Maybe I was too forward. I didn’t think I was being flirty or insinuating more, but maybe—subconsciously—I did. I do find the man supremely attractive, so maybe that just came through. Either way, my embarrassment at the situation is unyielding. I keep replaying the moment over and over in my head and I can’t stop from cringing.
What was I thinking?
I let out a breath and turn away from my viewing. I have enough things to get done without watching Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome. The store is nearly ready for the big opening tomorrow, and while I’m mostly finished, I still have a few things to do.
I’m nervous, but also excited about what my future holds, and I can’t believe I’m living out my dream. If Thomas had had his way, this would never be happening. Leaving Thomas was the right choice, but it wasn’t the easy one. So much stuff had happened between us, though, that we were never going to survive the storm.
My phone rings and I head over to the counter where I left it to answer it. Simone’s name flashes on the screen. I grin before I slide my finger over the accept button.
“Don’t you have work today?” I say in place of ‘hello’.
“I do, but I wanted to check in on my favorite girl. How are you doing, honey?”
“Well, the store is nearly ready, so I’m feeling good. Relaxed.”
“That’s swell,” she says down the line. “I was worried for a while you might have taken on too much.”
“I’m managing,” I assure her.
“Of course you’re managing. You’re a Walker. That’s what we do.” She pauses, then says, “Anything more on the sexy hot stuff across the street?”
I wince. I could sidestep telling her, but she’d find out somehow. Simone is like a sniffer dog when it comes to gossip.
“I may have kind of accidentally asked him out for dinner—as friends,” I clarify.
There’s silence.
“Sim?”
“You did what?”
“I asked him out. To say thanks for helping me fix a plumbing issue. Honestly, Sim, I was really grateful. I wasn’t trying to flirt or anything, but now I’m worried he thinks I’m into him.”
“Obviously you’re into him. You’ve got eyes, don’t you? Anyone with a working vagina would be into that man.”
Trust my cousin to be crass.
“I’m not into him.” Lie. “But now he thinks I was coming onto him and things are awkward.”
“Hmm. I say just act like it never happened. Let him bring it up if he wants to.”
“I can’t just act like it didn’t happen,” I tell her. “It’s going to be like this huge elephant in the room between us.”
“It’ll pass. I’m sure he gets flirted with all the time.”
“I wasn’t flirting—”
“Whatever, girl. You asked a man to dinner. If that’s not intimate, I don’t know what is.”
Damn, she’s right.
“What am I going to do?” I groan.
“I already gave you my advice, honey, but you do you. You know I’ll support you no matter what.”
That I do know. It doesn’t make me feel any better, though.
“Thanks for your help, Sim.”
“Any time. I’ve got to get back to work. Honey, take my advice and pin that man down if you can. They don’t make many like that.”
I don’t think they make any like that, but I keep that thought to myself.
“Later, Sim.”
“Bye, Nee.”
I hang up and tap my cell against the palm of my hand while my brain whirls. Maybe Simone is right and I should just ignore it, act like it never happened.
I don’t have much time to think about it for the rest of the afternoon. I’m busy sorting the last of the stock out and looking into where I can pick up more stock from. There’s a couple of storage unit clearance sales just outside Baton Rouge after the weekend that I’m contemplating going to. Sometimes they have great stuff, other times it’s all junk. It’s a risky strategy to buy a storage unit full of belongings with the hope something good will turn up in it, but I also enjoy the thrill of it. I’ve gotten a few decent items that way, including an eighteenth-century candle holder that is my main window display. Maybe I’ll get lucky again.
The jangling of the bell over the door draws my attention. I’m about to say we’re not open, but my words die in my throat as I see Thomas standing there. My ex is nothing like Jared, although they both have dark hair. Thomas is shorter than Jared by a good way, and he has small eyes and too much mouth. There’s also an ugliness to Thomas that I didn’t see until I left him, an ugliness that is still there.
His eyes roam around the space before locking on me.
“So, this is what you left me for?” He snorts. “It’s… interesting.”
The way he says this suggests he finds it anything but.
I don’t bother to respond to his question—I’m not sure it was a question anyway. Instead, I say, “I’m closed. You need to leave.”
He doesn’t. He moves into the store, his fingers trailing over my things as he steps toward me. I want to move back, but I hold my ground. I’m not scared of him—not anymore. At least that’s what I tell myself, even though my heart is racing.
“You don’t want to show me around? Give me the guided tour of your new enterprise?”
“Not particularly,” I tell him. “Are you leaving?”
He raises cold eyes to me, eyes I once found enticing, alluring, beautiful even. I swallow back bile, but don’t move from my spot. This is my place, not his. I won’t allow him to intimidate me.
“I hope you’re happy now, Nia. Truly, I do, but I just wanted to see with my own eyes what you left me for. I don’t think it was worth it, do you?”
“I think it’s absolutely worth it,” I tell him candidly. I don’t want him to get the wrong impression—whatever that might be.
He grimaces as he picks up an ornament and examines it. I brace for whatever is about to happen, which, knowing Thomas, could be anything.
“I wish you well with your endeavor, sweetheart.”
He puts the ornament down, turns and walks out of the store, leaving me shaken. Him coming here feels like it’s put a bad cloud over the whole thing, but I push that out of my head.
Nothing, not even Thomas, can put a dampener on my excitement.
7
Jared
I don’t work Saturdays, instead spending the time with my son, but I left my phone in my desk drawer, so I have to head in to grab it before we go to the park. Despite being early, the air is already hot today, so I pack his hat to keep the sun off his head.
Cooper sits in the back in his car seat, singing out of tune to himself, and I can’t help but smile. The kid is tone-deaf and he’s making my ears bleed, but I still find it adorable.
I stop at the lights as traffic backs up and peek up at him in the mirror. This kid is my world, and everything about him makes me want to be a better person, the perfect dad. I have no idea if I achieve this, but I do my best to be Mom and Dad rolled into one because I’m all he has.