Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
NONA
“Iheard they were making out in the squeaky toy aisle of Paws and Pals yesterday,” Ms. McClintock, the surly, blue-haired, eighty-year-old matriarch of Hope Valley, stated with a smug look on her face.
It was official. I was in hell.
Apparently someone had spotted Trick and me at the pet store yesterday, and everyone and their dog—no pun intended—had started speculating on the state of our relationship.
As soon as I came out of the back room after my call to Chris, I’d been bombarded with one question after another.
When I refused to answer, they’d started teasing and throwing around their own theories.
It had been like that all morning, and as I lounged in the chair at my station, waiting for my next appointment who wasn’t due for another hour, I began to question my decision to stick around during my lunch hour instead of going out.
“We weren’t making out in any aisle, Ms. M. You’re makin’ that up.”
“Am not!” she objected, giving her head a haughty wiggle. “And I take offense to that.”
I smiled at the old woman sitting at Blair’s station while her hair was set in curlers. “You do not,” I teased back.
“Fine. I don’t take offense, but I did hear that. And if you didn’t make out with that man in the squeaky toy aisle, you’re all kinds of fool. If I were forty-five years younger and still had my original hip, I’d rock that boy’s world.”
Everyone in the salon, including me, burst into laughter. “You want me to put in a good word for you, Ms. McClintock? I’m willing to bet you could still teach him a thing or two.”
“Bet your bottom I could,” she harrumphed. “You need any pointers, you know where to find me, child.”
The salon burst into laughter. “I hate to break it to you guys, but there’s nothing going on. He was picking out a puppy for his kids, and he asked me to go with him. That’s all.”
“Well, I’m friendly with Claribel Fisk,” Meredith Sanderson announced from two stations down.
“Who’s Claribel Fisk?” Blair asked with no small amount of curiosity.
“The breeder they got the pup from. And she said he was watchin’ our Nona here like she was the only woman on the planet. And the second that little dog won Nona’s heart, Trick insisted that was the one he wanted.”
Awws broke out all around, and I felt my cheeks heat under everyone’s attention.
“Word around town is Emma’s in a tizzy since the two of them were seen snugglin’ up to each other at their kids’ soccer game last weekend,” another client chimed in. “As she should be. She was the one who kicked him to the curb, and now she’s butt hurt that’s he’s trading up. I say it’s her loss.”
At the mention of Emma Wanderly, my stomach sank like I’d just taken a drop on a roller coaster. I needed to put a stop to the conjecture before it got too out of hand.
“All right, ladies. You’ve had your fun, but now it’s over. I don’t want you getting your hopes up. Trick and I are just friends.”
As the last word passed my lips, the bell over the door rang, and the entire salon fell into complete silence.
Pushing my feet against the floor, I spun around to see what caught everyone’s attention and nearly fell out of my chair.
“Ladies,” Trick greeted with a slight bow of his head as he made his way to my station. The moment our eyes connected, his lips spread into a gorgeous smile. “Hey, beautiful.”
“Uh, h-hi. What are you, um… what are you doing here?”
As if sensing the eavesdroppers all around us, he lowered his voice and asked, “Have you had lunch yet?”
“She hasn’t!” Ms. McClintock all but shouted. “And she was just goin’ on about being completely famished.”
Trick gave Ms. McClintock a wink that no doubt made the old woman swoon like mad before turning his attention back to me. “I came by to see if you wanted to have lunch with me.”
“Like on a date?” Meredith asked in a high-pitched squeak.
That smile grew more prominent as he turned his head in her direction. “Yeah. Like on a date.” His attention turned back to me. “So what do you say? You want to go to lunch with me?”
Oh my god. My mouth dropped open in shock.
Before I had a chance to answer for myself, Blair butted in. “She’d love to!” she exclaimed from behind me, then shoved me out of the chair so hard I went flying into Trick.
He caught me with ease, wrapping his arms around my back to keep me steady on my feet as his chest shook with a silent laugh. “How’s Evergreen Diner sound?”
Honestly, it sounded great. Everything at Evergreen Diner was delicious, mainly because the guy who manned the grill, Ralph, was a genius.
My lips parted to respond, but my brain was still stuck on the fact that he’d just announced to the entirety of my salon that he wanted to take me on a date, so the best I could do was nod.
He released me, but only so he could grab my hand and start toward the door. “Don’t worry, I’ll have her back in time,” he called back to Blair.
