Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (127 page)

Adrianne agreed it was less than ideal. For her. But why did Phoebe care?

“Do you have a thing for him?” she asked.

Phoebe looked confused. Then she laughed. “For Mason?” She glanced at Matt. “No, not for Mason.”

“Did you date him in high school or something?”

Phoebe was even more amused by that. “No. Mason didn’t date anyone. And that’s not why I want to keep them apart.”

“Then why?”

“They have a history,” Matt inserted. “Not a good one.”

“They seem to be getting along fine now,” Adrianne muttered, tipping an ice cube into her mouth and chewing hard.

“It won’t last,” Phoebe said. “Which is why we have to keep them apart.”

“I’m confused,” Adrianne said, watching Mason smile at something Hailey said.

“Hailey will flirt with him just long enough to get what she wants. Then she’ll tell him that they should stay friends, Mason will get mad, pull his donation and we’re screwed. It’s better if he has nice feelings for her, but not too much contact.”

“How do you know she’ll only want to be friends with him?”

Looking at him, Adrianne could think of at least sixteen really good reasons Hailey might want to see him again, and his broad shoulders and heart-tripping smile were just two of them.

“Because she had more than one chance with Mason in high school and always kept him very much at arm’s length. Everyone knew it. If there was any doubt, there was one pretty public denouncement that I remember.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah, I’ll tell you that story sometime,” Phoebe said. “But right now we have to run interference here. Seriously. We can’t let her get him all worked up and then break his heart. We need his money and we have a better chance of getting a real check in the bank if we keep them simply saying hi on the street and nothing more.”

Adrianne
hated
, irrationally, that Mason’s heart was at risk with Hailey.

But Phoebe wasn’t known for being melodramatic. She was a straightforward, smart, funny woman who had lived in Sapphire Falls her whole life and who Adrianne liked a lot. Adrianne had absolutely no reason not to believe her.

The problem was that Mason had given Hailey more than one chance in high school and he was here now looking at her like she was incredibly interesting. “But how do we do that?” Keeping Mason away from Hailey seemed like a great idea at the moment. Really any moment Adrianne could foresee in the future too. “If he
wants
to spend time with her—and vice versa—there’s not much we can do about it.”

“Oh, we’re gonna do something about it,” Phoebe declared. “I have a plan.”

Adrianne crunched on the last ice cube from her glass. “Whatever. Go for it.”

“I need you.”

Adrianne looked at Matt, but they were both looking at her. “Me? For what?”

“To step in.”

“For?”

“Hailey.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Someone has to fill him in on all of the plans, and how great Sapphire Hills is going to be and how much we need his help.”

“That has to be me?”

“You know the plans even better than Hailey does. You’d do a better job selling it anyway.”

That was completely true. It wasn’t even arrogant to say it. It was a fact. Adrianne was great at sales. Especially when she was passionate about something. She was passionate about Sapphire Hills.

“But he agreed to meet her. How do you propose we change that?”

“Hailey’s not going to be able to make it. We can’t leave the poor guy out there all alone, and he does need to know the plans. So you’ll meet him instead,” Matt said.

Adrianne wasn’t sure she should ask the next question, but she heard herself say, “Why can’t Hailey make it?”

“Something’s going to come up.”

“Something?” Adrianne repeated.

“Some…mayoral emergency,” Phoebe said.

Matt winked at her and Phoebe grinned.

“A mayoral emergency in Sapphire Falls?” Adrianne asked. “That she won’t need her assistant for?”

“Don’t worry about it. We’re a team. You play your position and let us play ours,” Matt said with a this-is-gonna-be-good grin. “Focus. Commitment. Execution. That’s what we need from you.”

Adrianne rolled her eyes at Sapphire Falls’s head football coach. “You’ve been to too many coaching clinics.”

Matt chuckled and took a drink of his beer.

“You want Sapphire Hills too, right?” Phoebe asked Adrianne. “What about your shop? You want that to happen, don’t you?”

Adrianne sighed. She really did. “Of course.”

“Then you need to help make it happen. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Or something like that.”

Adrianne knew she was going to regret this. “What do I need to do?”

“Show up at the build site at ten in the morning and be prepared to wow Mason.”

“
Okay
,” she said slowly. “Wow him?” she repeated.

