"I have a date with Nash on Friday," I blurt. She squeals. Like, really loud.
"Oh, my gosh, Tina! I'm so excited for you!" She pulls me into another hug so fast that the wind is knocked outta me. Sitting back, she gives my hands a hard squeeze. "Where is he taking you?" I open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out. "That's okay." She smiles, patting my hand. "Whatever you do will be perfect. I'm so happy for you both."
"But – you won't be here to help me get ready? What will I wear?" My voice might have gone up to the Minnie Mouse octave.
"Let's go pick out something now." My excitement grows. We stand and walk towards my bedroom. "We'll just have to find something that will work no matter where he takes you." My excitement deflates. Something's gonna get in the way. I just know it.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Two days later, I'm helping a customer. "Here you go. That'll be four fifty-six." I take her card and run it through the card reader. "Thank you." I hand her the receipt and look down, cleaning the counter. "Can I help....?" I look up, my mouth drops open.
"Hello, Tina. How are you?" Matthew Pearson.
I cock my hip, purely self-consciously, sorta, and purse my lips. "What would you like?"
He leans his arms on the counter, and I take a step back. "I'd like to take you out." My left brow raises high. Again, totally self-consciously. Then, I snort. Not a little one but a BIG snort.
I compose myself, but it's really tough. "Matthew. What are you doing here? Did Mom send you?"
He smiles. Okay, he is really good looking in that pompous, three piece suit, immaculate dark hair tossed to the side, pretentious kind of way. "I'm actually visiting my aunt." He doesn't actually say Aunt – it's more like Aw-nt. You know. "Well, she lives an hour and a half away, but I thought when would I ever get this close to where Tina lives? So, here I am."
"Yes, here you are," I whisper.
He rests his chin on his hand and smiles. "So? Go out with me." I cross my arms over my abundant chest. I might be exaggerating a bit. "You're going to let me drive here, an hour and a half, and not go out with me?" I raise my other eyebrow. "C'mon! We've known each other most of our lives."
"Oh! You actually remember me?" I fake smile.
He stands up, crossing his strong, muscular arms, over his big, broad chest. "Yes. Kinda." I let out another snort and roll my eyes. "Okay. What's stopping you from just having a drink with an old friend?"
"Me."
As Matthew turns his head, my smile widens. Nash is standing behind him with his beefy muscles on top of muscles, arms crossed over his mountain of a chest. No, this time, I'm not exaggerating. His black cowboy hat adorns his head and those green eyes are darkened with anger. Yeah, this isn't looking too good for Matthew.
"And you are?" Matthew turns fully and I creep along the counter so I can see both of their faces.
"Her boyfriend." Nash doesn't hesitate. Doesn't stutter. He said he's my boyfriend! Oh, my God!
Matthew continues to stare at Nash but talks to me. "This – is your boyfriend? Your mother didn't say you had a boyfriend."
I lean against the end of the counter and smile. "Yeah, well, my mom doesn't listen to me." And I've never told her.
Nash tears his eyes away from Matthew, walks behind the counter and pulls me into a hug. "Hey, Beauty."
I look up into his eyes and smile. "Hey, babe." Damn! I've always wanted to say that! Well, to a real life guy instead of myself in the mirror pretending there's a guy in front of me. Nash turns around, keeping an arm around my shoulders, and stares at Matthew again.
Matthew cocks his head. "You're not just saying this to get rid of me, right?" I shake my head, a smile plastered on my face. "Huh. Okay. Well, I'll be in town for a couple of days. My aunt actually thinks this is a quaint little town and wants to do some shopping." He walks to the door, opens it, and then looks at me over his shoulder. "I'll be back." Why did that make me shiver? And why did that make me think of a movie?
I watch him leave, my smile fading, wondering what in the hell just happened. Why is he really here? Mom. She had to have put him up to coming here. There's no other explanation.
"Hey." I look into Nash's vibrant green eyes and smile. "Are you okay?" I nod. "Who was that guy?"
I wave my hand, suddenly embarrassed. "Oh, just someone from back home." I start cleaning the counter, a little bit too forcibly. I hear him move in front of the counter, and I try not to look up.
