Free When Pigs and Parrots Fly by Gail Sattler Page A

from in front of his eyes, and everything became clear.
    He moved a little closer, and Sarah backed up, but she only had a few inches between her backside and the counter. If he wanted to, he could have bent down just a little bit and kissed her.
    And he did want to.
    â€œWhat are you doing?” Sarah asked, her voice coming out in a squeak.
    Her question jolted him like the blasting horn of a freight train. He dropped her hand and backed up.
    What was he doing? This was Sarah. His best friend’s sister.
    He’d seen her with her front teeth missing. He’d helped her learn to ride a bicycle. He’d taught her the right way to hold a baseball bat, and not to throw like a girl.
    Josh ran his fingers through his hair.
    She still threw a ball like a girl, and she was very much a girl. Two decades ago that little girl had a wild crush on him. It has passed. . . . This, too, would pass.
    He didn’t know what had gotten into him, but fortunately, Sarah had given him a mental shake.
    Josh backed up one more step and ran his fingers through his hair a second time. “Let’s forget about the order. It’s getting late. How about if we get together tomorrow at lunch time to go over it? My treat.”
    Her eyes widened. “I guess so. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
    Even with all the conflicting thoughts warring in his head, instead of just walking her to the door, he walked her all the way to her car. For the first time, he stood and watched her drive away until her taillights disappeared around the corner.
    Tomorrow would be another day. Tomorrow, everything would go back to normal.

Chapter 6
    D r. Faire? Josh is here.”
    â€œSend him in.”
    Sarah started to run her hands down her smock to smooth out any creases, but she froze.
    Even if she looked a mess, it didn’t matter. Nothing could be done. She was at work, and if she looked like a mess, then she looked like a mess.
    Yesterday, how she looked wouldn’t have made any difference, but today it did.
    She’d lain awake most of the night, thoughts rolling around and warring in her head. She’d thought Josh was going to kiss her. If she hadn’t had a near-panic attack, he just might have.
    Last night, she realized that she’d had the man of her dreams in front of her all along. She’d been judging every man she’d ever dated against the paradigm of her brother’s best friend, and every one of them had come up short. That was so wrong on so many levels.
    Last night, when she’d made the offer to be Josh’s quasi-date, she’d thought nothing of it except for a chance to fill an empty evening. She didn’t know how they’d come so close together, but when she thought Josh was going to kiss her, all her teenaged dreams merged into her adult ones, and she realized she’d never truly outgrown how she felt about him when she was a little girl.
    When she’d played with her dolls, she’d taken a felt pen and colored the boy doll’s hair the same color as Josh’s, and of course, he’d always been the husband. When she got older, but not much more mature, she’d embroidered hearts with his initials onto her clothes in hidden spots no one could see, but she knew they were there. She’d cut pictures of bridal gowns out of magazines and taped them over photos of herself, then taped pictures of Josh beside her. Until she left for college, her ultimate dream had been to go out on an exclusive date with Josh.
    Now the thought of that very same thing becoming a reality suddenly terrified her. Yet, if she were to think rationally, this was exactly what she needed. She would either decide that the teenage crush she’d never really outgrown was exactly that—a crush—or she would decide if she’d truly loved him all along and never really gotten over it. Then the gloves would come off, and the battle would truly begin.
    The hinge squeaked as the door