It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk to him, just that I couldn’t stand how nervous I felt around him. Sooner or later I was going to make a complete fool of myself again, and really didn’t need that kind of humiliation. Lastly, I didn’t need another reason to start thinking twice about never moving back to Sonesville. Anne Marie and Tracy were deep in conversation when we resumed our seats, and barely even looked up. I glanced toward the bar, and just looking in his direction made me nervous enough to reach for the mixed drink I’d left sitting on the table before we’d walked Lydia to her cab. Most of the ice melted, but I gulped down half the watery contents, and then wiped a drip from the corner of my mouth. He leaned casually into the bar as though he had all the confidence in the world. I don’t know why I’d been thinking of him as shy, and attributed it to the fact that my only real reference of him over the last few days had been in one on one conversation. He laughed at something the bartender said, nodding his head as if in agreement.
