Chapter 5 #2
“How’s it going, Matt?” she asked. “Today’s the big day, huh?”
“Yes, it is,” Matt said, standing to give her a hug. He’d played basketball with Shayla’s brother, Braylon, back in high school. Braylon had recently died after returning from a long military deployment, and now Shayla was helping her sister-in-law raise his two young daughters.
“Can I get you anything?” she asked.
He pointed to Tamryn’s cup. “What’s in there?”
“Earl Grey tea. No sugar,” Tamryn answered.
Matt’s face scrunched up in a frown. “I don’t think so. Get me one of those thousand-calorie concoctions, with extra shots and double pumps and whipped cream drizzling down the side of the cup.”
“You got it,” Shayla said.
Tamryn shook her head, a huge grin creasing her face. “Aren’t you supposed to be in training to run a 5K? Is a thousand-calorie coffee drink a part of your regimen?”
“Am I getting it wrong?”
“I think so.”
“Maybe you should step in as my trainer. There’s a running path along the wooded area around Belle Maison. I think we should start running together so that we’ll be ready for the 5K.”
“And you called me persistent?”
Matt laughed. “You were.” He folded his arms on the table and leaned forward. “But I’m a lot more persistent than you are, especially when it comes to something I really want.”
“And what is it that you want?” she asked.
“A date. Several dates. Anything you’re willing to offer, as long as it includes getting to know you better.”
Before Tamryn could answer, Shayla returned with his drink. Matt handed her a ten-dollar bill and told her to put the change in the tip jar.
He returned his attention to Tamryn, but Matt couldn’t decipher the expression on her face.
His heart thumped in his chest as he awaited her answer.
In that moment, he realized that as much as he wanted to keep her away from her work, the desire to satisfy his curiosity about her was just as strong.
It was the combination of intelligence, outrageous beauty, and that hint of sass that peeked out; it had him practically salivating at the chance to get to know her better.
She flipped over the pages on the legal pad she’d been scribbling on and reached for the red leather messenger bag that she’d taken from her car when he first found her stranded the day she arrived in Gauthier.
“I’ll take you up on the tour you offered,” she said, stuffing the tablet, along with the rest of the items, into her bag.
“What about my other offer?”
She averted her eyes, staring across the street.
When she brought them back to his, they held a note of apology.
“I’m not ready for a date date just yet.
” Regret and just a hint of sadness drew across her face.
“You’re so different than I thought you would be, Matt, and I’ll probably kick myself for turning you down, but I just…
I can’t right now. I came here for a specific purpose, and if I allow myself to get sidetracked again, I’ll never get this book done. I hope you understand.”
He held her gaze for several long moments. “I guess I don’t really have a choice,” he replied. “As long as you understand that I’m not giving up.”
A grin curled up the edges of her lips. “Why am I not surprised?”
The urge to lean over and taste that smile was so strong that Matt had to push himself away from the table before he caved to the impulse. He stood and took hold of the messenger bag, pulling the strap across his body. Then he picked up his coffee and motioned for Tamryn to join him.
The Jazzy Bean occupied one of the southernmost buildings along Main Street’s commercial area.
As they made their way up the street, Matt pointed out the various retail shops.
He told her about the businesses that occupied the buildings and how all had taken on new life after last year’s Underground Railroad discovery put Gauthier on the map and made it a tourist destination for history buffs.
“It’s good to see the boost businesses have received. There aren’t many places like Main Street left around here,” he commented.
“Or anywhere,” Tamryn said. “I’d argue that this place was a national treasure even before the discovery in your law office. It’s like stepping back in time.”
“The shop owners go through great pains to preserve the storefronts on Main Street. We all signed a pledge promising to keep up our end of the bargain so that Main Street will look the same for generations to come.”
Tamryn wrapped her arms around herself. “Being a city girl, I have very little experience with a town this small, a community this close-knit. It must have been great growing up here.”
A disgruntled snort escaped him before he had the chance to curb it.
She looked at him. “It wasn’t?”
“It had its pluses and minuses,” Matt said with a shrug. “Remember when you asked me if there were privileges or obligations to being a Gauthier?” She nodded. “There were many more of the latter. If you carried the Gauthier name, there were certain expectations that you were expected to fulfill.”
