’t have a whole lot of sympathy for the guy.

“No. There wasn’t a lot of room, and besides, she’s ...”

“What?” Beck challenged. “A girl?”

I cut in. “Maybe in the interest of full disclosure, you should specify ‘Unwilling to submit to feats of strength’ in your profile,” I teased. I forked up a last bite of waffle. “Have there been any other recent matchups?” I probed.

Beck propped her elbow on the table and dropped her chin in her hand, apparently just as curious.

“As a matter of fact, I’m in the question-and-answer phase with a doctor,” he informed us, sounding distinctly stuffy. “And I wouldn’t mind a second opinion.” He grinned at his own pun, and with his eyes trained on Beck, it was obvious he didn’t require a third.

“A second opinion on what?” Beck asked, clearly up for whatever this brunch threw at her.

“Her get-acquainted question.”

“Let’s hear it,” she encouraged.

“She asked which three things I’d want with me if marooned on a desert island.”

“Not too original, but lots of potential there,” Beck allowed.

“I used to play that game with my grandfather,” I interjected. “My three things were a playhouse with working kitchen and bathroom, my favorite blanket, and a suitcase full of clothes.” I sipped my sour-sweet mimosa, proud of those long-ago, very sensible decisions.