"Anythin' I should be worried about?"
My head snaps up, looking into his concerned eyes. Damn, he's fine. I stand up quickly. "No! No." He raises one of his sexy eyebrows. Yes, even his eyebrows are sexy. "Really. He's not even that much of a friend, really. Just a son of one of my mom's pretentious friends. You know." He seems to relax but still looks concerned. I walk around the counter and put my arms around him, pressing my lips against his. I feel his strong arms move around me, hugging me tightly. God, he's such a great kisser. I swear I hear bells ringing.
"Now, don't ya'll look cute together?"
And of course, as the world would have it – we're interrupted. As usual. I smile against his lips and take a step back, missing his arms around me immediately. He smiles, walking backward toward the door. "Lookin' forward to Friday," he says, then gives me a wink and walks out of my shop.
"What was that all about?" I tear my eyes from the closed door and turn my head at Misty. "He's so fine." She sighs, leaning her chin on her hand, her elbows resting on the counter.
"Very fine." I sigh, walking into the back room.
"Wait! What happened?" she yells.
"Oh! Just another crazy day at the shop!" I yell back. I walk to the preparing table, pick up an oven mitt and start fanning myself. "Damn, fine."
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
It's been four days since Matthew stopped by my shop, never stopping in again. Thank God! Four days since Prie left to go home with Grant. And four days since I've seen Nash, which is the weirdest of all. He normally stops by at least once a day. No text. No call. And tomorrow night we're supposed to go out on our first official date. I get the strangest feeling something else is going to prevent our date. Again.
"Stop worrying. I'm sure everything will be okay." I look up as Sadie takes out a sheet of pastries from the oven. She lays the sheet on the table then starts scooping up the pastries with a spatula, setting them on individual plates. "Why don't you just call him? Make sure everything's okay. It'll only set your mind at ease."
Yes! I could do that! Nope, I can't. "I don't think I should. I mean, call me old fashion, but the guy should call the girl. Otherwise, the girl just looks like a loosey goosey." She smiles.
"Well. You took dinner over to his place that one time. Why don't you do that again? I'm sure he'd appreciate that, and then you'll see that everything's just fine."
Oh! Maybe she's right! I could do that. That wasn't too awkward that one time. Okay. It was totally awkward but ended up being a really good night. "You're right. I can do that."
So that started the plan in motion. Once Pam got to the shop to help out Misty, I ran upstairs and started cooking and baking. The entire time I'm thinking, will we ever have a normal relationship? Will we ever really have a relationship? I'm starting to wonder. I'm on my way to his place with two huge shepherds' pies and a large pan of apple crisp because we all know what happened last time I took food over to his house. As I pull into his drive, I'm overly anxious. Why hasn't he called or texted? We're supposed to finally go out tomorrow night and I haven't heard from him. What could be so important? Or has he reconsidered and is afraid to tell me? Afraid of breaking my heart? Sitting in my car, parked in front of his ginormous house, I'm wondering if I should even go up to the door. I'm starting to think this – whatever this is, was doomed before it could even start.
"Shit. Pull up your big girl panties, Tina. You're being an idiot. Again," I murmur to myself as I get out of my car. Opening the back door, I pick up the full sack of food and walk up the porch steps. My breath expels, able to see it in cold air, as I knock on the door. There's rustling behind the big door, sounds of shuffling, and then strange noises. What's going on in there? Oh, my God! Does he have another woman in there, trying to hide her before opening the door? My heart thunders in my chest, ready to break. The door opens and.... "Manuel?" I tilt my head in confusion. "Are you supposed to be outta bed?" He smiles, sitting there in a wheelchair. Hence, the strange noises I heard.
"Ah! Carino!" Sweetheart. "Yes. Nash got me a wheelchair. The doctor said I could start usin' it for a limited amount of time a day. Come in. You must be freezin'." I walk inside, happy to see him up instead of lying in bed. I bet he'd gotten sick of that. His casted leg lifted high by the raised foot plate, an afghan covering his lap. "Come into the livin' room and sit by the fire. I'll text him and let him know you're here."