“Don’t sweat it,” she replied giddily. “If you guys run late, I’ll get her next appointment started.”
“Remember what I said, child!” Ms. McClintock shouted. “You need any pointers, you give me a call, hear?”
The door closed on the women’s peals of laughter, and Trick looked down at me with a curious expression on his face. “What was that all about?”
“Nothing,” I blurted quickly. “She’s old and senile. You can’t listen to a word that comes out of Ms. M’s mouth.”
Trick’s palm landed on the small of my back as he stopped us at the passenger door and opened it for me.
I tried my best not to tremble as he grabbed hold of my waist to help me into the truck, but failed miserably, and by the way he froze and his fingers pressed deeper into my skin, I knew he felt it too.
“Uh, Trick?”
His voice came out gravelly as he asked, “Yeah?” and I trembled again.
“You can, um… let me go now.”
“Right.” His hands fell from my body, but not before he allowed them to skim along the curve of my hips. “Buckle up, beautiful.”
I did as ordered, my breath coming out in labored pants as I struggled to control my body’s reaction to that touch. Every nerve ending sparked like a live wire, desperate to feel his hands on me again, and when I pulled in a shaky inhale, the smell of his cologne only intensified the feeling.
I stayed perfectly still as he climbed into the truck and started it up, pulling from his parking spot right in front of my salon.
“People are talking about us,” I stated as he drove past the clock tower in the town square. “Apparently they saw us at the pet store yesterday.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard.” That was all he said, and I couldn’t tell by his voice if he thought that was good or bad.
“They’re already starting to make up stories.”
“Hmm.”
“Someone said we were caught making out in the squeaky toy aisle,” I continued, to see if that would get a rise out of him.
“Hadn’t heard that one. But I did get a pat on the back today, and one of the guys at the station told me on a scale from one to ten, you’re a twenty.”
I couldn’t help but feel a little flattered. “Aw, really? Wait, no.” I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. You aren’t bothered that people are making up rumors about us?”
“Not really,” he answered with a shrug.
“But... they’re lying,” I sputtered. “And you really didn’t help the situation by announcing you wanted to take me on a date in front of all those women. I mean, you know most of the gossip that runs through town starts right there in my salon, don’t you?”
He finally gave me his attention, turning from the road ahead of us for a brief moment to look at me. “So?”
“So?”
“That’s what I said, baby.”
“What do you mean, so? You don’t care that people are gonna get the wrong idea?”
Trick turned into the lot of the diner and pulled into one of the parking spots before killing the engine and twisting in his seat to face me.
“Would it be the wrong idea?”
“I—what?”
“Would it be the wrong idea?” he repeated, leaning in close enough that he was all I could see.
My mouth opened and closed in bewilderment. “I don’t understand what you’re asking.”
Those quicksilver eyes bored into me so deep I felt like he could see into my soul.
“All right, sweetheart. At the risk of freaking you out, I’m gonna be completely honest. I want you.
And when I say that, I don’t just mean your body.
I want you in every single way I can have you.
I fucked up. I hurt you, and that kills me.
I wish I could go back and do that night all over again, because if I could, I’d never leave that goddamn bed.
I get that I don’t deserve a second chance, but I’m asking for one anyway.
You can say no, but I won’t stop trying. ”
“You won’t?” I croaked, my throat suddenly so dry those two words felt like sandpaper coming up.
“No, I won’t.” He leaned in even more, and I suddenly wanted him to kiss me stupid. “I’m sorry it took me so long to realize it, so goddamn sorry, but I know what I have in front of me now.”
By the time he finished his little speech, I was finding it nearly impossible to breathe. I didn’t have the first clue how to respond to any of that, mainly because my brain was no longer working, and I wasn’t sure it would ever work correctly again.
“I, uh… that was… um….”
“Let’s get something to eat, yeah? I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
And just like that, the conversation was over.
“Hey, Trick, Nona,” Sally, the wife of the husband-and-wife team behind Evergreen Diner, greeted as we pushed through the door. “You guys grab whatever table you want and I’ll be right with you.”
Trick grabbed my hand and led me toward a booth against one of the front windows. “Thanks, Sal.”
He helped me into my seat like a gentleman before taking his own seat across from me. Sally showed up a second later with a bright smile and two menus.
“Hey, guys. How’s it goin’?”
I flipped my menu open. “It’s good, Sally. Thanks for asking. How are you?”