Chapter 6
HOTNESS DIAL
Crazy how easy it was to slip into this role again. Who would have thought it?
She’d gone to the store and forced herself to try on a pair of black pants she’d never wear in a million years to work, then put on the silk blouse her mother gave her for Christmas that she only ever wore under a V-neck sweater and slipped on her black kitten heels Tonya had complained about.
It must be that her outfit was good enough because here she was with the same confidence she had a week ago that she was missing just yesterday when she had to look in the mirror at her normal self in a plaid sweater vest and brown drab pants and almost yell, “Go be ‘ditch a date Molly’, not ‘get walked all over Molly’.”
And the best part yet, for someone who hated to speak up let alone try to sell a darn thing—the hunky bartender was buying what she was selling.
And when his son came in, the cute little boy in matching jeans the same as his father, and close to the same Nikes on his feet, she’d found the smile not leaving her face.
If she thought Dean was smoking before, it had nothing on when he was carrying his son to the sound of giggles.
She’d never thought that when she saw Mike with the twins, or Josh with Caleb.
But Dean and his kid. Oh yeah, hotness dial cranked to the right.
And when he said he never let women know he had a kid, but had told her, was he just yanking her chain?
Playing a game at flirting?
Was she too na?ve to know?
She really wanted to believe he was being honest so that is what she was going to do.
He got waved over to fill an order so she picked her seltzer up and took a sip through the straw, crossed one leg over the other and swiveled in her chair.
A man was waving toward her, so she looked over her shoulder to see who he was looking for, then he laughed and pointed at her.
It was like a scene out of the movies where she pointed to her own chest and he nodded his head, then held a drink up. She assumed he wanted to buy her one, but she shook her head and smiled, then turned back quickly.
Good grief, she couldn’t handle this. It was too much too fast. She was just getting the hang of Dean, the hot daddy she was going to think of him as, she didn’t need some stranger buying her drinks.
“He does that all the time,” Dean said when he came back.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Hits on hot women and wants to buy them drinks. I’m sure you’re used to it.”
She just said, “Hmm.” What more could she say? She wasn’t used to having her shirt unbuttoned more than the top one, and guys hitting on her were an enigma.
As much as she wanted to sit there and keep talking to him, Dean had a job to do and all she wanted out of this experiment was to see if it was possible to be that confident woman again.
Besides, he had his son in the back and she wondered if maybe he wanted to go check on him.
When her lunch was done, she got her tab and knew it was time to leave, unfortunately. Maybe she’d come back another time. Another Wednesday since she knew he worked then.
As fun as this was and as confident as she felt doing it, she still picked a time where she knew it’d be dead. She’d never have the courage to come here on a Friday night or on the weekend.
Baby steps, she told herself.
“Do you get any days off?” she asked while she waited for her receipt to sign. “Or since you run the place, do you work all the time?”
It was kind of a stupid question if he had a kid. He admitted he was a single father, but maybe he only shared custody. She didn’t know those things.
And why she wanted to was odd considering she spent enough of her life avoiding drama and that might be baggage all wrapped up in a pretty little blue bow.
“I take Mondays off,” he said. “Most times. I come in around nine other days. Out of here at six unless I’m short staffed.”
“It was nice talking to you again. The little we did at least.”
“Maybe you wouldn’t mind coming in again?” he asked.
“I’ll have to check my schedule.”
He laughed. Her reply sounded cocky coming from her lips. Almost like she was teasing him. At least that was what she hoped he took it as.
“Have a good day, Molly.”
“You too, Dean.”
She turned and strutted out of the bar with as much confidence as she could muster, then turned the corner and all but ran to her car in the parking lot, her hand over her mouth, holding in the giggle.
Then she stopped when she worried there were cameras around.
She was too excited to keep this to herself but there was no way she could bug Erika at work. But Ruby, she had a more flexible schedule and was her best shot.
Besides, she hadn’t really talked to Ruby since her blind date and they only shared a few texts.
“Hi, Molly,” Ruby said, answering on the second ring.
“Hang on, I’m almost in my car where it’s private.”
“Everything okay? Are you walking out of the building to talk to me?”
“I took the afternoon off,” she said. And she wouldn’t feel the least bit guilty that she did that when her mother wanted to have dinner with her and she’d said she’d been too busy. Even when her mother called her yesterday again.
Oh well, everyone told some little white lies.
“Are you sick?”
“Sick with excitement,” she screeched the minute she was in her car. “I went back to Pulse and just talked to the bartender.”
“Yeah,” Ruby said. “Tell me more about it.”
“His name is Dean. He’s so hot. And oh my God, I found out he has a kid. I don’t think I was meant to, but he was even hotter when I saw him with his son.”
“Dean?” Ruby asked. “Dean Easton?”
“Do you know him?” she asked.
“Yeah. I sold him a house before his son was born. His girlfriend was pregnant then though. I didn’t get too much out of him.”
“He was pretty open with me just now. He was even flirting. Made some crack about not many women finding out he’s a father since he’s not that interested in them. Like he might be more with me. But I guess he was just joking.”
“I don’t know him. I thought he was nice enough.”
“This is horrible. But I have to ask. Do you remember where he bought a house?”
Ruby laughed. “Yeah. He doesn’t live that far from me.”
“He lives in Paradise Place?” she asked. Guess he had a damn good job managing that bar.
“Yeah. I can’t tell you much more than that,” Ruby said. “Just that he was in a hurry.”
“I don’t know much about him. It’s only been two times I’ve seen him and talked. But he hinted at wanting to see me again.”
“He asked you on a date?” Ruby asked, her voice rising. “He was very sexy.”
“What are you doing looking at him that way?” she asked, her feet hitting the floor in her car in rapid succession with her excitement.
“I might be married, but I’m not blind,” Ruby said laughing.
“No. He’s very handsome. But he didn’t ask me on a date. Just more like if he’d see me again there.”
She didn’t want to tell Ruby that she’d played coy.
“That’s still a good step. Good for you.”
She felt she needed to confess though. “I dressed up again. Not a dress, but more modern. More in fashion. Kind of like you. Is it bad of me to do that when I don’t normally dress like that?”
“Not at all,” Ruby said. “Dress to impress and what makes you feel good. If it gives you confidence then go for it.”
“That was my thought too. I just don’t know if it feels deceptive or not.”
“It’s only clothing, Molly. Don’t get in your head too much.”
She sighed. Something she did way too much.
“Thanks. I needed to hear that. I’m glad I called you.”
“I’m glad you did too.”
She hung up a minute later, then decided it was time to do a little bit more shopping. Why not? There wasn’t anything wrong with feeling good about herself, was there?