Page 5 of Pick Me

I spun around to refocus on Meredith, because I could feel my eyes bugging out of my head in a very not-cute way.

My already spiking anxiety from Meredith’s injury leveled up even more seeing Kai right there , in the flesh and not my fantasies. After a week of obsessing about this person I’d only interacted with once, seeing him

again was like running into a celebrity. I felt like I knew him, thanks to my overactive imagination—in my mind, he’d already

wooed me in a dozen creative ways—and I was about to greet him by name when I realized how absolutely weird that would be.

I scanned him quickly and was a little distressed to discover that my memory of his looks didn’t do him justice. Was he actually

a model? Because the jawline that was essentially a hard right angle belonged up on a billboard.

“I tripped,” Meredith answered him. “My friend Brooke here hit a kill shot.”

Typical Meredith, hyping me up despite her softball-sized ankle. My ride-or-die wingwoman.

“Well, that sucks,” Kai replied. “Sorry to hear it.”

He glanced at me with a sad smile.

“And I’m just calling for an Uber for these two, because they’re headed to Urgent Care,” Bucket Hat added.

I turned to him, happy that I had a reason to look away from Kai. “Oh, that’s super generous, but you don’t have to.”

“Nope,” he replied as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and started typing. “No worries, I’ve got you.”

There was something calming about the way he took control of the situation. He wasn’t bossy or know-it-all. It was more like

he could read the room and sensed that Meredith was going to put up a fight unless he stepped in to handle it.

“It’ll be here in four minutes,” he continued. “Black Escalade, so there’s room to elevate that ankle. You need to keep the

ice on it!”

Meredith nodded and shifted the pack back in place. The three of us stood in silence, watching her press it to her ankle.

“Hey, uh, not to be a dick or anything, but is my lesson still on or...?” Kai asked. “I can reschedule if that’s easier.”

Meredith and I exchanged a quick look, as he’d just revealed important new intel. Kai was taking lessons and Bucket Hat was

his instructor. No wonder Mr. Hat seemed above the law when it came to the club dress code. Today he was in a slightly less

faded CPA logo T-shirt and shiny black basketball shorts.

And the hat, of course, which on close inspection I could see was Nike, with an orange band around the middle part.

“No, we’re still good. I don’t have anyone after you,” he answered. “Go get changed, and I’ll meet you on court eleven.”

“Done.” Kai nodded. He raised his chin toward Meredith. “Hey, good luck at Urgent Care. Hope it’s not too bad.”

She gave him a tight smile, no doubt because she was processing both her discomfort and the meet-ugliness of what was currently going on.

“Thanks,” I squeaked out, the first word I’d managed to say to him.

He finally locked onto me. “Oh, right, you’re the virgin. Good to see you again!”

Tension flooded my body, because I needed to respond with something witty. He’d set me up with a perfect opener, and all I

had to do was volley back with a cute quip about... how virginity was a social construct? That I was now in my ho phase?

The fact that I’d been daydreaming about him taking me even further from virginity for the past seven days?

Instead, all I came up with was: “You too!”

And I waved at him after he’d already turned his back and walked away from us.

“Uber’s here,” Bucket Hat said, frowning a little. “I’m going to help you get settled.”

“It’s really not necessary,” Meredith said. “I’m fine.”

But of course, he didn’t listen and wound up hoisting her into what I realized was an UberX. He shut the car door and turned

to where I was waiting on the crowded sidewalk.

“Can you let me know what they say about her ankle? I like to stay on top of what goes on here, injury-wise.”

A car waiting behind the Uber honked, and he flashed a friendly “one second” finger at it.

“Uh, sure,” I answered. “I’ll call the main number—”

“No, let me give you my cell.”

I pulled out my phone, and he recited it to me. My finger hovered over the screen since I couldn’t enter it under “Bucket

Hat” with him staring me down. “What’s your name?”

He chuckled. “Yeah, that’s right; we didn’t even have a chance to introduce ourselves.” He held out his hand to me. “I’m Owen

Miller.”

“Brooke Murphy,” I said as I slid my palm against his. “And that’s Meredith Waxman on injured reserve.”

“Hey, go easy on her the next time you play.” He smiled at me, and it reached all the way up to his dark eyes. “Sounds like you’re already lethal out there.”

I laughed at the thought of it. “Not even close. Lucky shot, that’s all. And now my instructor’s injured. I’m actually hopeless.”

The car honked again, and Owen started backing away toward the building, still smiling at me. “I could help you change that.

It’s sort of what I do.”

“Maybe,” I replied quickly, because there was no way it was going to happen. “Anyway, thanks for everything.”

Owen raised an eyebrow as he pointed at me. “Text me about her diagnosis, okay? Good luck.”

“I will. Thanks again for your help,” I said. “We’ll figure out how to pay you back for the ride.”

