Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Mariah Ankenman

Author:Mariah Ankenman
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-949090-78-9
Publisher: City Owl Press

Chapter Thirteen

Del glanced at the clock again. Five minutes had gone by since he checked it last. “That can’t be right,” he muttered to himself.

“I’m sorry, did you say something to me?”

He glanced over at Penny, sitting at the bar, laptop open, fingers flying across the keys even as she looked at him. The woman was freaky smart and amazing with computers. She did freelance web design—including theirs—and often worked at Jack’s before they opened. But today she was just here to hang with BJ. Still, nothing kept the uber nerd away from her precious computer for long.

“Oh, sorry Penny. No. I was just talking to myself.”

She grinned. “I do that, too. All the time, actually. Usually when I’m coding.” Her entire face blushed, reddish-brown freckles standing out against the pink. “I’m a huge proponent of the concept of rubber duck debugging.”

Okay, he had no idea what that meant, but asking would only instigate an hour-long explanation where he’d be more lost in the end than when she started. He liked Penny, but the woman was so scary smart he had a hard time connecting with her. Made him wonder how she and BJ remained so close. His older brother may have scored near perfect on his SATs, but BJ knew how to speak layman terms.

“Uh-huh. Rubber ducking,” he said.

Her nose wrinkled, fingers ceasing their furious typing. “Don’t worry, I won’t explain it to you. It’s just a silly programming term.”

Oh, thank God. Penny could bore the paint off a drying wall when she started her geek talk.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that I was supposed to meet Cassie here half an hour ago to go over wedding plans and she hasn’t shown.” He gave a casual shrug that he totally didn’t feel.

“Did you call her?”

No, he hadn’t. He didn’t want to seem desperate or clingy even though that’s exactly what he felt at the moment. Cassie rarely showed up late to anything. She was a very punctual person. ‘If you’re not five minutes early, you’re five minutes late’ had always been her motto. Whenever she did run late, she called or texted to let everyone know. This just wasn’t like her.

Unless she’s having second thoughts.

He shoved the idea away. She needed this to work as much as he did. Charlie had made up with her, he had soothed her worries about her witch of a cousin, everything was going great.

If everything is great where is she?

Glancing up at the clock again, he noticed two minutes had gone by. Fantastic.

He opened his mouth to say—hell if he had an explanation for not just calling her—but was saved by the chime of his cell.

“Excuse me.” Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he exhaled his first relieved breath in the last forty minutes. “It’s Cassie.”

Penny smiled, going back to her computer.

Reading the text, Del’s relief vanished. Worry settled in his chest, squeezing all air from his lungs.

Sick. Can’t make it today.

The brief explanation had his mind whirling. Could she still be sick from yesterday? If so, that was one mighty hangover.

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