“Of course!”
“I was afraid maybe you were hoping he would call you.” Actually, it was freakin’ weird that either guy had called her—Hayden—when Carrie had been there. Because Carrie was gorgeous. A model. Tall, blond, blue-eyed, with full lips and killer cheekbones. Those braces had done their job on her now perfect teeth, and her lean body had developed curves. Guys never looked at Hayden when Carrie was around.
So in a way, it was flattering that Will had called, and therefore she should at least go for a drink with him.
She answered the door, dressed in a similar outfit to what she’d worn last weekend—jeans and ballet flats. Her top wasn’t as fancy, a flowy tank top of layers of sheer pink.
Will smiled appreciatively at her, his eyes crinkling up attractively. “Hi.”
“Hi. I’m all set.” She didn’t invite him in, just let herself out and locked her door. “You didn’t have to pick me up. We could have met somewhere. I hope this wasn’t far out of your way.”
“I live in Bay Ho,” he said, gently touching the small of her back so she could precede him in the hall and down the stairs. “So it’s not bad.”
“Oh good.”
He opened the passenger door to his car—not a Jag like Beck drove. Why did she even think that? A car could tell you something about the owner. Maybe Beck’s Jag told her that he was not good with money, buying a crazy expensive car that he couldn’t afford. That was the most likely scenario. Or he was trying to compensate for having a small penis.
Um, no, she already knew that wasn’t the case.
She and Will made some small talk about the weather as he drove. When he put on his turn signal and pulled into the small lot behind Conquistadors, she straightened in her seat. “Um…are we going to Conquistadors again?”
“Yeah.” He glanced at her. “That okay? It’s close and it seemed like a nice place. Also they gave out coupons for free appetizers.”
Nice to know she rated a free appetizer.
She pulled in a deep breath. What was she supposed to say? “Sure, that’s fine.”
Maybe she wouldn’t see Beck. He couldn’t be there all the time. And what if he was? She hadn’t heard from him since after he’d left Sunday, and that was just fine with her.
Will politely opened the door for her. He was gaining more “nice” points.
“We’re just going into the bar,” he told the hostess, and she smiled and waved them in.
They paused inside the bar to survey seating options. Most of the stools at the bar were open, but there were some tables too. All of them close to the bar. Ah well.
Without waiting for Will’s opinion, she headed to the table farthest from the bar and pulled out a chair. Will followed and took the chair adjacent to her, rather than directly across the table, and turned it so he was half facing her.
Hayden grabbed the drinks menu and stared at it, trying to keep herself from looking around for Beck. A pretty waitress approached and set napkins on the table near them. “Hi there. I’m Crystal. How are you guys doing tonight?”
“Great,” Will said.
“Do you want to look at food menus?”
Hayden looked up to see Will give her a questioning look. “No, I’m good,” she said quickly.
“So just drinks, then,” the waitress said. “What can I get you?”
Hayden had no idea what to order. All she knew was that it wouldn’t be tequila. She peered at the menu again and focused in on something. “I’ll have a mojito.”
“Sounds good. And for you?” Crystal smiled at Will.
“I’ll have a Corona.”
“Good choice. I’ll be right back with your drinks.”
She sauntered away.
“So.” Will focused on her again. “No tequila tonight?”
She grinned. “I did enjoy tasting it that night and learning more about it. But I’m not sure it’s turned into my favorite drink.”
“Powerful stuff,” he agreed. “But it was fun.”
The silence that followed quickly felt awkward. Hayden had never been good at making conversation, but she’d learned a few things over the last few years of running her business. “So you mentioned last weekend that you’re a chiropractor.”
“Yeah.”
“You enjoy it?” She actually wasn’t sure that chiropractic treatment had been sufficiently studied to know that it was truly effective, but she didn’t say that to him.
“Sure. Although I actually got into it for the money.”
She gave a nervous laugh, not sure if that was a joke. “I thought about going into health care. But then I got hooked on research.”