“No way.” I crossed my arms and shook my head. “No! Just forget the whole damn thing! You’re just going to destroy everything I love about Cherry Falls anyway! What do you care about why I love it here?”
“Come on, you love your shop. I’m happy to give you your ninety days to try and save it, under the promise you’ve offered not to destroy my reputation with the other local business owners. All you have to do is show me around town tonight. That’s really not so bad, is it?”
“A night with you?” I sneered. “Yes. It’s really so bad.” Maybe I was still being a little defensive from the whole date confusion and his appalled reaction after, but my tone was brutal.
Thankfully, he laughed it off, only barely feigning hurt feelings. “I’m sure it’s hard for you to understand why this is important to me, but it is. So, please...just agree to this one thing.”
We bickered back and forth a little longer, and he certainly wasn’t forthcoming about his motives. But it was obvious that he wasn’t going to agree to anything until I said I would show him around that evening. The last thing I wanted to do was spend all night with that asshole, but with my shop’s future on the line, I knew it’d be a petty thing to be so stubborn about in the long run.
“Fine,” I sighed, making no qualms about my level of unhappiness over the matter. “I’ll show you around or whatever. But that’s it! That’s all I have to do and then I have my ninety days before deciding what to do about the new lease!”
“It’s a deal.” He flashed that annoyingly dashing smile of his and reached out for my hand to shake on it.
I shook his hand, grimacing the whole time. “So, now what? How are we doing this?”
“I still have some interviews to conduct.” His eyes flashed to the door with a sly grin, obviously looking forward to his chat with the pretty young thing in the waiting room, and probably several more to follow her. “I’ll come pick you up, say...about five?”
I sighed some more and nodded in defeat before finally getting up and walking out of his office. My heart was still pounding. I told myself I was just angry about being backed into this corner. But I worried it was something more. Nervousness maybe. But why!? It wasn’t even a date!
On the walk back to my place, I called the diner to get my shift covered for the evening. One of the owners answered and quickly put Angel on the line. Of course, Lizzy was right over her shoulder, so it was really like he put them both on the line. I reluctantly explained the whole ordeal and asked if either of them could work for me.
“You’re going on a date with Nick Ransom!?” they cried in unison.
I cringed, knowing everyone in the whole diner probably just heard them. “No! Didn’t you hear me!? It’s not a date! It’s part of our negotiation! I give him a tour of the town, he gives me ninety days to remodel the shop.”
“Uh-huh…” Angel said skeptically. “And why does he need you to show him around?”
“Because I was right in front of him when he thought of the idea!” I suggested, my frustration growing. “Or maybe just to torture me! I don’t know! All I know is I have to go unless I want to close down my shop next week. So, can you work for me or not?”
“We’ll get it taken care of. Go have fun,” Lizzy said with a girlish sort of giggle.
“It’s not fun!”
“Oh, but Del? What are you going to wear?”
The thumping in my heart started up again. That was one of several questions I didn’t have an answer to. All I knew was that sort of thing wasn’t supposed to matter. It wasn’t a date, and I hated Nick Ransom. So, why did it still feel like it most certainly did matter?
“I don’t know. I’ll find something in the shop,” I grumbled. “It doesn’t matter! Not a date! And I have to go.”
They continued teasing me like we were in high school all over again until I finally hung up on them. My heart continued pounding like a drum the whole way to my shop. I was planning it all out in my head. I’d swing by the store and throw an outfit together, grabbing some shoes and a bag to go with it...maybe even some jewelry. I’d go home and shower and do my makeup and hair… The longer I spent concocting the whole plan in my head, the more frustrated I became with myself. It was not a date – a chant I took to repeating to myself for the rest of the afternoon.
8
Nick
Delilah had me all wrong, even if I’d never tell her that upfront. The key to smart business is to always keep your deck a little hidden. That way you always have the upper hand. I knew plenty about hard work, family values, and all the other things she thought I could never understand. But it was better to sit back and let her think what she wanted of me, no matter how misguided it was. And as for why I thought she was the one I wanted to show me around Cherry Falls...I’d let her take her guesses at that too. But I knew why it had to be her. At least, I kept telling myself I did. That part didn’t matter. The cookie crumbled the way it did, and there I was at five pm, knocking on her door.
But the minute she answered, I very quickly realized I was the one who also had a thing or two wrong about Delilah. For one, I made it clear it wasn’t a date. (Didn’t I?). ‘Cause it wasn’t (was it?). And yet she was decked out the way a girl would dress for a date. Second, if I did imagine her dressing up for a date, I guessed I imagined her putting on some big vintage sundress or something else a country girl might wear while strolling through the town square with a cone of ice cream.
Delilah was not wearing a sundress. She had slipped into a tight jade green short cut number that she filled out tremendously. It clung to every inch of her slim curves in an almost torturous kind of way. It was the kind of thing that would turn heads in a New York club full of the hottest models and actresses. She wore it well, proving to be a more than worthy competitor of any woman I had ever laid eyes on. Until that moment I hadn’t bothered to notice the glowing tan of her skin or how long and muscular her legs were, but now it was all on full, agonizing display.
Needless to say, it knocked the breath right out of me...along with all of my words, and I was left there in a stunned stupor which I had never quite been in before. And I had gone out with my fair share of hot women.
“Something wrong?” she laughed under her breath, suddenly shrinking with nervousness.
“No,” I insisted, barely able to stop looking her up and down. “You...you look...fucking great,” I blurted – maybe a little too honestly.
“Oh, thanks.” She shifted on her heels and gently brushed a strand of her brown hair from her face. “Well. Let’s get going. Shall we?”
“Y-yes...yeah! Let’s go.”
I held out my arm for her to lead the way, if for nothing more than to give me a moment to collect myself. I wasn’t used to being caught off guard and not being able to mask it. It was embarrassing and baffling, but unfortunately, the view of Delilah from behind as we walked did nothing to help me get a grip.
For our first stop, Delilah took me to a Mexican restaurant in a small corner of town I hadn’t explored yet. To be frank, the area seemed kind of dubious and dumpy. It didn’t have the trendy potential of the main strip or the less developed parts of the city. So, I hadn’t bothered venturing into it yet. I had it on the bottom of my to-do list for once everything else had been elevated to the standard I envisioned.