Phoebe regarded her for a moment. “Wear your blue sundress,” she finally decided.

Adrianne felt her eyebrows rise. A sundress? That was her church outfit. “Why?”

“You have great legs and breasts.”

She turned to look at Matt. “Did you say I have great breasts?”

He shrugged. “You do. Sky is blue, ocean is deep, you have great breasts. And legs.”

Adrianne wasn’t sure what to say. She glanced at Phoebe wondering how she felt about the observation by the man she was in love with. She seemed lost in thought.

“Don’t you think I should try to wow him with information about the project and the building plans?” Adrianne asked.

“Sure, sure.” Phoebe waved that away. “That’s a given. Don’t show up in cut-off sweat pants and we’ll be good.”

Adrianne thought there was a compliment in there and then started to protest Phoebe’s assumption she would show up like that anyway. Then she realized that yeah, it was possible. It was a construction site, not the dinner theater or even her office. Cut-off sweat pants would be appropriate. “I could wear—”

“But we have to get them apart tonight too before any more damage is done,” Phoebe cut her off. “We have to do something now.”

Adrianne couldn’t help but glance in Mason’s direction again. “How are you going to do that?”

Phoebe definitely had a twinkle in her eye when she looked at Adrianne. “I have an idea.”

“Oh boy.” That didn’t sound good. “Tell me.”

“Can’t.”

“Phoebe—”

“It’s better if you don’t know.”

She was probably right. “Phoebe—”

“I have to say one thing—he was looking at you while you danced too.”

That made Adrianne pause. He
had
been looking at her. Not as a dance partner or even a very interesting new acquaintance but like…he’d really like to do body shots off of her.

And he didn’t seem the type to generally do body shots.

“What do you mean?” she asked, wondering if Phoebe had noticed the same things she had.

“You know how I said I noticed how you were looking at him?”

Adrianne nodded.

“He was looking at you like that too.”

Adrianne swallowed. Okay, she’d noticed. No matter Mason’s history with Hailey, there had been some definite heat between them on that dance floor that wasn’t one-sided. “You sure?”

“I was surprised you both got off the dance floor with all your clothes on.”

Adrianne felt her cheeks heat and put her hand over her heart. “I—”

“Get up.” Phoebe got to her feet and reached to pull Adrianne out of her chair.

Adrianne stood. Phoebe looked at her. Adrianne spread her arms. “Okay. Now what?”

Phoebe picked up her shot glass and splashed the butterscotch schnapps down the front of Adrianne’s shirt.

“Hey!” Adrianne stared at her friend. “What the hell?” She started to reach for a napkin, but Phoebe stepped on her foot. Hard.

“Ow!” Adrianne glared at Phoebe. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Come on.” Phoebe yanked on her arm, causing Adrianne to trip over the leg of her chair.

“Dammit, Phoeb—
oomph
.” She lost her train of thought as she spun and bumped into Mike Corbin. His beer sloshed out of the mug, a large spot landing on her thigh. “Sorry.”

Mike smiled and skirted around her as Phoebe pulled her forward.

“Let’s go.”

“What is going on?” Adrianne demanded of her friend when there were no people or chairs between them.

“What?” Phoebe called over her shoulder.

Adrianne found herself limping the next two steps due to her sore toe. “What is going on?”

“What?” Phoebe asked again from a step ahead of her.

Adrianne raised her voice. “What. Is. Going. On?” she practically shouted. As the song ended. Several people turned to look. Phoebe pushed her into the table to her right and Adrianne knocked the bowl of popcorn on the edge to the floor.

She mumbled an apology and turned to blast her friend. Only to find herself face to face with Mason. She froze for an instant as she met his gaze. Dang. There was something about this guy that could stop her in her tracks. And she didn’t mind.

He was still standing with Hailey, but his attention was fully on Adrianne.

“Hailey.” Phoebe grasped the other woman’s arm with her free hand. “Adrianne needs a ride home.”

Hailey was talking to Christine, one of the bartenders. But her knees were very close to Mason’s crotch. Her
bare
knees—thanks to the short skirt and how she’d crossed her legs.

Phoebe wasn’t one to be ignored. “Hey, Hailey!” she said louder. “Adrianne needs a ride home.”

Adrianne barely registered the words as she continued to stare dumbly at Mason. But she did hear her name. And the word home.

