Hollis is done with hanging around the bar on Valentine’s Day. He’s going to stay in -- alone -- and watch some movies. At least, that’s the plan. But his coworker’s half-brother’s cousin, better known as Ryan, is new in town. And although the lunch they shared was more levels of awkward than a house of cards, fate must want them to become friends, because on his way home after picking up his Valentine’s Day dinner, Hollis runs into Ryan again. The nice thing to do is to invite him up for dinner -- who wants to be alone in a new city on Valentine’s Day, right? The night leads to a dinner offer in return, a night bowling, a dinner party. When Ryan is relaxed, he’s a lot of fun, but he’s also a lot of work, facing off panic and anxiety in waves. But that isn’t a problem, because friends are there for each other. And they are, after all, friends. Just friends. Right?

Holding Hands

Always shaking? That couldn’t be true. He tried to think about to those instances—those rare instances—when he’d come in contact with Ryan for more than a second. And yeah, usually it was when he was trying to calm Ryan down, but…


But surely, he wasn’t that scared all the time?


Brain lost in the clouds, Hollis followed Ryan to the person he’d waved at: a plump older woman in a fancy blue dress that accented her better features.


“Ryan! I was worried you’d bail at the last minute,” the woman all but cooed. “And who is this?”


Her eyes raked over his body, and he felt a little dirty. He forced a smile and offered out his hand. “Hollis Fletcher, ma’am.”


“Oh, tut-tut!” she said, ignoring his hand. I’m not nearly old enough to be a ma’am!” Hollis didn’t argue. “Call me Sharianne!”


He let his hand drop. “A pleasure, Sharianne.”


Chapter 16