“I like to play with rocks and dirt, but sometimes I have to spend time indoors,” she answered. No one else had asked her what her job involved all evening.
“So you are a landscaper?”
“If there must be a title, then that’s a good one.” She looked up at the clock on the wall. The time had sped by, and they had only one more minute. “What are you looking for in a woman?”
“Honesty, but to tell the truth, I’m not interested in settling down—at least not yet,” he said without a moment’s hesitation, his green eyes boring into hers.
“So when are you planning to get serious?”
Bubba shrugged. “When I find the right woman. What are you wanting in a man?”
Suddenly, she was a child who had not done well on a test and was in the hot seat in front of her father for lying about her grade. She wiggled in her seat. “Someone who will accept me for who I am and not try to change me.”
“Sounds like …” Bubba said just as the bell rang.
“And that concludes our speed-dating event for the evening,” a lady with a microphone said from the stage at the end of the room. “We will text the matches to you tomorrow morning. Be safe going home tonight, or wherever you go. We’ll have another event on the last Saturday night in September. Same time, same place. Come back if nothing works out with this one.”
Holly scrolled down to find Bubba Jones and marked a yes beside his name. When she looked up, he had already disappeared into the crowd. She kept scanning the tall guys in the crowd but couldn’t see him anywhere. She hoped that he marked yes like she had, but she scolded herself for eventhinking such a thing. Sure, she was attracted to him, but she had lied about who she was. Besides, there was no future in a simple physical attraction—especially not when she was just play-acting as Lula Ann Smith.
She was still looking around to see where he was when she went outside, gave the valet her ticket, and waited for him to bring Darlene’s grandpa’s truck around. His disgusted expression left no doubt in her mind that he was judging her by the name written on the ticket and the condition of the truck she was driving.
Had she been driving one of her own vehicles, maybe even the brand-new Jeep Wrangler with all the bells and whistles, he might have had a smile on his face. If he’d been returning her personal vehicle that was now in the shop for a tune-up, he would have been kissing her feet just to get to sit in the seat of a Jaguar.
She tipped him enough to make him stutter his thanks, and then she slid behind the wheel. As she started the engine, she wondered what Bubba was driving that evening.
If he was eating in the restaurant of that fancy hotel, a person could bet dollars to doughnuts that his truck did not look like hers. And the wager could also include the fact that he was not interested in a woman with a back-woodsy name like Lula Ann.
Chapter Two
Holly awoke to the strange sound of birds singing the next morning. In the penthouse apartment she had in downtown Houston, she might see the occasional pigeon on her window ledge, but she never heard the sweet sound of birds—not with all the traffic noise and sirens. Like always, the first thing she did was roll over and look at the clock beside her bed. When she saw that it was almost noon, she threw the covers back, jumped out of bed, and grabbed her phone to call the office.
You are on vacation.The voice in her head sounded like her mother.
She fell back on the bed and laid her hand over her pounding heart. She had never been late to work a single day. She had always been a workaholic, from her high school years, through college, and now on the job. In the past as well as the present. That kept her from ever taking time for herself or having much of a social life. Her mother fussed at her continually to at least make a spa appointment once a month to get a facial, but she would rather be working than spending time taking care of herself.
Her phone, lying on the nightstand right beside her ear, startled her so badly when it rang that her heart pumped even harder. She glanced over to see a picture on the screen, but there was only a phone number. She tried to figure out who was callingthrough four rings before she finally decided to pick it up. She fully intended to hang up if it was a telemarketer.
“Hello,” she said, totally out of breath.
“Lula Ann?” a masculine voice asked. “Am I interrupting something?”
“Who is this?” she demanded.
“Bubba Jones. We met at the speed-dating event last night. Are you sure you are not busy?”
“Positive.” Her heart skipped a beat, then raced ahead with a full load of steam, thumping around like it could jump right out of her chest. She remembered the little zing of excitement the night before when she shook his hand. Still, she wondered if even talking to him was a good idea. After all, why start something that couldn’t last?
“Are you still there?” he asked.
“Yes, I’m sorry. I thought I had overslept.”
“I see,” Bubba said. “Looks like we matched at that event last night. I’m calling to see if I could take you to dinner this evening. Nothing fancy. Just a burger and fries, and then maybe a movie in the park. I don’t have a quilt, or a picnic mat so …”
“Why would we need either one?” she asked.
“We will have to sit on the ground to watch the movie,” he explained. “It’s outside, so you might want to bring mosquito repellent, too.”
Holly was about to tell him that she had other plans. Watching the second hand on the clock sounded better than fighting off buzzing bugs all night. But she’d never been to a movie in the park, and although she loved burgers and fries, any date she had been on in the past had involved something with cloth napkins and a wine list.
