Reunion in October (The Calendar Girls Book 2) by Gina Ardito Page A

solid ground.  I pulled away and held up my hand like a traffic cop. “Josh, stop.”
    His face reflected boyish innocence. “What? What’d I say?”
    “Don’t call me your lady. I’m not your lady. Or your girlfriend, for that matter.”
    “Take it easy, Frannie. I was just having fun—”
    “Francesca,” I corrected automatically.
    His gaze leveled on me, and his eyes narrowed to slits. “Oh, right. Francesca, the ice princess. What happened to the fun-loving woman who danced away half the night with me at Promises, Promises? Mikey-Boy’s come back to town so you don’t need to slum with the local guy anymore?”
    “That’s not fair.” If he meant to make me squirm with the reminder about Michael, he succeeded, but not enough to make me pursue the change in topic. “Josh, don’t go there. Look, I’m sorry. But we’re not a couple, and we never will be. Don’t get me wrong. I like you.”
    He leaned back in his chair, setting distance between us. “You like me,” he repeated, his tone filled with wonder and his eyes staring at the recessed lighting in the ceiling. “Wow.” Sarcasm barbed the single syllable.             
    On a sigh, I tossed my napkin onto the table and got to my feet. “Maybe I should go. This was a mistake.”
    His hand landed on my wrist—light but insistent. “No, it wasn’t. Please. Sit. Let’s try again.”
    I stood taller and removed his hand. “I don’t see the point. Face it, Josh. You and I are just too different. And I’m too old for you.”
    Jaw slack, he blinked a half dozen times. “You’re thirty-four, for God’s sake.”
    “And you’re twenty-eight,” I retorted under my breath.
    “So?” He gestured to my chair again. Clearly, he had no intention of giving up the argument based on simple math. I allowed myself to return to my seat. Once I sat again, he leaned forward to whisper, “Is that what’s got you so riled up? My age?”
    “That’s only part of it,” I admitted.
    “What else? Tell me all of it so we can clear the air between us.” I didn’t reply. I didn’t have to. His lips twisted into a smirk. “Wait. I get it. You’re afraid I’m still in my ‘party ‘til I drop’ phase. That’s why my age bothers you. You think I spend every night at dance clubs and every day scaling rooftops to catch a pretty girl’s attention.”
    My forehead pleated in doubt lines. “Don’t you?”
    “Only for you, princess.” He wagged his dark brows at me.
    “That’s it.” I shot to my feet again. “This was definitely a mistake.”
    “No, it’s not.” He grabbed both my hands, clutched my fingers as if he were drowning. “Don’t you get it? Sure, I go overboard where you’re concerned. I admit that. Do you know why? I do it to make you smile, Frannie.”
    “Huh?” Okay, he would have to explain himself because I couldn’t leave with that ridiculous statement ringing in my head.
    “You have a great smile, but it’s like seeing Bigfoot. No one believes me when I try to tell them. You almost never smile. Even as a teenager, you never looked happy. And I understand why. You lost your dad when you were…what? Thirteen? You grew up too fast. And nowadays, you’ve got a major league serious job, a monastic social life, and a mother who relies on you to be more like her husband than her daughter. Hell, you were this close to marrying the wrong man because your mom had you convinced he was perfect for you.”
    “That’s not true,” I murmured, with no attempt to make the denial emphatic.
    “Yeah, it is. The right man would never have expected you to pick up and leave Snug Harbor because the right man would understand that you would never leave your family. But that’s beside the point. It’s what you’ve become since Mikey-boy left that drives me crazy. When you’re not working at the hospital, you’re either cloistered at home, or mowing your mother’s lawn. You’re fricking Cinderella, always putting someone