Veer (Clayton Falls) (18 page)

“Okay…” he stammered.

I bit back a smile before sitting down
.

It was impossible to have anything but a great day with so many beautiful flowers surrounding me. My usually bleak office felt cheerful
. One
should never underestimate the power of flowers—especially several dozen of them.

I was still thinking about the flowers that night.
I needed to thank Gavin, but
I didn’t have his number. The irony that I didn’t have
a
number for the one guy I’d had sex with wasn’t lost on me as I texted Kelly for it—glad I didn’t have to bother Molly.
She was at a show with Ben.

My phone rang immediately. “Oh my god, you want to make up?”

“Hey, Kelly. We already did,
kind of,
but I don’t have his number, and I need it.” I decided to leave out the reason.

“I’ll text it to you when I hang up.” She sounded way too excited.

I laughed. “Okay, I’m going to get off so I can call him.”

“Sure, but you have to fill me in on all the details later.”

“Okay, bye.”

As promised
,
she texted me his number.
Instead of calling, I went with a text message.
Thanks for the flowers.
I didn’t bother to tell him it was me. He’d figure it out.

He wrote back immediately.
What flowers?

I
laughed
before replying.
Fine, make sure to thank whatever guy did send them to me
.

I didn’t get a reply right away and assumed he wasn’t going to respond
.
I was just about to give up and put down my phone when
I got a new text.
He says
“
you’re
welcome
.
”

I smiled
as I
got
ready for bed.

***

I was still in a great mood Tuesday when
Matt stopped by my office around lunch time.

“Did you order sushi?”

“What?”

“This was just dropped off
,
and it’s got your name on it.”

I took the plastic bag from him, knowing it would be from the
sushi place Gavin had taken me to
.

“Thanks.”

“Is this from the same person who got you all those flowers?”

“What do you think?”

“Whatever.” Matt walked out of the office.

I sat down to enjoy my lunch.
Gavin
even remembered the seaweed salad. I decided to text him again.
I’d thank you for lunch, but it wasn’t you
,
was it?

I don’t know. Was it?

Have a great day, Gavin.

You too
. E
njoy the sushi.

I never said it was sushi.

Lucky guess.

***

Wednesday was a long day at work. I didn’t get home until close to seven, and I was ready to collapse. I was pleasantly surprised to find a gift bag right outside the pool house. I brought it inside, giddy as I sat down at the table to open it. A container of Godiva white chocolate hot
cocoa
, chocolate chip biscotti, and a DVD waited for me. I looked at the DVD and busted out laughing—it was
Bull Durham
. Once again, I texted
Gavin
.

Nice movie choice.

Does it maybe remind you of someone?

Nope. Should it?

Not at all. By the way
,
that biscotti is hard to find
.
I had to go to four different stores
.

So you admit it’s from you?

If you keep asking
,
I’m going to accuse you of actually having the angry
ex
you swore you didn’t have
.

Thanks for the treat and the movie
.

Enjoy!

***

I thought Gavin was all played out until I heard a noise outside my door around
eight o’clock
Thursday night. By the time I opened the door
,
no one was there
.
I did find season four of the
Gilmore Girls
. It was the only season I didn’t have.

Gilmore Girls? You were really digging, huh?

I’ll even watch it with you, but I admit I’d have to watch the first three seasons first
.

I doubt it’s your kind of show
.

But you’re my kind of girl
.

Thanks for the DVDs
.

You can thank me in person
on our
coffee date tomorrow. Marney’s at
7
:
3
0
.

See you then
.

Good night, Becca.

Good night
.

***

Friday night
,
I tried to push away the nerves that
ate
away at me. It was just coffee—nothing to get myself bent out of shape over. I parked my car right out front of Marney’s, still loving
that I had
it back. Molly’s car was a lot nicer than mine, but I preferred the comfort
and style
of my own.

I showed up early, and as I’d hoped
,
Gail was there alone. “Hey
,
hon, are you finally ready for that talk
?”

“I definitely am.”

She smiled. “I think this calls for some pie
. What’s
your favorite kind?”

“Pecan. Definitely pecan.”

“Want some coffee with that?”

“That would be great.”

I grabbed ou
r
coffees
,
and Gail carried two plates of pie to a table in the corner.

“So tell me, how’s the summer going for you?

I loved that she jumped right in.
“It’s been interesting.”

“A good interesting?”