“Stop, there’s no need.”

He stood on the sidewalk and watched the car like a worried dad as I got in.

Meredith had her head back with her eyes pinched shut when I slid next to her. She opened one to peek at me.

“I ruined everything. I’m so sorry.”

I reached out to put my hand on top of hers. “Oh, stop. It was an accident. And hey, we managed to make contact with Kai again.

That’s worth a couple of hundred words at least.” I tapped my temple. “I recommitted his face to memory so now I can write

Austin’s character description.”

She closed her eyes again. “I do not need this injury. I’m so mad at myself.”

“You’ll be back on your feet in no time. I’m sure it’s just a sprain.”

I gave her hand a squeeze and looked out the window at the world passing by.

Spending a couple of hours at Urgent Care wasn’t on my bingo card either, but I had my notebook tucked in my bag, so I could jot down my thoughts while we waited.

Because yay, I actually had thoughts. The tiniest little embers of ideas were glowing within me.

Just a few minutes of Kai exposure was all it took.

A text buzzed in from my brother in our usual no-context-photo shorthand. It was a picture of an entire cooked fish, eyes

and all, on a plate in front of many glasses of wine, with his hand giving a thumbs-up beside it. I texted back a close-up

of Meredith’s purpling ankle. Whoever broke first and asked for an explanation lost.

Damn. Are you okay?

It’s Mere. We were playing pickleball and she tripped.

Hold up. YOU? Pickleball?

IKR? I suck tho

I’ve been playing. Love it.

What’s with the fish?

Fancy team dinner. Gotta go. Bye xo

“ Brooke , oh my god, now I can’t teach you how to play!” Meredith wailed, interrupting my moment of sibling bonding. “If I’m injured,

how am I going to be your wingwoman?”

There was no way I wanted to pile on while she was in pain. “We’ll figure it out.”

“Maybe Colton can help you instead?” she offered.

I shook my head and tried to hide my disappointment from her. “No, the vibe is different with him, plus Kai might think we’re

together. Anyway, you’re going to be fine. I feel it in my bones. A couple of days of rest and you’ll be good as new.”

She leaned over to move the ice pack. Her swollen ankle now resembled a water balloon.

“Or not,” I said, watching my dreams of us playing adorably but powerfully in flippy skirts go up in flames. “Does it hurt

as bad as it looks?”

She squinted and nodded at me. “Yeah. I’m sort of in agony, but I’m trying to mind over matter it.”

I leaned and looked out the window again. “We’re almost there. I’m sure they’ll give you some good meds.”

Thanks to the traffic stacking up in front of us, we weren’t almost there. Normally, we’d get out and walk the rest of the way, but it clearly wasn’t an option in our scenario.

“You know, that cute instructor guy could teach you,” Meredith offered softly.

I snorted at the thought.

“No, it’s actually perfect ,” she said as she warmed to the idea. “He has direct access to your man. You could totally feel him out to get the intel

on Kai and then get him to set up a match with him.” She paused. “Once you learn to really play, of course.”

“Mere, I’m sure lessons are way beyond my budget. But we’ll figure it out; don’t worry about me right now. Let’s get you healed

up.”

Taking lessons with Owen wasn’t the worst idea.

If I really wanted to figure out the game and, by association, gain access to my inspo, then I probably needed to learn from an expert and not just goof around with Meredith.

And the instructor formerly known as Bucket Hat obviously knew his stuff if he was a trainer at such a fancy club.

He didn’t look like the rest of the polished people at CPA, but Meredith was right, he was cute in a “big brother home from

college” kind of way. He probably gave excellent hugs and made up silly nicknames for his friends.

The Escalade rolled to a stop again and I sighed. I needed to embrace the wait, because there was no doubt we’d be doing quite

a bit of it for the next couple of hours. Meredith had her eyes squeezed shut, so I pulled out my notebook and started dreaming

up all the ways a charming cowboy could delight his fake fiancée.

Writing happily ever afters required me to go into a flow state that was only possible when my head was in the right place.

The breakup with Leo had all but guaranteed that I’d never find my way back to that cotton-candy, dreamy, true-love-wins way

of looking at the world in time to finish this book. I’d tried channeling my pain into the third act breakup scene, a space

where it was okay to let bleakness take the wheel for a couple thousand words. When I’d reread what I’d written the following

day, the level of bitterness and venom in the scene felt all wrong. Yeah, things were supposed to go upside down during the

breakup, but what I’d written was downright cruel. I could already see Piper’s “yikes” edits in the margins.

Now, though, I had a new direction, plus a little spark of inspiration. Was it ridiculous to pin my output on a silly crush? Of course, and probably dangerous as well, since for all I knew the guy could be a gaslighting asshole.

But in this moment Kai was a delicious unknown who’d given me something I’d been missing since Leo crushed my heart.

Hope.