Chapter Three #2
He stared at me hard, mouth agape. I let him get in a few more looks before I walked away, smiling to myself for throwing him off his game.
I honestly wasn’t worried about Ian taking advantage of me.
Heck, I had to practically throw myself at the guy when we first started dating.
Our spark was undeniable, but boy did he try to fight it.
Looking back, I suppose he was right to; I was pretty young at the time.
But the heart wants what it wants, and did my heart ever want him.
He followed me to my favorite restaurant, Alicia’s.
I personally knew the owners, Alicia and her husband, Jose.
They were my first client as a junior account manager at Chandler Media.
That was seven years ago. They still used the logo and ad designs I created for them.
The design used an old-world map of Mexico as the backdrop.
I had offered several times over the years to touch it up or create a new one for them, but they’d become very attached to it.
Ian had no trouble keeping up with me. I kept wondering what he was thinking about as he followed me.
I was surprised he was going to all the trouble.
I thought he would’ve been happy to see me go.
Funnily enough, my sister thought otherwise.
She had predicted he would ask me to come back.
She believed he had ulterior motives for coming to Chandler Media, but I’d told her she was crazy. “Crazy like a fox,” she’d responded.
Alicia’s parking lot was almost full; that was a good sight for me. Alicia and Jose deserved the continued success. I had never met harder working or kinder people, and their food was to die for, especially their smothered burritos. My mouth was watering just thinking about them.
Ian parked his car in the space next to mine. We met each other on the sidewalk. He looked up warily at the place. I forgot, this probably wasn’t his style. He was more of the quiet café type, or at least he used to be. Oh well, if he wanted to talk to me, he was going to have to do it on my turf.
“I hope you like Mexican.” I knew he did, but I was treating him as if I didn’t know him at all. I could tell it bothered him, but I wasn’t sure why.
He tilted his head. “Of course,” he replied.
I led the way to the entrance. There was a bit of awkwardness when we got to the door; we both reached for it at the same time and our hands touched.
Where the heck did those tingles come from?
I backed off quickly and let him open it.
I had no problem with men opening my door, and normally I assumed they would, but I was making no assumptions with Ian, now or ever.
“Um . . . Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He waved me in.
As soon as we walked in, we were hit with the sound of their live salsa band. I had forgotten Fridays were their salsa night. I could tell it made Ian a little uncomfortable. Perfect. He deserved to squirm.
We didn’t even make it to the seating hostess before Alicia accosted me. “Kelli!” she said as she squeezed me to death. She looked me over like a fine Mexican momma. “Eres hermosa.”
Another reason to love this place—it was a great self-esteem booster. “Gracias, igualmente.”
She kissed my cheek and then she noticed I brought company. “Ahh, who is this, Hermosa?”
I wanted to say, “Don’t get your hopes up.” She was constantly trying to set me up. “Alicia, this is Ian. He’s the new Marketing Director at Chandler.” You had no idea how hard that was to say.
She pressed her lips together and patted my arm. I probably shouldn’t have told anyone I was hoping to fill that position. I could have done without the look of pity.
Ian took his cue and shook her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“You should know Kelli is muy talented.” She dropped his hand and wrapped her arm around me.
Ian tugged on his collar. “I’ve heard that a lot today.” He sounded sincere, but there seemed to be a hint of annoyance mixed in.
On that note, Alicia showed us to a booth toward the back. It was the farthest away from the band which pleased Ian. She took our drink order and kissed my cheek before she left to fill it.
Ian was fixedly staring at me.
“Do you want to know what’s good here?” I asked.
“Sure.” He grinned. “But I was wondering, does everyone in this town know you and love you?”
I laughed. “I think you’ve met most of my inner circle today.”
“Yes, and it’s been painful. I may be the most hated man in Nashville at the moment.” He unfolded his napkin and placed it on his lap.
I couldn’t help but grin and be delighted about that, but I kept my sarcastic comments to myself. It sounded like he’d had enough for the day. I may not like him, but I wasn’t one to pour vinegar into open wounds, at least not all at once.