Hailey stopped mid-sentence and swiveled toward them as she realized Mason’s eyes were no longer on her. She looked Adrianne up and down. “Why? Are you okay?” she asked Adrianne.

“Look at her,” Phoebe said before Adrianne could answer. “She’s got schnapps and beer down the front of her, she can’t walk a straight line and she doesn’t know what’s going on.”

“She doesn’t drink,” Hailey said with a frown.

“She’s a mess,” Phoebe said, conveniently not quite lying.

Adrianne opened her mouth to protest that she was a mess. Or drunk. She didn’t know what Phoebe’s plan was, but it seemed like a bad idea.

“Phoebe, I…” But she made the mistake of glancing at Mason again.

He was watching her with a faintly amused expression. She didn’t care. She loved that he was still looking at her. Pathetic, ridiculous, silly. But true. His expression was hard to label. It wasn’t the way he had been looking at Hailey, but she decided not to analyze that.

His eyes on her made her warm and a little jumpy, but not in a bad way. Jumpy, excited, short of breath, but her heart didn’t skip or race. So it was all good. Very good.

Phoebe turned to Adrianne. “What time are we meeting to put the picnic stuff up tomorrow?”

They hadn’t talked about that yet. “I don’t know.” Adrianne frowned, confused. “I thought…”

Phoebe turned back to Hailey. “See what I mean? She doesn’t even know what’s happening tomorrow.”

Hailey sighed. “You need to learn to pace yourself,” she said to Adrianne.

Adrianne really wanted to protest now. She didn’t need to pace herself for drinking soda. And she always knew all the details to all the plans. She made most of the details and the plans. This was character defamation.

“Are you taking her home then?” Hailey asked Phoebe.

“Oh, I can’t. My car’s full of stuff for the softball game and picnic.”

“Completely full?”

“Packed,” Phoebe insisted.

Hailey sighed. “Drive her car.”

“How will I get home?” Phoebe asked.

“Walk.”

“It’s like five miles.”

“It’s two. At most.”

“I don’t want to walk two miles in the dark.”

Hailey rolled her eyes and reached for Adrianne’s arm to pull her closer. “Fine.” Though her tone suggested it really wasn’t fine. “I’ll take her. In a minute.”

Phoebe frowned. “I think—”

“I’ll take her home.”

Hailey, Phoebe and Adrianne all stopped and looked at Mason as one. Adrianne quickly glanced at Phoebe who had a suspiciously pleased smile on her face. Her gaze swung to Hailey, who looked exasperated. Then she looked at Mason again.

He was watching her with a slight curve to his lip.

He didn’t look like he minded the idea. He was already setting his glass down and straightening.

Phoebe looked at his half-full glass. “Have you been drinking?”

“Soda.”

She beamed at him as if he’d announced she was Miss America. “Then that’s a fantastic idea.”

Phoebe pushed Adrianne forward and she had to step quickly to avoid Mason’s toes. He steadied her with two warm, large palms on her upper arms. “Easy,” he said quietly, staring down at her. His eyes went from her eyes to her lips and back to her eyes. “I’ve got you.”

“Thanks,” she said. It sounded breathless to her, but she couldn’t help it.

“You can give me directions, I assume?” His smile hinted that he knew she was more than capable of telling him how to get her home.

“Seven twelve Crimson,” Phoebe said, earning her another frown from Hailey.

“She could walk from here,” Hailey inserted.

Adrianne felt her right knee buckle. Enough that Mason had to pull her up against him.

“Look at her,” Phoebe said. “She can’t walk home.”

Adrianne knew exactly why her knee had given and she couldn’t look at her friend or she’d start to laugh. This was junior high get-a-boy’s-attention stuff.

“This is ridiculous,” Hailey muttered. She pivoted on her stool. “There are a dozen guys here who would take her home. Hey, Dave!” she called.

“I’m taking her home,” Mason said.

Adrianne was surprised by the firmness of his tone. He turned her and tucked her under his arm.

“It’s fine,” he said, less forcefully. “I was heading out anyway.”

Hailey was quite obviously not happy. Adrianne carefully avoided making eye contact. Instead, she let herself lean into Mason, enjoying his strength and warmth.

What the hell? It wasn’t like being up against him was going to last. He was only here for three days, and Hailey obviously had some kind of stake on him already.