Page 5 of Single Teddy (Mayberry Protectors #6)

FOUR

WESLEY

Ruby

You need to tell me everything!

M y sister’s message stayed unread and was soon joined by others throughout the day while I returned to teaching.

Ruby

Wes! WTF? Tell me!

Ruby

OMG Wes. I can’t believe you.

Ruby

You better have died. There’s no other excuse I’ll take for not telling me. WTF?

It was funny but justifiable. After all, it wasn’t every day that I announced to anyone I was in love.

My track record with dating was abysmal at best and not for lack of trying.

But this past year, I’d all but given up, choosing instead to focus all my energy and efforts on getting my mortgage approved and my home set up.

And since I was still not done with my home, there was absolutely no reason or excuse to jump back into the island’s pathetic dating pool.

So, of course, curiosity was killing Ruby. It would have done the same to me if I’d gotten a text message from her declaring she was in love. Although, in all fairness, Ruby wasn’t as dating shy as I was.

Once school was done, students were picked up, including Bear by his hot uncle, and the classroom was reset, I finally turned to my phone.

Wesley

I’m on my way.

I left the school, unlocked my bike, and took the scenic route of Mayberry Holm and down to the coast.

Holm Sweet Holm was busy, but then again, it always was during the summer months and festival season.

Every rack and shelf was being perused by a tourist, keeping Ruby’s employees busy and giving my sister the freedom to step forward, put one hand on her hip, and use the other to smack me in the head.

“That’s for being such a dick and not replying to me.”

“Ouch! Flipping hell, Rubes. You’d think I sacrificed you to the sea gods. I was busy. And that hurt.”

She shrugged.

“You’ll get over it. Now tell me what, where, how, and most importantly, who!”

I dismounted my bike and rubbed my head where she’d smacked me, only to get a stare-down, an eye roll, and a sigh.

“Can you get away for a second?”

Ruby huffed and brushed her hair back.

“I’m the boss, aren’t I?” she said before turning around to tell one of her temps she’d be right back.

“Well, technically, Mom is the boss,” I said.

I regretted it.

My poor head would be sore after today.

Mom opened Holm Sweet Holm three decades ago and had managed it through four kids and a whole lot of family drama. But she’d finally had enough and decided to take to writing crime novels and accounting as a job while Ruby ran the family business.

“You need to stop hitting me,” I whined, and she chuckled.

“I know. I’m sorry. Here. Want me to kiss it better?” She pursed her lips and leaned closer, trying to plant a smacker on me, but I ducked out of her way and almost toppled over with the bike on top of me.

“Gosh. I’m such a klutz today,” I muttered, straightening and walking along the bay. “Anyway…bubble tea?”

“Pfft, what do you think?” she asked, and we walked to the bubble tea shop three doors down.

The place was heaving. A stark difference from how low traffic had been a year ago. But since then everyone had fallen in love with Bubble Bubble, and most importantly, its owner, Hwan.

It didn’t hurt that he was an internet celebrity.

His funny and instructive videos were a hot commodity on his social media pages, especially after Thanksgiving last year when he live-streamed a criminal gang trying to destroy his business.

Since then, everyone wanted a slice of Hwan goodness and, of course, a slice of the man who had saved him and become his handsome beau.

“Busy, huh?” I asked, and my sister groaned.

“Are you going to talk, or do you want a third smack in the head?”

“Okay, okay!” I said, joining the line of people waiting to order their boba drink.

I told her about this morning, about prepping for my new student, about falling from my chair and being caught by Dream Man, about our conversation, word for word, or as much as I could recollect, and how I couldn’t stop thinking about him the whole day.

“Jeez, Wes!” she said when I was done and we had gotten to the front of the line.

“What?” I asked and turned to Enzo, one of Hwan’s employees, and gave my order. “A Dirty Biscuit bubble tea with tapioca and a passionfruit fruit tea with green apple popping boba.”

“Right away, handsome.” He smirked at me and rang up my order while Hwan got busy mixing our drinks.

Poor thing was so busy he could barely come around to properly greet us, settling for waving hello and giving us his signature smile.

“What do you mean what? You tell me you’re in love and leave me on read the whole day, and it’s for a silly little crush?”

