Chapter 3 #2
“I forgot to tell you—”
She let out an unladylike grunt as she plowed right into Taylor’s muscled chest. How had he snuck up on her like that?
Taylor grabbed her upper arms as she tottered backwards. She got caught up in the deep, blue eyes that were as familiar as her own hazel ones. The same eyes that had loved and lied to her.
She stepped out of his reach and Taylor dropped his hands. He tilted his head a little, as if trying to figure out her expression.
“The secretary who likes strawberries. She sent over an energy drink.”
Chelsey glanced at the table he pointed to. Heather knew her well, maybe a little too well, which made her a good secretary. If only she’d sent over chocolate as well.
“Bless her.” Chelsey grabbed the cold drink, popped the top and sipped
Chelsey sighed and resisted the urge to wipe her mouth on her sleeve. When she glanced up, their gazes caught, and her face warmed. Why did she keep looking into his eyes?
Taylor gave her a crooked grin, clearly seeing the heat on her cheeks. He gestured behind him. “I guess I better get back to the trenches. Literally.”
“I guess so.” I guess so? Where were her words?
“Thanks for this by the way.” Taylor smiled, perfectly straight teeth and all.
“For what?” Chelsey gripped the drink to ground herself while she pretended the butterflies in her stomach weren’t taking flight.
“Manual labor. It’s been a while since I got my hands dirty.” To prove his point, Taylor raised his to show her the mud caked there. “It’s good to work with Rich again. I forgot about his dry sense of humor.”
“I forgot you worked with him the summer before college.” When they’d planned to go to school together.
“He’s the reason I wanted to build. I didn’t care what it was—a house or school or high rise—anything to create a place that people could use and admire.
Rich sparked the excitement in me. He was handy with a saw and hammer.
I tried to learn as much as possible from him before—well…
” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Anyway, I’d better get back. ”
A text came in from the mayor and Chelsey’s phone rang at the same time, rescuing her from the embarrassing, hard conversation she wasn’t ready to have. Taylor picked up a shovel and started digging again. She turned her back on them before she got caught staring at Taylor again.
She didn’t recognize the number on her phone screen, but she answered it anyway, just in case it was someone helping with the festival.
“Chelsey Hooper? This is Book and Tape Worms.” The prepubescent voice cracked on the word ‘worms.’
“Excuse me?” Chelsey asked, her focus sharpening on the conversation.
“You hired us to play this Saturday at the auction.”
Right. The band who agreed to play at the auction on Heather’s recommendation; her younger, high school-aged brother’s girlfriend’s sister was the drummer. “What can I do for you?”
“I’m super sorry about this. We got a bigger gig.” His voice rose an octave. “Neon Trees asked us to open for them. Well, not really for them, but for the first band of the next opening band. I think there’s three.”
A muffled scream sounded on the other end as if the teen put his phone against his chest and hollered.
“I’ll send you the link to our Spotify. That’s as good as us being there.”
The line went dead.
Chelsey plopped down in a chair and dropped her head into her hands. Their playlist?
Wendy pulled up a chair and sat next to her. “What’s going on?”
Chelsey twisted the watch on her wrist. “The band just cancelled.” This wasn’t a big deal. She’d make a playlist. Chelsey had been doing a favor to Heather by hiring the Tape Worms. Maybe Chelsey could have the band play at the Founder’s Day event they held every September.
Wendy let out a huff. “Maybe we’re better off. They might be yellmo’s.”
Chelsey chuckled. “Yellmo?”
“Yell or scream, I can’t understand anything they’re singing.” She shook her head. “I’m getting too old, I guess.”
Wendy had mentioned her age a few times in the last year. She definitely wasn’t old, and she excelled at her job as Operations Manager. She could probably run the whole company in her sleep. She already ran a few smaller events on her own.
“Oh, before I forget…” Wendy grabbed her ever-present shoulder bag from under the table and rummaged around. She took out a handful of individually wrapped candies and dropped them on the clipboard with her notes.
“You didn’t!” Chelsey took one and held it up. “You made your chocolate caramels for me?”
Wendy laughed as Chelsey opened one of the candies and tossed it in her mouth. “Emotional eating, are we?”
Chelsey covered her candy-filled mouth with one hand and vigorously nodded. Wendy’s caramels were legendary. It was the perfect pick-me-up Chelsey needed. She just hoped the sugar crash didn’t happen before she ate lunch. She needed all her energy for the day.
“What do you need me to do, hon?” Wendy opened a candy and bit off a piece.
“Will you double check with Bake Me Happy on the order and add fifty more servings of strawberries and cream? The mayor texted that he invited some potential business developers and Dan invited the Denver City Commerce.” At least she wasn’t finding this out the day of the auction, as often happened with the mayor.
“I’ll do that right now.” Wendy dialed a number on her phone.
“Oh. Dan wanted me to let you know he’s going to visit his son in the hospital and will be back in a couple of hours.
” She held up a finger. “Hey, Annie, I just wanted to call you about the catering order. Sounds like Dan is inviting half of Colorado to the auction.”