*
I could hardly wait to tell Owen what I’d discovered. We ran into each other again on our way to work, right in front of the store. I wouldn’t have thought it would take much effort to play the newly-in-love couple, but I was so conscious of being watched by the gray guy who’d followed me from my apartment that I couldn’t relax into the role, even if it was entirely genuine.
We kissed awkwardly, then I blurted, “You’ll never guess what I found last night!”
His lips twitched in a not-quite-suppressed smile. “Most of these buildings are empty shells?”
“Oh, you too, huh?”
“Great minds think alike. We should probably explore more when we get a chance. It could be useful to have a way to move between buildings. Though we’ll have to be careful while we have a shadow.”
“Ooh, that sounds so secretive, like we’re in an underground movement. I feel like I should get a jaunty beret, like the French Resistance.”
“You don’t want to tip our hand, do you?” Although his tone was teasing, I noticed that he kept glancing toward the park across from the store, where Mac and his sidekick were in their usual spot, playing chess.
“Should we talk to Mac now?” I asked, following his gaze.
Owen studied them for a long moment, then said, “Let’s wait a little while, enough to appear normal. If you seem to come out of Josh’s spell and then we’re immediately having intense conversations with people we usually just exchange pleasantries with, it would look suspicious.”
“You’re not getting cold feet about your plan to bravely face the consequences, are you?”
“No, but we should be methodical about this.” He frowned in thought for a moment, then said, “Let’s take lunch to the park, and I’ll challenge him to a game.”
“Okay. It’s a date, but you can always back out if you change your mind.”
“I won’t,” he said firmly, but he didn’t look happy about it.
*
When I went up to the coffee shop, I wasn’t sure how to approach Florence. She’d conspired with Josh, and yet she’d steered me toward Owen. I figured if she was playing the sassy best friend role in this romantic comedy, she’d want to squeal over me finally taking her advice and getting together with Mr. Right. I tried to psych myself up into a good morning-after glow as I reached the top of the stairs and headed for the counter.
“Well, look at you!” she said with obviously faked enthusiasm. “Someone’s all aglow this morning. Last night must have been spectacular. Let me see the ring.”
“There is no ring.”
She looked truly stunned. “He didn’t propose? Then what’s the glow about?”
I had to fight not to smile. “I turned him down.”
“You did what?” It came out in an outraged-sounding yelp, but her eyes lit up and she was unable to restrain a grin.
I tried to remember how the movie had gone so I could sound convincing, since I figured I’d need a better reason than “the spell broke” to explain why the whammy Josh had apparently put on me hadn’t worked. I tied on my apron and straightened the knot to buy myself time to think, then said, “Well, I thought that a lot of my reservations had to do with how unromantic he was the first time he brought up marriage, like it was some chore he was doing to help me. But then when he did the all-out proposal, complete with ring, sparklers, and kneeling, and I still felt the same way about him, I knew it was wrong.”
She gave up fighting the grin and beamed ear-to-ear. “Even with the sparklers?”
“Yeah, even with the sparklers.”
“What did you do next?”
“I left. I can’t believe I did it, but he was kneeling on the floor and everyone was watching, and I just said, ‘I can’t,’ and left the restaurant, and I headed straight to the store to catch Owen before he left. You were right. He was the one, and he has been since we met. Everything just clicked with him. It was right.”
She leaned forward like she was in the audience at the exciting part of a movie. “And what happened?”
I didn’t have to fake a blush. “Well, I told him what I felt, and we kissed, and it turns out he felt the same way, too, and then we went out for a drink and he walked me home.”
She used her apron to wipe imaginary tears from her eyes. “Oh, I just love a happy ending.”
“Don’t make fun of me,” I warned.
“I’m not!” Then she gave me a saucy grin. “Did the earth move for you? Did it change the way you saw everything?”
