Her second reaction was the complete opposite. Oh no! He was coming for dinner! What was she going to do?
She looked around at her tiny apartment, her mind spinning with everything she would need to do in order to get ready for a night here, alone, with Creek. A whole evening alone with him? Violet wasn’t sure if she wanted to jump up and dance, or sink back into her bed and pull the covers up over her head to hide. Excitement and nervousness vied for priority inside her stomach and the result was a sick feeling that shifted to hope, then back to nauseous.
Her fingers shook as she typed out, “How about seven o’clock? I have the ingredients for apple pie for dessert.”
She then dropped the phone, afraid she’d just made the biggest mistake of her life. Seven o’clock? It was five o’clock now! That meant she had only fourteen hours until Creek arrived! She had too much to do!
She called Kevin and asked him to cover the shop today. After he’d agreed, she jumped out of bed and hurried into the shower. Then stopped and looked around. Without stepping into the warm water, she shut off the spray, shaking her head at how crazy she was acting. She couldn’t take a shower now. She would need to do her hair before Creek arrived. And she’d have to wash it before she did something with it. But she needed to clean her apartment and get things ready. So shower later.
Rushing out of the bedroom, she was pulling off her flannel gown when she realized that she was wearing only underwear and walking to her kitchen. She almost fell over her own two feet as she ran back into the bedroom and pulled on a bra, sweater and a pair of jeans. When she stubbed her toe walking back out to her kitchen, she hopped back into her bedroom, found a pair of thick socks and pulled on her boots, berating herself for being so clumsy.
She ignored the throbbing pain in her toe and hurried back out the door. She had to make the roast beef! Wait! It was five-fifteen in the morning. If she started cooking it now, it would be leather by the time he got here.
It suddenly occurred to her that she’d just called one of her employees at five o’clock in the morning. And he hadn’t been annoyed! Good grief, get a grip, Violet!
“Slow down, girl!” she said to the empty room. The sound of her voice soothed her and she looked around, trying to figure out what was going on, what she needed to do. “Okay, so Creek is coming over for dinner. This won’t be the first meal you’ve cooked. You cook all the time for friends. This is just another friend coming over for dinner.”
But deep down inside, she knew that Creek was not a friend. And he wasn’t “just” anything. He was special. Every time she saw him, sat across the table from him, she knew that he was special.
“Calm down. He’s a gorgeous man who makes your heart go a bit crazy. No need to cause yourself bodily harm though.” With those words, she took a deep breath. Then another. She couldn’t go crazy. Not with a sophisticated man like Creek coming over for dinner.
Okay, what could she do now? The grocery store didn’t open for another four hours. Looking around, she decided that she would need to clean her apartment. That wouldn’t be hard, since she had basically a bedroom, small bathroom, and a combination kitchen and den area. There wasn’t much to clean, but within thirty minutes, every pot, pan, dish and glass were stacked on the counters so that she could clean everything and put it back neatly. By seven o’clock that morning, she had her plastic containers sorted by color and size, with matching tops right next to each one. Her glasses and utensils were polished, her plates washed by hand and all of her pots scrubbed thoroughly.
By eight o’clock, her sofa had been vacuumed and all of her floorboards wiped free of any dust. She’d also broken four nails and cut her finger on a splinter. At this rate, she would be in the hospital by the time Creek arrived.
Creek felt like a fool. He’d gotten her flowers! Hell, he should just dump them in the trash. This was a business transaction. Her stepfather had already dropped by The Rotten Apple and picked up the check, given him directions to her house, as if Creek hadn’t picked her up for dinner several times over the last week, and whistled as he left Creek feeling like a complete idiot for actually purchasing sexual favors for the night.
Now Creek was standing out here in front of her house, debating whether to walk away or get his money’s worth. This was ridiculous! He never paid for sex! Sure, he bought jewelry and various trinkets for the women in his life, but never anything this blatant.
It felt wrong.
“Oomph!”
Creek spun around and caught Violet only moments before she almost tumbled to the ground. “What the…?”