“Not a silly little crush. You haven’t seen Teddy. He’s a dream.”

“Well, yeah, might as well be. I thought you got yourself a boyfriend or something.”

I shrugged.

“You know I’m not lucky in that department.”

“So what are you going to do about your silly little crush?” she asked as we sat at a recently cleared table.

“What do you expect me to do? He’s my student’s parent. I can’t do anything about it.”

“Pfft, bullshit.”

“Well, no, not bullshit actually. It’s inappropriate. And probably against school policy,” I said.

“Screw policy and screw him instead,” she said, banging her hand on the table with fire in her eyes.

I sighed and leaned back in my chair.

“First of all, I don’t even know if he’s interested in men. Second of all, even if he was, he literally just turned into a parent overnight. I’m sure the last thing he needs is a teacher thirsting after him?—”

“Why don’t you let him decide that?” she interrupted.

“And third of all,” I continued as if I hadn’t heard her. “Even if one and two weren’t a problem, it doesn’t mean he will want me.”

Ruby collapsed on the table with her whole chest and face crying out for mercy, but as usual, I ignored her.

Hwan approached our table with our order and raised an eyebrow.

“Are you okay, Ruby?”

Ruby straightened, grabbed her tea, and shook her head.

“No. No I’m not. My brother is an idiot with confidence issues, and he’s driving me nuts.”

Hwan chuckled and passed me my drink before he put both hands to his hips.

“Is that true, Wesley?”

“I’m just realistic.”

Ruby snorted another groan.

“This is deeper than your little Teddy crush. You need to sort out your low self-esteem first. Or you’ll spend your whole life alone talking to your plants.”

I frowned.

“What’s wrong with talking to plants?”

Ruby looked at Hwan and pursed her lips.

“Can you smack him for me? I’ve already filled my quota.”

Hwan chuckled but didn’t smack me. Thank fuck!

“Can plants hug you, kiss you, or screw you?” she asked.

“Rubes!” I raised my voice and looked around, but thankfully, everyone was far too busy with their own conversations to pay ours any mind.

“So, allow me to catch up. You have a crush on a guy named Teddy, but you’re not going to do anything about it because you don’t think you’re handsome enough for him?” Hwan asked.

“Bingo,” Ruby yelled.

“No!” I shouted back. “No Bingo. There’s a myriad of reasons why I can’t do anything about it. And who cares anyway? I just met him this morning. For all I know, he’s a douche, and I’ll be over him by tomorrow. Why are you acting as if I’ve been plagued by love for the past fifty years?”

Ruby shrugged.

“Maybe because it’s the first time you’ve ever said those exact words to me: I’m in love. That’s why.”

“I said I think I’m in love.”

“Pftt. Same difference.”

“I think I need to go back home. If I’d known this would turn into a lecture, I’d have kept my mouth shut,” I said and took a miserable sip of my tea, which, no matter how I felt, always managed to sweeten my day.

“I give up,” Ruby sighed.

Hwan turned to me and pressed his lips together.

“Do you really think you’re not attractive? Because if you do, we need to have a few words.”

“No. No more words. Show me mercy.” I fake cried and hugged my tea closer.

Hwan put his hand on my shoulder and smiled. “Fine. I’ll save my praise for another day, but know this, Wesley. You’re one hot, sexy man, and anyone would be lucky to have you as a partner.”

I stared at him and let his words sink in, but what good were they? Hwan was taken, and it wasn’t like his compliment was a universal opinion. I had a whole abandoned Cinderfella account that told a different story.

But it was nice being told I was sexy once in a while. Even if I couldn’t do anything about it other than use it as lube for my private, self-loving moments.

The truth was, whether I was good-looking or not, a dream man like Teddy would never throw a second glance at me.

And I was okay with that.

Soon, I’d find someone else to swoon over or forget about him completely and go back to life as normal. Book boyfriends and plant friends and quiet evenings, Netflix-and-chilling all by myself.

It was a good life. Lonely but good. I couldn’t do anything about it. Not everyone could have a whirlwind romance and a happily ever after. I’d made my peace with that a long time ago.

But the next time I had a crush, I’d probably think twice before I told my sister.