10. Winnifred
“ G ood morning!” I sang out, throwing open the unlocked door to Crews truck.
Judging by how he climbed in here with a hood pulled all the way up and the drawstrings yanked tight around his sunglass covered face, this man had a glorious hangover from whatever shenanigans he got up to last night. That being said, I ensured the doors slammed against the outside of his truck with a loud BANG. Pleasure coursed through me when I saw him flinch and groan, covering his barely exposed face.
“Can you not be here?”
“Actually, in a way, you begged me to be here.”
He lifted his head at that, and even with those ridiculous sunglasses on I could see his eyes lowering at me. “I never begged for a thing from you.”
My voice lowered into a caveman tone. “Me Crew. You give me dessert. I make you food. I drink so much.”
“I didn’t say it like that.”
“You did in my head,” I sang out. “I didn’t think you even had my number.”
When his text popped up in my notifications, quickly explaining who it came from, my heart battered around in my chest. I hated it for that. It was one thing to know Crew was attractive, my eyes didn’t know how to lie, it was entirely different for me to get all excited over a single text. Absurd, really. Yet still there was this small sliver of me that found it profoundly sweet that he did in fact still have my number from years ago.
“Yeah, I forgot I saved it before burning the evidence.”
Well, never mind.
I dusted it off and shrugged. “So, what are you gonna make me?”
Crew pulled down his hood “Look, we need to talk.”
I watched, entirely lost as he lowered himself onto the floor, crossing his legs in front of him. When he picked up on my confusion, he gestured a hand that I was meant to apparently follow suit. So I sat down on the vinyl floors next to him, ignoring the cabinets that were inches from our faces.
He sighed like he was in pain. “If we were to do this, I meant what I said. I don’t do cheating, of any kind.”
“Okay…?”
What was that supposed to even mean?
“So I think if we did go this route, we should sign up as a team and split the rewards.”
Split the… my face instantly turned hot. Splitting the rewards beats the entire purpose of why I signed up in the first place. I was living day to day, paying late fees on almost all of my bills in any attempt to catch up. I needed all of the five thousand, I couldn’t just split it. Splitting it meant no going home, no Willow Creek Farms, no escaping. Splitting meant being stuck again. And I’ll never choose to be stuck again.
“No.”
“What do you mean no?”
“NO.” I shouted, hearing my echo bounce in our small space. “As in heck no. As in absolutely not. I am not splitting anything with you.”
I briskly stood from the floor, and turned to leave. Maybe I wasn’t going to win this thing on my own, not with the entrees I’ve attempted to make. But I would rather give it my all that split the-
“You can keep the money.”
I paused in my tracks, my hand resting on the door handle to jump out. Glancing back, I checked his eyes for sincerity.
Crew sat in the floor, leaning back with his hands raised. “Every dime. I don’t need it.”
If he didn’t need it, at least some of it, then why did he sign up for the first place? Other than to just get a rise out of me. And if that were the case, us working together meant nothing anyway.
“Why would you ever do that?”
He looked over my shoulder, not meeting my eyes. “Because I didn’t sign up for the money. I need the title and the spot, that’s all. Everything else is yours.”
I stared at him. “You’re serious?”
“Yes.”
“Why do you need the title?” My fingers gripped the handle still, half way sure on if I needed to bolt out of here or actually pause and think of any viable options. Who would do this for a simple title? My eyes squinted at him. “You know it’s not going to get you laid, or if it does then that’s actually pretty path-”
“I don’t need help getting laid, trust me.” My cheeks are so hot right now. “I just have something to prove to my family. It’s a long story. But like I said, that’s the only way I can do this. So it’s fair and there’s no…foul play involved.”
I paused, staring at him for any hint of lying. “You swear you don’t need the money?”
“Not a cent.” he stared right back at me, searching me eyes as well. “Why do you need it?”
“You can’t just ask people that.”
“You aren’t people so yes I can.”
There was no way I was explaining my messed up situation to Crew Wells of all people.
“I need to get a handle on some finances. That’s all.”
That was simple enough without going into details of being abandoned and left with an overwhelming amount of debt in your name that you never accounted for.
I could see his disbelief in the way he squinted back at me, but still he let it slide away with a shrug.
“So…what now?” I asked.
Crew stood, groaning and reaching for his back as he reached his full height- he seriously needed to get that worked out.
“We need to go fix our registration,” he sighed a bit and played with a drawer handle that wasn’t screwed on tightly enough next to him. “Probably go meet that Craig guy or whatever to let him know the plan to do it as a team.”
I hummed. “Will they let us?”
“It’s the same as you working for me.”
“No, no. You would work for me.”
Crews face was turning hot and I loved watching the tinge of pink rush to the top. “If anyone is going to be wearing the pants in this, it’s me.”
My arms crossed and I tracked his eye movement falling directly to my chest. His cheeks turned even more pink.
“It’s going to be incredibly difficult to take you seriously if you plan on wearing these Hawaiian shirts every day.”
“What’s wrong with my shirts?” He looked down at it, searching. “This one has toucans on it.”
“If you need me to even answer that then this is never going to work out.”
“Whatever.” The blush was crawling down to his neck. “I’ll call the chamber of commerce and ask about switching. You work on a dessert, I’ll work on an entree. We can pick a day to meet weekly leading up to it so we can make sure we are on the same page.”
I hummed. “Wow, you really thought things through.”
“I need this.”
“So do I.” I countered.
“I need it more.”
“Alright, I see where this is going so I’m leaving now.” I hopped out of the truck and walked to my own when he called out. “Monday mornings. That’s the best for me.”
I threw a thumbs up over my shoulder in response, because my face was burning. This was either the best or the worst decision either of us has ever made.