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I laugh "Let’s see what I can do to prove her wrong"

I look down, exaet stuck," I note, wondering if we can get her free before the lights change and traffic starts streahs wistfully "Maybe the universe is telling o to this party"

"Not a fan ofdown beside her

"Not a fan of blind dates--oh!" She startles as I reach out and take hold of her bare ankle She flails a rabs hold ofto rotate her shoe to lever the heel out But it’s stuck firht have to leave it"

"I’ you mean the shoe and not my whole foot," she jokes

"No amputation necessary"

"But I’ll be hopping around on one leg all night" The woed it"

"Cinderella had a pumpkin chariot to take her ho look, and I’m suddenly struck with one simple fact

She’s beautiful

Not in the way I usually find wolossy, career wo heels without once getting stuck in a grate; women with sleek hair and perfect makeup, the kind who have reminder alarms on their phones, and schedules so busy that I can be sure they won’t take offense when I have to cancel our dinner plans because soh a party to see to some disaster on one of my construction sites

Self-sufficient Low-oals

This wo down around her face in soft blonde curls, her eyes are full of self-deprecating laughter, and there’s so frazzled and scatterbrained about the way she looks down at her shoe and back atSo up at her, fra Botticelli, or Raphael

A car horn breaks through hts It speeds past, barely a few feet away, followed by a strea as the cars pass us here in theabout pre-Raphaelite paintings is going to get the both of you killed

"We need to get you out of here," I decide, as a kaerously close

"I’ your tux all dirty down there on the ground"