I Like Your Shoes | ✓

Chapter 46 | Love Sick and Hanging

[Calum Achorn]

I woke up at six in the morning, smiling. I got off my bed with a skip in my steps, whistling to old blues as I brushed.

I need help.

I wondered what Ambrosia must be doing.

Sleeping like a pig rolled in mud, I'm sure.

I was sure she must look adorable.

No. There's no way she can look adorable.

Shushing my old, grumpy self, I waltz downstairs for breakfast.

"Mary! Breakfast, please!" I say in a sing-song voice.

The middle aged woman comes out of the kitchen with an alarming look in her eyes. I give her the largest smile I can muster and she flinches in surprise.

"Are you okay, sir?"

"Of course, Mary! I feel damn fine!"

Her eyes as wide as saucers, she places a large plate of bacon, eggs and toast in front of me. With great gusto, I scarf it down.

After I'm done, I look into my phone.

Why hasn't Ambrosia called me yet?

Should I call her? What if she doesn't pick up? Would she be angry if I called her now?

Nonsense, I'm her boss!

And her boyfriend, I add, smiling.

I dial her number and wait for her to pick up. She doesn't, the first time.

Will it be clingy if I call her again?

You can always say it was because of work, I shrug.

I call her again. This time, she picks up on the tenth ring.

"I'm on my way!" She screams and cuts off the call before I can even say H.

"What?" I stare with confusion at my phone screen.

What did she mean?

Is she coming over?

Now?

"Oh shit." I mutter and jump out of my chair. Rushing into my bathroom, I look at my myself in the full length mirror.

Crazy bed hair? Twenty strokes of comb and can be made presentable.

Beard? Five minutes to shave.

Your ugly face? Can't be helped now.

I calculate the time it might take her to get here. Fifteen minutes for her to get ready and get into her car if she's in a hurry, and she seemed like she was. Sixteen if she stops to greet Patrick and Reggie. Ten minutes to get her car out of the garage and fifteen to get here. I had about forty five minutes to make myself presentable.