“Partly.” I took a bite of the pie
. I
t melted in my mouth. “Wow, this is good.”

“It’s even better with some vanilla ice cream, but I’m out.”

“Thanks for the tip, but it’s perfect just the way it is.”

“What’s made the summer interesting?”
She took a bite of her peach pie. It looked delicious, but it couldn’t have been better than the pecan.

“Mostly the people.”

“Anyone I know?”

“Don’t you know everyone in town?”

She laughed. “You got me there.”

“Well, I only have
twenty minutes
because I have another date.”

“With Ronny?”

“No, Gavin.”

“Ohh
.
H
e’s
a better choice for you.”
She leaned forward on her elbows.

“You think?”

“Definitely. He’s new around here, but he’s the good kind.”

“New? He’s been here three years.”

“Honey, that’s new.”

“
W
hat does that make me?”

“Practically just born. But tell me, is this your first date with him?”

“No. We’ve
,
uh
,
spent some time together in the past
,
and we had lunch last weekend.”

“Time together? You can be honest with me, Becca. I’m guessing that means you slept with him.”

I’m sure I turned deep red. Gail had to be at least seventy-five. “Yes.”

“Well, it couldn’t have been that bad if you two keep seeing each other.”

“No, it wasn’t. I’m just scared, you know? I don’t know what’s going on in his head at all.”

“A little advice
:
you’ll never know what a man is thinking. That’s the fun part.”

“The fun part?
W
hat’s the bad part?”

“If he’s the right one for you
,
there won’t be any bad parts, just some bumps in the road.”

“Bumps in the road.” That was one way of putting it.

The jangle of the bell announced the arrival of customers. Gail excused herself
,
and I finished my pie.

I b
rought my plate to the dish bin
and had just sat back down when Gavin
walked in
.

“Starting without me?”

“Hey, sorry. I got here early.”

“It’s fine. I’m going to get something.”

“You don’t need to do that
. H
ere you go.” Gail arrived with a cup of coffee for Gavin. “Your date
’
s been waiting long enough.” She winked at me before walking away.

“See, that’s what I love about this town
.”
Gavin
took
a sip of his coffee.

“Yeah, Gail’s pretty awesome.”

“I didn’t really keep you waiting
,
did I
?
I thought I was early.”

“You are
.
I was just even earlier.”

“Dating another early bird might be pretty nice.”

“Using that word again?”

“We’re dating
,
Becca
. A
ccept it.”

I laughed. “Okay, I might one day.”
I took another sip of coffee and then looked back over at him. “There’s something I wanted to talk to you about
.
”

“What is it?”

“I think we should forget what happened—”

“What? No way. I thought—I mean
,
you seemed—
”

I decided to put him out of his misery. “Forget what happened that morning. I didn’t mean we had to forget what happened that night.” My whole body got warm thinking about that.

“Oh. Yeah, I like that idea.”

“Me too.” I smiled.

“So tell me, how was your week?”

“My week? It was good, full of surprises.”

“Yeah?
”
He stretched out his legs under the table, and they brushed against mine.

“Some
really good surprises.”

“Good, you deserve good surprises.”

I smiled. “You
’
r
e
sweet.”

“Sweet? I’ll take that. I’ll also accept thoughtful or amazing.”

“What’d you have to bribe Molly with to get all the inside
r
information?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh, you just happened to know my taste in cocoa or the one
Gilmore Girls
season
I was missing.
”

“Okay, so I might have had some help.”
He smiled sheepishly.

“She’s a good friend.”

“Yeah, she is. She just wants you happy.”

“I know. And I love her for it.”

We spent another hour talking before we decided to head out. I had plans with Molly I didn’t want to break.

“I know you
’
r
e
busy later tonight, but want to get together tomorrow?”

I didn’t answer at first.

“I’m going to take your lack of response as a yes.”

“Hey, you can’t do that!” I argued.

“Yes
,
I can. If you really had a problem with it
,
you would have told me. I know you have no trouble telling me what you’re thinking.” He grinned wickedly. “
B
e ready at nine tomorrow morning.”

“Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise, but wear a swim suit—preferably the one you were wearing
when we played volleyball
the
other day.”

“I didn’t think you’d noticed. You seemed more concerned with
winning
.”

“Oh I noticed. I definitely noticed. Everyone noticed, and I wasn’t too happy about it.”

“Let’s make a deal.”