He leaned forward ever so slightly. “So, Kelli, I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot today. I’d like to start over if we could.”
“You think?” I responded.
He sat back and folded his arms. “How about this, let’s not discuss business for now.”
“Then whatever do we have to talk about?”
“Well, we haven’t seen each other in almost thirteen years.”
I took a chip from the bowl and dipped it in their homemade salsa. “Really? Has it been that long? I guess time flies when you’re having fun.”
Yeah, he didn’t know what to do with me by the pained look on his handsome face. Of course, I knew how long it had been since I had last seen him. That memory, unfortunately, would be forever etched on my heart and time-stamped in my brain, but he didn’t need to know that.
“I barely recognized you today when I first saw you.”
I raised my eyebrow at him and practically choked on my chip. “Well, okay. Most men would lie and say, ‘The years have been good to you, Kelli. You look great.’ But I guess honesty is the best policy.”
His face burned red.
To hide my embarrassment, I picked up my menu and began to read it even though I had it memorized, and I already knew what I was ordering.
I had never had anyone point blank tell me I was unattractive or unrecognizable.
I’ll admit that stung coming from someone who used to call me beautiful on a regular basis.
He cleared his throat. “Kelli, I didn’t mean to imply that you are anything but hermosa.”
I looked over my menu. “Do you even know what that means?”
“Your belly dancing classes have definitely paid off.” He smirked.
“Hmm . . .”
“Really, Kelli, I only meant to say you look grown up now.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Now you sound like my dad.”
His eyes sparkled with delight. “I’ve heard that somewhere before.”
I was supposed to be pretending like I didn’t remember a thing from our relationship. Darn it!
“How is your dad?” he asked, still grinning like a fool.
I set down my menu and placed my hands in my lap. “He passed away six years ago.”
That wiped the grin right off his face. “Kelli, I had no idea. I’m sorry.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “How would you have known?”
“I keep screwing up here, don’t I?”
I almost felt bad for him, so I threw him a bone.
“Tell me how your family is.” I was honestly very interested in his answer.
I adored his parents and sister. His parents lived on a cattle ranch outside of Glenwood Springs, nestled in a beautiful valley surrounded by the mountains of Colorado.
I was so surprised the first time I met them; they were so different from Ian.
I couldn’t imagine Ian growing up on a ranch, but he had.
I really enjoyed the time we spent out there, and I would have liked to have stayed longer, but Ian, at the time, was very busy, and I always kind of got the feeling that wasn’t who he wanted to be.
I don’t think he was embarrassed of his parents, they were salt of the earth kind of people, but I think he always wanted more out of life.
Being a rancher is back-breaking work, and sometimes for not a lot of pay. But I had never met happier people.
His sister, Noelle, and I really hit it off too.
I met her during the one and only Thanksgiving I spent with them.
She was home from school on break. At the time, she was attending the University of Texas as a junior.
We had kept in touch for a while after Ian broke up with me.
She thought he was the biggest prat ever for ending our relationship.
I think she had even tried to talk some sense into him, but once Ian made his mind up, that was it.
Over the years, I had thought about her and wished we had remained friends.
She was even more sarcastic and feisty than me; we were quite the pair.
He looked at me thoughtfully.
I hoped they were all still alive.
“They’re doing well. My parents still work too hard.”
I smiled at the news. I couldn’t imagine them being any other way.
“Noelle’s married now and lives in Houston. She and her husband Sean have a two-year-old son named Jax.”
“That’s wonderful. I’m happy for her.”
“She wanted me to tell you hi and that she would love to catch up with you,” he nervously replied.
That was a pleasant surprise for me. “I’d like that,” I said quietly, though I thought it was weird he would have talked to his sister about me.
Alicia returned with our drinks and was ready to take our order. “Are you having your usual tonight, Hermosa?”
“Yes, ma’am.” I handed her back the menu with my design work on it.
Ian hadn’t even cracked open his menu yet. “I’ll have what the lady is having.”