The Man Most Likely

For the first time that day, she looked flustered, but she quickly recovered. “Sure. That would be fun. What do you want to do? Catch a band at LoBar or go for pizza at the Last Steep?”

Those were the kind of dates he had in his slacker days. Now he wanted to do something classier, more grown-up. “I was thinking I’d take you to dinner at Garlic Mike’s.” The intimate Italian eatery on the outskirts of Gunnison had been voted Most Romantic Restaurant in a local newspaper poll.

Angela’s eyes widened. “Oh. Well. I don’t know—”

“How about Friday night?”

She shook her head. “I have too much to do to get ready for the fund-raiser on Saturday.”

“Then you choose a night.”

She turned and began rearranging a display of Chocolate Moose coffee mugs on a nearby shelf. “Maybe now isn’t a good time. I have the play and rehearsals and a lot of work getting ready for the fund-raiser.”

Was she rejecting him? Deep breath. Time to regroup. He couldn’t remember when a woman had turned him down. In fact, he was pretty sure this was a first.

He looked around the shop, searching for inspiration. He found it in a poster advertising the upcoming performances of I Hate Hamlet. “What about Sunday night?” he said. “The fund-raiser will be over and the play doesn’t start until the next week.”

She shook her head. “No. I’d better not.”

He stood very still, working hard to keep his feelings from showing in his face. She really was turning him down. And why? The two of them got along great. “Is there something in particular about me you don’t like?” he asked stiffly.

“No!” She whirled to face him, her eyes wide with surprise, her cheeks flushed. “I like you. I really do.”

He believed her. She was a good actress, but he didn’t think she was faking it now. And he hadn’t imagined the heat between them when their hands had brushed in the bowl of chocolate. “Are you dating someone else?” he asked. That had to be the answer. She probably had some big bruiser of a boyfriend who’d like nothing better than to pound any potential rival.

“No.” She turned away and began wiping down the hot chocolate machine. “I just…I have too much else going on right now to start dating anyone,” she said. “It’s so hard juggling everything. I have to be at the theater practically every night, and the shop takes up all my time during the days. I guess that’s life in a tourist town during the busy season.”

There was more to her reluctance to go out with him than a lack of time, he was sure. “Maybe later, then,” he said, doing his best to sound unaffected by her rejection, though inside he was crushed. And confused—both by her reluctance and by his own attraction to a woman who was nothing like any other woman he’d wanted to spend time with. He was a guy who always dated the hottest girl in any crowd. Angela wasn’t that kind of girl—though for some reason she certainly raised his temperature. He couldn’t figure it out, but he wanted her to at least give him a chance to try.