Little Miss Lovesick Read Free Page B

into the aisle.
    Her eyes were fixed like a bird dog’s on something behind me. Come to think of it, she really did remind me of a pointer I saw once, completely consumed and unblinking. The dog I remembered was black and Emily’s hair is black as night. It made me start to laugh a little.
    “Shh,” she whispered. “Casually, turn and look but then turn around like you don’t see anything.”
    I tried to casually turn as she instructed. I don’t know what I expected — a wild animal or a ghost or something. But all I saw was some of the women from our trip, Sprite Guy, and another tourist fisherman guy. I turned around and shrugged.
    “What?” Apparently this was the wrong behavior for our undercover surveillance.
    “Shh! Don’t act like you’re looking.”
    “But I don’t know what I’m looking at.”
    She groaned. “Oh, now there it is. That is trul y nic e . Okay, over by the fishing poles. Look toward the window. But don’ t loo k .”
    I turned slowly in the direction of the big barrel and finally saw what Em was looking at. A ver y fine piece of God’s creation was bending over the barrel showing off the back of his Levi’s. Nice. Round. And long legs underneath.
    I turned back to Emily and grinned.
    “See?” She giggled. “Now that is on e fin e sit-down.”
    “I hate to say it, but I would have to agree with you,” I said as I took another peek. Not that I wa s lookin g -looking, but I was trying to remember that’s what girl trips are for, right? To laugh a lot, enjoy the scenery, and go home?
    As we both giggled and “enjoyed the scenery,” the scenery changed. Up from the bottom of the barrel rose Sprite Guy.
    No freaking way. Man, he was everywhere I turned.
    Emily giggled again. “Oh, yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.”
    I turned away. “Well, it’ s no t what I’m talking about.”
    “He’s cute. Bu t manl y cute.” Emily let the word roll off her tongue in a deep, husky voice, then laughed. “You know who he reminds me of? The Diet Coke Man. Remember, from those commercials. Tall, dark, and handsome? And brawny as — Hey! Syd!”
    She finally noticed I had walked away.
    She grabbed my arm as she caught up to me. “Seriously, doesn’t he remind you of The Diet Coke Man?”
    “Yeah, yeah, but he’s the Sprite guy.” I tried to be sure my tone implied that I had no interest in him whatsoever.
    “What? There’s no Sprite guy. No, it’s Diet Coke that has the commercials with the construction worker and the girls in the office—”
    I turned to face her and whispered, “ I kno w what you’re talking about. What I’m talking about is he’s the guy who spilled Sprite on me earlier.” I gestured to my shirt. “He’s annoying.” I didn’t mean to, but I glanced his way again. “Sweet, but annoying. This is a girls-only fishing trip and I don’t want him to think we would love for him to join us. That’s all I’m saying, okay?”
    Sweet? Why did I say he was sweet? I picked up a can of peas and pretended to read the label. Hmm, 30% of daily Vitamin C can be found in one serving of peas. Interesting.
    In my peripheral vision, I saw Emily look from me to him and back. “Wow. He’s sweet, huh?”
    Crap! I slammed the can on the shelf. As soon as she said the words, I started mentally shopping for a Sydney-sized muzzle. Emily is quick to play matchmaker, especially since Dirk and I broke up.
    Her eyes were alight with mischief. “You actually noticed a man? Did you talk to him? Come on, we’ll introduce ourselves.”
    If I walk backwards, can I have hindsigh t befor e I get in trouble?
    I planted my feet as she started to pull me away. “Emily! I already met him. He may be cute, but he—” I looked around to be sure he wasn’t nearby. “He’s just trying to pick up women.”
    “Oh, really?”
    You’ve never experienced “her gaze pinned her to the wall” until you’ve had Emily stare you down to get information. Escape is impossible.
    “Forget