The Perfect Blend by Allie Pleiter Read Free Book Online Page B

he’s given me a light load. After all, I guess this is a simple exercise for business-types. But for an artistic personality, this is asking the world. Now, if I’d had fifteen words to pick, I’d be fine. But narrowing my life’s passion down to three words is excruciating. I’ve been at this for three days and that sheet is still blank. I start back at work tomorrow and if I keep this up I’ll be spouting adjectives while I hand customers their floral arrangements. Can you imagine what Nancy will do if I suddenly blurt out addictive while handing someone their Boston fern?
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    By Wednesday at five-forty-five I still hadn’t filled in those blanks. I had to be at class in fifteen minutes, I was all dressed, and had almost talkedmyself into believing the entire world was not staring at my wounded face. Still, I couldn’t haul myself out the door.
    I tried to convince myself that perhaps it was some sort of post-rugby stress disorder, that I wasn’t as recovered from my injuries as I thought. Yeah, I didn’t really believe that, either. You and I both know I’m just plain chicken. Why, Lord? I gulped out in a desperate prayer. Why is this so hard? Why am I making such a big deal out of three little words?
    God, in His infinite wisdom, decided that now would be a good moment for an appalling self-revelation. Don’t you just hate it when He picks moments like this to dump a bucket-load of unwelcome truth on your head?
    It’s not the homework assignment.
    It’s the assigner.
    I’m not freaking out at three little words, I’m freaking out at the prospect of seeing Will Grey in the classroom again. At seeing him all suited up and tutorial. I’ve seen a sliver of the man out of his work mode and I don’t know how to deal with him in a purely work setting anymore.
    Slow down, Maggie, be careful. You don’t know nearly enough about the kind of man Will Grey is to be thinking this way.
    Let’s try logic. Let’s turn Will’s assignment on its ear. Imagine, if you will, that God just gave me a sheet of paper and asked me to list the ten qualities I’d want in a guy. My ideal customer, as it were. The list would go something like this:
Godly
Energetic
Daring
Adventurous
Visionary
Handsome
Artistic
Unconventional
Romantic
Caffeinated
    Okay, the last one’s not really a priority, but you get my drift. Do you see reserved Will Grey in there anywhere? I don’t. I see the opposite of Will Grey. Come on, the man’s barely caffeinated—and that was the least of my priorities.
    So why am I still sitting at my kitchen table at 9:30 p.m., staring at an unfinished assignment sheet, eating the last of my coffee ice cream?
    That’s it. I’ve got to get out of here. Go take a walk or something. Shake off this weird paralysis that has suddenly taken hold. I grab a sweater, some big sunglasses to cover my injuries—even though it’s dusk, stuff twenty dollars into my pocket and head out the door.
    I turn the corner and slam, headfirst, into Will Grey. Ouch! Why must every encounter with this man be so painful? “You! Oww. Why does your shoulder have to be right where my forehead is?” I wobble a bit and my glasses fall off.
    â€œMiss Black!” Will gasps, grabbing my shoulderto catch me. “Oh, you’re all right. You are all right, aren’t you? You weren’t off to find the nearest hospital?” The man’s state of alarm looks odd on him. He’s usually such an in-control kind of guy.
    â€œI’m…okay…I think.” I touch my forehead and blink my eyes a bit. The world spun out of focus for a few seconds and I might have added a new bruise to my already stunning collection, but for the most part I think I’m okay.
    Will takes his hand off my shoulder. I hadn’t realized it was still there. Okay, I had, but let’s not talk about that at the moment. “You