Chapter 25 #2
“Hey, girls,” he says, gracing us with a small smile.
“Hey, Jimmy,” Rosie says as she goes ahead of me.
“Hey, Sage. I was meaning to ask you something.” He leans forward on the bar, his eyes taking in my face.
“If it’s about Dalton, I’m not going to talk about it,” I say.
His expression changes. “Sorry, what?”
“If you’re asking if anything is going on between Dalton and me, I don’t know if people are talking or …”
“No, no, that’s not it. Not at all. You just—”
He looks like he’s tongue-tied and shakes his head.
His eyes stare into mine as if he’s searching for something, and for a few moments, I’m nervous that he’s going to ask me out, but then I know I’m being ridiculous because Jimmy has never shown any interest in me or ever looked at me in a way that would make me think he was interested in dating me.
“Is everything okay, Jimmy?” I step toward the bar. “You look like you are a little flustered.”
“I just heard some things. I spoke to Brett recently.”
“Oh, okay. About my birth dad? I didn’t realize he’d told you.”
“Yeah, I guess, seeing as I’ve lived in town most of my life and know a lot of the guys, and, well, it seems like he thinks I might possibly know your dad.” He shrugs. “I was just curious what you know about him.”
“Nothing much,” I say, smiling. “Just what my mom said, and she didn’t really know him. She wanted to keep things on the down-low, I suppose.”
“Whoever this man was, he wasn’t really looking for anything but a couple of nights, or maybe he was a dangerous man, and he just wanted to keep your mom safe, you know?” he says.
“Yeah, I guess, perhaps. I don’t know. I guess maybe I’ll find out. It would be cool if you knew him though. If it turns out that you do know him, I’m going to come to you for all the details, okay?”
“Yeah,” he grunts. “You can do that. Anyway, I should get working on these two Bloody Marys. They’re not going to make themselves. You and your sister have a great evening.”
“Thanks, Jimmy. I’ll see you later.”
I head to the front of the restaurant, where Rosie’s waiting, and she smiles at me.
“So, any good tea?”
“From who, Jimmy?”
“I don’t know. He likes to gossip with the best of them.”
“No, he was just saying that Brett asked him a couple of questions because he’s lived in town so long and there’s a possibility he might know who my birth dad is.”
“Oh, cool,” Rosie says. “Well, I hope Brett gets the answers you need. Are you going to see him anytime soon?” she adds coyly. “Hey, a girl’s got to ask.”
“Brett is not the one for you, Rosie, and it’s got nothing to do with the fact that he’s not a billionaire. He’s just—he’s not personable, you know? He’s not going to sweep you off your feet and be romantic, and I know that’s everything you’re looking for in a man.”
“I know,” she says. “I just … oh.” Her mouth gapes. “Speak of the devil.”
“What?” I look up, and I want to groan.
Dalton and Brett are headed toward us.
“Should I say anything?”
“What do you mean, should you say anything? Say hello and leave it at that. Do not ask the man out or anything like that.”
“I’m not going to do that,” Rosie says, and I notice that she starts playing with her hair.
“Hey there, Sage,” Dalton says with a smile, and he kisses me on the cheek. “Looking beautiful this afternoon.”
“And you’re looking mighty handsome yourself, kind sir.”
“Well, I thank you,” he jokes.
Brett looks at Rosie and nods. “Hey.”
“Hello, Brett.” I’m proud that Rosie’s not overly gushing. “Hi, Dalton,” she says.
“Hey, Rosie. Good to see you again. You on the way home?”
“Yeah, I think Sage and I are going to get a drink, and I know she’s meeting you afterward, so I’ll probably just hang out at the bar and have some fun by myself, see what trouble I can get into with some of the local men.”
Brett’s eyes swivel to hers, and he shakes his head. “That doesn’t sound like a good idea,” he says under his breath.
“Excuse me?” Rosie says.
“I said, it doesn’t sound like a good idea that you should—”
“Hey, Sage, can I speak to you for a second?” Dalton grabs my hand, and we head outside the restaurant.
“Oh my gosh, every time Brett sees Rosie, he goes out of his way to irritate her,” I say to Dalton. “What’s his problem?”
“I didn’t even notice,” he says, shrugging. “I needed to speak to you about something.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.” He grabs my hand and squeezes. “I have to cancel our plans for the evening.”
“What do you mean, you have to cancel them?”
“I have to go somewhere.”
“But I thought we were going to go dancing and then go to a hotel, and I even bought something special.”
“What did you buy?”
“I’m not going to tell you now.”
He growls, leans forward, and kisses my lips.
“What are you doing? We’re out in the open.”
“I don’t care,” he says. “What did you buy?”
“Not telling. Where are you going?”
“Brett and I, we have to …” He sighs. “We have to go and see Toby’s mom.”
“Are you ever going to tell me about that?” I ask softly because my heart is thudding. I still don’t know the story with Toby’s mom. I don’t even know if Dalton is still in love with her, if he ever was in love with her, and I don’t know if I want to know.
“Hey,” he says. “I’ll tell you everything as soon as I can, okay? Smile for me, Sage.”
“I’m not going to smile just because you told me to, and actually, I think it’s quite rude that you’re breaking a date with me so you can go and see another woman, and you think I should be okay with that. Maybe I’ll go drinking with Rosie and see who else I can find.”
“It’s not like that, Sage. Honey”—he grabs my hand and squeezes—“I promise you, I’ll tell you all of it tomorrow. You and I were supposed to hang out tonight, but I’m going out of town, and I don’t know how long I’ll be.”
I shrug. “Well, fine. You do you, and I’ll do me, and tell me whenever.”
“Don’t be like that, Sage. Please understand it’s for Toby.” His voice drops.
His eyes search mine, and I can see the worry there, the apprehension, the fear, and even though I don’t know why it’s there, my heart goes out to him.
“I guess if it’s for Toby,” I say.
Because the fact of the matter is, I love that Dalton is putting Toby first. I love that he’s a good dad. I love that he’s the sort of man who stands up for others, even if I’m the one who is the sacrificial lamb tonight.
“Well, good luck,” I say softly.
“I’ll miss you tonight,” he whispers in my ear. “I’ll miss sucking on those nipples and sliding my fingers—”
“Dalton.” I pull away before he can finish.
“What?” he says. “You’re not going to miss that too?”
“Maybe.” I look around to make sure no one’s watching, and then I slide my fingers down the front of his pants and squeeze.
“Maybe I was looking forward to letting Dalton Number Two out tonight. Maybe I bought a certain pair of panties and a new bra that would make things very exciting. And maybe,” I say as I press my lips against his, “I was going to let you do that one thing that you’d begged me to do last time, but I said no. ”
He gasps, his eyes going wide. “You’re going to let me—”
I press my fingers on his lips. “Well, right now, I’m not going to let you do anything. You have a good evening, big boy. Hopefully, Rosie and I don’t get into too much trouble tonight.”