Her reaction didn’t disappoint. Her eyes were wide with excitement. Her mouth was open but wordless when a text vibrated her cell plugged into the charger on the counter.
Smiling, he took that opportunity to make his escape.
“Gotta go change so I can get in a run and shower before mydate.” After tossing out that tantalizing word—date—one more time he took a step toward the door. “Good cookie, Mom. Thanks.”
She was still speechless when he cleared the doorway.
This plan was working out nicely.
Chapter Eleven
Tessa burst through the doorway of the salon.
The woman seated, waiting for her appointment in the chair by the entrance, glanced up from her magazine to frown at Tessa’s sudden and noisy arrival.
Ignoring the patron, Tessa stumbled to a stop and swept the space with her gaze, frantically seeking Ruby.
When she spotted her boss back by the coffee maker, she made a bee line for her, half tripping when the rubber sole of her sneaker caught on the linoleum floor.
She regained her balance before she fell and embarrassed herself completely and kept going. Now was not the time to worry about who did or didn’t see her being a klutz. She had more important things to deal with. Or at least one thing. This date with Dean.
Reaching her destination without further incident, Tessa glanced around to make sure no one was in hearing distance before she whispered, “He asked me out. For tonight!”
Eyes wide, Ruby’s gaze dropped to take in Tessa’s less than inspiring appearance.
Tessa had dumped her research materials and laptop back in her apartment, but she hadn’t bothered to change before sprinting over to the salon.
Ruby lifted her brows and opened her mouth, no doubt to comment with something that wasnotcomplimentary.
Tessa held up one hand to stop her. “Don’t say a word. There’s no need. I know. I look like crap. I’m sorry. I was busy and he surprised me. But apparently it doesn’t matter what I look like becausehe asked me out,” she repeated for emphasis. “What am I going to do?”
“Go out with him,” Ruby answered. Theduhwas unspoken but definitely there in her tone.
“I’m not sure if I know how.”
“You don’t know how to go on a date?” Ruby’s frown couldn’t have gotten any more severe if she tried.
Tessa dropped her gaze. “I haven’t really had much experience. Whenever I did go out in college, which wasn’t all that often, it was in a group. Not, you know, one on one.”
Ruby shook her head. “Your generation, I swear.”
Fine. Let Ruby, who was probably only about fifteen years older than her, twenty years max, judge.
Tessa didn’t need criticism. She needed all of Ruby’s hopefully vast dating wisdom gained over all those years. Because Tessa could count on one hand the number of actual serious adult dates she’d gone on. And if memory served, those few hadn’t been all that stellar.
She let out a huff. “You can lecture me all you want on everything that’s lacking with my generation after I make it through this date. Tell me what to do about tonight now.”
Ifshe made it through this date without screwing up royally. Right now, that was up in the air.
“Fine.” Ruby glanced up from her cell phone and toward the front where the woman sat waiting. “I’ve got a break after thisclient. Come back in an hour. And until then, go home and shower. Can you handle blowing out your own hair?”
“I usually just let it dry on its own.” In fact, Tessa didn’t exactly own a hairdryer right now.
Ruby shook her head. “Never mind. Just come back with it wet. I’ll blow it out for you.”
She waved the woman by the door over and then turned to Tessa, raising the cell in her hand. “I just texted Susan to let her know about the date. You text Red. See if she’s available. I have a feeling you’ll need all the help you can get for tonight. This is clearly an all hands on deck situation.”
It was rude, but also true so Tessa couldn’t be too insulted by the comment. She nodded. “Okay. I will. And thank you.”