Matt pointed across the street to the Gauthier Law Firm.
“My first memory is of walking through the doors of that building was when I was three years old. I remember my grandfather picking me up and sitting me on top of his desk. He told me it was going to be my desk someday.”
“And it is,” she mused.
“Still has the smiley face I drew on the very bottom drawer with permanent marker,” he admitted. “I never even thought about being anything but a lawyer, or about practicing anywhere but here in Gauthier. My path was laid out for me a long time ago.”
“So you never considered anything else? Even when the rest of your sixth-grade classmates wanted to be firemen, or astronauts, or…” She paused, tilting her head to the side. “What other things do sixth-grade boys want to be?”
“I don’t know,” Matt said with a laugh. “Like I said, I’ve known since I was three years old that I was going to be a lawyer.”
“Do you resent it, having your career path laid out for you from such an early age?”
“I used to,” he said. “But then again, I don’t know what else I would have done with my life. I never had the chance to contemplate anything else.” He looked at her. “Have you always wanted to be a professor?”
“Oh, no.” She shook her head. “I wanted to be a disc jockey.”
A burst of shocked laughter rushed from his mouth. He hadn’t been expecting that one. “A disc jockey?”
“Yep. When I was younger, I would sit in my bedroom for hours listening to the radio. The DJ used to interview all of these celebrities. I was so jealous. It wasn’t until I was much older that I discovered the celebrities were rarely in the studio. They were mostly call-ins.”
He held her hand as they crossed the street in front of the dry cleaners.
“So how does a wannabe disc jockey become a history professor?” Matt asked.
“A visit to my great-grandmother’s the summer before my freshman year of high school.
” A wistful smile came to her lips. “That summer my great-grandmother told me about her grandmother, Adeline West. I was completely enthralled. I tried to learn all I could about her, which wasn’t easy, being that internet access was very sparse back then.
“As I researched Adeline’s past, I found myself falling more and more in love with history in general. I ran across so many fascinating women of color who have never made it into the history books.”
“So you decided to write your own.”
“Yes.” She nodded. “I felt they needed a voice.” She nudged his arm. “And that was a nice try, but we weren’t done talking about you.”
“We weren’t?”
She shook her head. “I want to know about your move to politics. Was that ordained, too?”
“Nah.” Matt shook his head. “Not every Gauthier man has gone into politics.” He gestured to his law office.
“My grandfather worked in that building over there until his cardiologist forced him to retire. And my uncle Cleveland, he was never bitten by the politics bug. Although he died of cancer in his early fifties, so he might have run for office if he’d been here long enough. ”
“What made you decide to run?”
“Hey, I thought the purpose of this tour was for you to learn more about Gauthier, the town?”
“It is, but I’m finding talk of this Gauthier man equally as fascinating.”
“Well, that’s encouraging,” Matt said with a sly grin. “You know, if we went on a date date, you’ll learn even more.”
Tamryn rolled her eyes.
They entered Heritage Park through the front entrance, walking under the vine-covered arch that curved across the brick-laid walkway. Tamryn headed for the activity on the right side of the park, where the tents and stage were being set up, but Matt caught her arm.
“Not that way,” he said. “That’s in Carmen’s Do Not Enter territory. I was threatened bodily harm if I’m caught pestering the workers.”
Tamryn’s head flew back with a laugh. “I’m starting to suspect that you’re a bit intimidated by your office manager.”
“I’m terrified of my office manager,” he said. “Terrified that I’ll lose her, that is. I do whatever it takes to make her happy.” He tugged her wrist. “Why don’t we go this way? The flowers along the arbor are in bloom. This is probably the best time of the year to visit Heritage Park.”
They traveled in the opposite direction. The noise from the rally setup steadily decreased as they ventured to the other side of the park.
Matt watched Tamryn as she walked along the path of towering oak trees, their arching branches bending to the will of the breeze.
She trailed her fingers along the petals of the bright pink azaleas.
When she turned and looked at him over her shoulder—a slight, sexy smile tilting her lips—Matt’s breath stuttered out of his lungs.