“Oh, Delilah?” Paige called out, snapping me to attention. “Can we talk about the name of the store? I know it’s named after you and all, but ‘Delilah’s’?” she scoffed with a smug smile. “It’s a little passe. Don’t you think?”
I grinded my teeth to stop a slur of profanities from escaping. Oh. Hell. No. This chick was not about to rename my store. It was the last straw, and I was ready to go off on her all over again.
14
Nick
There is nothing sexier than a beautiful, strong, confident woman exerting her power. Even if I was the type to take a woman out for a night and then put her back on the shelf like something not meant for me, I could appreciate that fact. And Del was doing just that. Paige brought up the name of the shop and all bets were off.
But there was something a little insecure about the way she was laying into Paige. She wasn’t exerting power...she was desperately clinging to it. Fighting for things to remain unchanged – at least in the ways she didn’t approve of.
“You don’t think the name is even just a little…” Paige struggled to find the words, treading lightly so she didn’t make things even worse. But she seemed to be enjoying this a little too much. Maybe she liked pissing Del off.
“No, I don’t think it is a little anything,” Del snapped back with a hand on her hip. “I’ve considered changing it, but if I do...it’s up to me. And I don’t need your input.”
Paige threw up her hands in surrender and hid herself in a corner with the laptop, likely busying herself with the task of finding accessories like Del had asked.
Del started slamming things around the store as she sorted through the piles of existing inventory. I watched her hold up each item and scrutinize it, trying to determine if it had any use in this new brand she was creating. She had an expert look about her, like she could predict exactly what would fit into her vision and what would not.
I approached her slowly, much like I had done back in my office. But no matter how cautious I had been, it didn’t stop her from yelling at me and storming out. I couldn’t be sure that this time would be any different. At least we were in her store this time, so the likelihood of her leaving, especially with Paige lurking around, was pretty low.
“What do you want?” she asked through clenched teeth, not bothering to look up.
“You seem a little...on edge.”
“I told you I didn’t need her help,” she replied coldly.
“Okay, I can see things are off to a rough start, but she’s helping now, isn’t she?” We both looked over to Paige, who quickly lowered her head back to the screen as if she wasn’t watching us.
“We’ll see how it goes,” Del conceded bitterly.
I got a little thrill from watching Del go off on Paige, and it continued to happen throughout the day. I picked up on sparks of jealousy flying between them. It was entertaining, but if I smirked or, god forbid, laughed – Del just got even angrier. I ended up staying until the end of the day just to make sure no one got killed. And...truthfully, being around Del again, no matter how enraged she might have been, was also a little thrilling
“I’m calling it a day,” Paige announced as she packed up her things. “It’s been...good working with you, Delilah. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Sure,” Del huffed.
Paige turned to me and lowered her tone, her eyes glinting with suggestion. “Hey, Nick. Do you have dinner plans? Maybe you and I could…”
Something slammed from Del’s direction and I looked up just in time to see her retreating to the back room of the store.
“Grab something to eat? A drink or two...or five?” Paige laughed.
I looked her up and down, remembering just how hot she was. It wasn’t the kind of invitation I would normally refuse, but then again...maybe I had accepted too many of those invitations over the years. Paige Burke was basically a carbon copy of every woman I had fooled around with for as long as I could remember. But the feisty woman crashing around in the back room was different than what I was used to. More than anything, I wanted to make sure she was okay.
“Not tonight,” I replied.
She shrugged in a “suit yourself” kind of way and headed for the door. I saw Ben’s face appear around the corner. He must have spotted me inside and was popping in to say hi. But Paige intersected him and before I knew it, the two of them were chatting it up and eventually walked off together. Paige had found her dinner and drinks partner for the night.
I walked into the back and found Del standing over a box. She had opened it to sort it, but was motionless. I cleared my throat to let her know she wasn’t alone anymore.
“You’re still here,” she stated. “You didn’t want to go gallivanting around town with Paige?”
“Not tonight,” I said again, just as I had said to Paige.
I could tell she was waiting for more of an explanation. She was hoping I’d say more, but I didn’t care about any of that anymore.
“Do you want to tell me what today was all about?” I asked gently.
“I told you. I just don’t want someone who doesn’t know anything about Cherry Falls trying to tell me how to run my business.”
I nodded, accepting that if there was more to it, she obviously wasn’t going to cave in and tell me.
“Well, hey, I do need dinner. I’m starving. Maybe I could order us something. Unless you’re dying for me to get out of your hair.”
She considered it for a moment, and I could tell part of her really was dying for me to leave her alone. But another part of her wanted me to stay. Much like how I felt about her.
“I know of a good pizza joint that delivers,” she suggested.
“Oh no. You may have been right about the Mexican food, but there’s no way any pizza around here will compare to anything I’m used to. Nothing beats New York pizza.”
Finally, she smiled. My relief at seeing it was stronger than I expected.
“There’s a stack of takeout menus up by the register.”
I sorted through the stack until we landed on Chinese. Within the hour, we had shed our shoes and made a picnic arrangement on top of some empty boxes in the middle of the store. As we ate, it was easy to forget how stressful the day had been. Del’s eyes lit up as she told me all about the renovations she had planned. She described the lighting, walls, and flooring and how everything would be arranged.
“It’s gonna be a hit, kid.” I winked as she went on.
She seemed surprised, once again, by my support. “Why are you so hellbent on helping me all of a sudden? I assumed you were hoping I wouldn’t be able to sign the new lease. Then you’d get this space for whatever your vision is.”
I glanced over to the diner across the street and remembered my dream of the chocolate and dessert shop sitting right here in Del’s place. I didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t wrong, but some things had changed. I didn’t know what exactly...only that it was all starting to feel different.
“If it’s all out of some guilt about the other night,” she added, “don’t bother. I’m a big girl, and I don’t care...really. I’m just stressed and all defensive over everything that’s happening.”