A Girl Like You by vinnie Kinsella (good books to read for 12 year olds .TXT) 📕

kicking myself. Why was I trying so hard to sound like I was younger?

“Yeah, I was a mess for a while, but I’ve found now that I’m in my forties, things don’t seem so epic, you know? I can survive just about anything now.”

I closed my eyes briefly. Forties.

“You’ve never been married?” I was wishing I’d taken Al up on that offer for another drink.

“Nope,” Jeremy smiled. “Came close plenty of times, but it just wasn’t meant to be.”

From across the bar, which was starting to empty out now as it neared 1:30 a.m., we heard Al whooping it up with a crowd of younger guys.

“Hey, are you on Facebook?” Jeremy asked suddenly.

I was instantly glad I’d changed my online status to single.

Al came back out to the bar for another beer, and Jeremy excused himself, sparing me an answer.

“So he used to date your sister?” I asked Al as he swigged his beer.

“Yeah, my little sister; they almost got married. They were young, though, too young. That was almost twenty years ago.”

I tried to do the math but failed.

“How old is he now?”

“Jeremy? He just turned forty-three.”

I shuddered visibly. My wine-filled stomach lurched. Fourteen years younger. I would have figured it out in fractions or percentages, but again, I hated math.

“I’m fifty-eight—you must be closer to my age. How old are you?” Al asked me pointedly.

“A woman never reveals her age,” Jeremy said, sliding back into his seat.

“Hey man, you ready to pack it in?” Al said, draining his beer.

Jeremy looked reluctant. “You staying, Jess?”

I locked eyes with Jeremy and wished with all my heart he were a few years older.

“No, I’m ready to go too.” I gathered up my purse and coat.

“Yeah, I’d better get home to check my dogs,” Jeremy said, shrugging on his jacket.

We hurried through the parking lot in the cold, our breath seeming to freeze in the air as we exhaled. Our cars were in the same row.

“Nice meeting you.” Al threw his arms around me, nearly knocking me off balance.

“OK, OK, well, you too,” I said, clapping the back of his shoulder awkwardly.

Jeremy waited until Al climbed into his SUV, then said quietly, “So you going to tell me your last name?”

“Gabriel,” I said, not able to come up with any reason not to tell him.

“Great to meet you, Jessica Gabriel,” he said, pulling me into his arms.

I closed my eyes for a moment.

“Hey, what are you doing tomorrow afternoon?” Jeremy asked, looking down at my face. “Maybe you can come over and meet my grays.”

“Maybe.”

“OK, well, I’m going to friend you on Facebook.”

“Sure,” I said weakly, watching him go.

Jeremy friend requested me before I even got home. I accepted his request, figuring it would be a good way to let him know my approximate age, and who knew? Maybe he had a Mrs. Robinson complex.

I washed my face and stared in the mirror. Under the bright lights, it was clear I was not in my forties, but maybe I didn’t quite look fifty-seven. Maybe.

“I love your dimples and long hair,” Jeremy messaged me minutes later on Facebook. “I can’t wait to see you again and talk more. I’d really like to get to know you better.”

I sighed, climbing into bed. Penny launched herself at the bed like she’d been catapulted, trying to make it to the top, scrabbling at the side of the bed like a rock climber before dropping back down to the floor.

“Come here,” I said, lifting her up with me and sighing.

Where had all the single men (my age) gone?

53

Jeremy sent photos of his greyhounds, with their narrow bodies, alert eyes and impossibly long, spindly legs.

“Come visit me,” he messaged, late Saturday afternoon.

I was mightily tempted. To distract myself, I cleaned the shower. I scrubbed down the kitchen counters. Then checked for more messages. None.

I vacuumed my room while Penny barked at it like it was an intruder. Checked my messages again.

“Here’s my address,” Jeremy wrote. “You might want to GPS it because it’s hard to find with all the bends in the lake.”

Google Maps said it would take me only seventeen minutes to get to Jeremy’s address. Aw hell, why not? The kids weren’t around, my house was sparkling clean, and Penny was passed out asleep.

It took me almost an hour to get ready.

“I hope you’re still coming to see me,” Jeremy messaged.

“Can I bring anything?” I asked.

“Just yourself, Jess.”

Goddammit, were all forty-somethings as sexy as he was? I wouldn’t know.

It didn’t take seventeen minutes to drive to Jeremy’s. It took thirty minutes to find the house, because I circled the lake twice, straining my neck to look at numbers on mailboxes. It was dark outside, making it even more of a challenge.

At last, I pulled off the snaking, narrow road that wound around the lake, and into an unpaved driveway that had his house number on it. Shutting off the engine, I looked in the rearview mirror, fixed my lipstick and attempted to fluff my flat hair, without much success.

“Hey, Jess!”

Jeremy’s house had a wide front balcony overlooking the lake. He was standing out there looking down at me.

“Hey, Jeremy. I found your place, no problem at all.”

“Actually, you found my neighbor’s place. My driveway’s over here.”

“Oh, sorry,” I said, dropping my keys down the side of my car door.

Lights went on inside the neighbor’s house, then on the porch, and a man in an undershirt stepped outside.

“Who’s there?”

“Just my girlfriend. She’ll be out of your driveway in a sec,” Jeremy said.

I was glad it was dark and my head was down as I fished around for my keys. Girlfriend?

I almost hit a car backing out of the wrong driveway and swerving into Jeremy’s, while he watched. He must have been laughing, but he hid it well.

“Did you find the place OK?” he laughed.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I mean, I got here fine. Sorry I disturbed your neighbor.”

“He’s usually outside with a twelve-pack anyway weekend nights. He was just being nosy. Come on in.”

“Gorgeous house,” I said.

“Yeah,