I’m sorry. Can’t make dessert. Pick you up in 20 to hit the gym.
Amanda’s relief evaporated.If he could make time for the gym, why couldn’t he make time to eat dessert with her family?And she didn’t want to leave to go train. They’d done that earlier. She wanted to spend the afternoon with her parents. It was rare that they managed to get everyone together, even if it was without Emerson. Her brother and sister were doing Ethan a favor, a big favor, and it bothered her that he couldn’t show up to spend time with them. She debated texting him back, but calling seemed like less work.
“Hey,” he answered after the third ring. “Are you about ready to go?”
“No,” she said, working to keep the passive-aggressive edge out of her voice. “I’m going to hang out here this afternoon.”
“Mandy, it’s your turn. Unless you want me to play for you,” called her father from the other room.
“Just a minute, Daddy. And don’t you dare touch my cards.”
“We need to train,” he said, not bothering to hide the condescension in his voice. “The competition is only a few weeks away. We don’t have time to screw around.”
“I trained this morning with Becca and Gabe. While you were too busy.”Well, so much for acting like a grown-up.Someday she was going to figure out how to keep from saying every single thing she thought.
“I had to work. I told you that.” He spoke slowly, as if he were talking to a child, and she resisted the urge to hang up on him.
“I know,” she said, reaching for calm. He worked hard. It wasn’t fair to get mad at him for doing what he needed to for his career. “You go on and train. I’ll see you tomorrow night at the gym.”
The other end of the line went silent for a moment, and she peered around the doorway into the dining room while she waited for his response. The two was still there, but if she didn’t get back soon, her father was going to make sure she never got her hands on it.
“What?” she asked, realizing she’d missed what he said.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, clearly irritated.
But honestly, what did he expect?
She hung up and made a beeline for her cards before her father decided to play for her. It really wasn’t a big deal. They’d catch up at the gym. And if she was more interested in seeing the gym owner than its patrons, well, she could push that thought out of her head. At least long enough to crush her father at cards.
MICHAEL PULLED INTO THE GRAVEL lot in front of the mountaineering shop and put his truck into park. He’d been on edge all morning and he had to get it together before he went inside to meet Amanda. She’d agreed to make up for the time they’d lost when she fell, and it had been like waiting for Christmas for the day to arrive. Which was silly, because it was just rock climbing and she was still seeing the dumbass, so it wasn’t like anything could happen between them. At least that’s what he kept telling himself right before his mind went wandering and ended up in her direction.
Pushing open the door to the shop, he breathed in the lingering odor of wood smoke. It was too warm for the wood burner to be going, but the store always smelled a little like a campfire. He found it strangely appealing. Almost as appealing as the woman standing next to a wall of camping gear. Amanda wore almost no makeup and had her soft brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, low against the nape of her neck. He couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like to slide his hand under her hair to the soft skin at the base of her neck. It was exactly the kind of thought he shouldn’t be having—the kind that would distract him and have him falling off the rock.
She was helping a middle-aged woman pick out some cooking equipment. Her eyes lit up when she saw him and something inside his chest tightened. She shouldn’t be able to make him feel like that just by seeming happy to see him.
“You don’t need that one,” she said, taking what looked like a sci-fi experiment out of the woman’s hands. “This one will work better for you and costs half as much.”
“You’re sure?” asked the woman.
“Positive.”
The other woman gave Amanda a grateful smile and took her purchase to the register to pay for it. Amanda glanced over at him, and it was the only invitation he needed to close the distance between them.
“You made it,” she said. “Give me just a couple of minutes to finish up here and then we’ll hit the rock.”
He was early, but it made him irrationally happy that she didn’t seem to mind. He really needed to get his shit together where Amanda was concerned. He couldn’t afford to piss off her boyfriend. A client like Bransford could have a big impact on his gym’s success moving forward. And even if that wasn’t the case, he didn’t poach.
“Do you think maybe next time you could avoid talking a customer out of buying the more expensive gear?” asked an older man. He was soft around the middle, but he still had the weathered look of someone who’d spent a lot of time outdoors.
“You know that stove is a waste of money,” said Amanda. “And this way she knows she can trust me to help her find what she needs. So when she comes back next month to buy a new backpack, I can sell her the TUMI. The markup is better on those, and she’ll be happy, which will keep her spending her money here. It’s a win-win.”
The other man—store owner by the looks of it—shook his head grudgingly, but the affection between the two of them was clear.
“Is this your next victim?” he asked, motioning with his head toward Michael.
“That’s the one,” she said, grinning.
He loved it when she smiled. It lit up her whole face. Figuring out how to make Amanda smile was rapidly becoming one of his favorite things to do.
