Yeah, as great as bulls and China shops.
“Well, I appreciate you trying, but no offense, never again.”She was done with blind dates.She wasn’t done with trying to find the one, but she would find the guy on her own.No more set-ups.
“Do you want to come over for some wine and ice cream?I have it on standby just in case.Wine to celebrate or ice cream to cry over.”
That made Allie smile.Leave it to her friend to think of everything.“I’ll be over there shortly,” she replied, getting into her car.
Alright, wine and ice cream, here she came.
Chapter 2
“Carson Payton Townsend!”Carson turned, half expecting to see his mother in his office instead of his good friend Sandy standing in the doorway with her fists planted on her hips and glaring daggers at him.He didn’t know what he’d done to earn her wrath.
“Hey, Sandy, what brings you over here?”
Carson had known Sandy for most of his life.She was a few years younger than him.They had grown up in the same neighborhood back east.When he’d moved here after being discharged from the military, he’d seen her one day while he was out.They had always gotten along well.They acted more like brother and sister than friends.
“I need to speak with you,” she said, stomping over to him.
Up close, he could see that she was livid.And her ire appeared to be directed at him like a tsunami ready to devastate everything in its wake.“Sure, we can go over here.”He guided her to the far corner near the kitchen breakroom area.
Their office was on the top floor of an old building.It was an open area with seven desks for himself and his teammates on one side and the kitchen area and dining table on the other.There was a bathroom in the corner and a large table they called the ‘war table’ that they used for planning their missions.
Though they had all been medically discharged from the military, Colonel Weber had assigned them to a secret group to help with black ops that weren’t always sanctioned.They didn’t exist.They were ghosts.
Sandy didn’t even know what he did.He’d only told her that he still did contract work for the military.It was supposed to be a secret.Two of his teammates’ girlfriends knew—Luke, their team leader, and Barry.Luke’s girlfriend had been rescued by Luke, and Barry’s girlfriend was ex-FBI; they had met while running an undercover op.
“What’s up?”
“Allie.”
“Am I supposed to know what that is?”She’d come storming in here to talk about an alley?That didn’t seem right.
“She,” Sandy’s voice cracked like a whip, “She is a person.The blind date from last night.”She gave him a ‘duh’ look.
The uptight chick that bailed.Yeah, he remembered, hard to forget someone leaving you in the middle of a date.That had never happened before.Then again, she hadn’t seen him at his best.He’d been having problems with the case they were working on, and it took priority over a date with a woman who looked so uptight, a stiff wind would shatter her.Definitely not his kind of woman.“Annie, yeah, what about her?”
Carson didn’t know how it was possible, but her glare turned even more thunderous.Even his parents had never scolded him so harshly.Why did she care so much?“Allie, her name is Allie, you insensitive jerk.How could you be so rude to her?Not only beinglate, but being on your phone the whole time and then calling her a stupid date.What is the matter with you?”She looked at him, appalled, as her voice kept rising until it was a bellow.Everyone in the building could no doubt hear her.
“It was no offense to the girl.Work stuff took precedence.”
“You couldn’t spare her an hour?”
Allie had said the same thing.Neither of these women understood the pressures of his job.Time was always of the essence.An hour could be the difference between life and death.Not that he could tell Sandy that.
“Not at that time, no.I’m sorry if it seemed rude to her.”
“Seemed?”she screeched.“Seemed?”
“What is going on in here?”Luke asked, coming into the room.Jack and Rob were right behind him.Great, that’s all he needed was an audience for this conversation.He needed to get rid of the guys, otherwise he’d never hear the end of it.
“Nothing, Sandy and I are just having a discussion.”
Sandy snorted, folding her arms over her chest.“You really don’t care that you hurt Allie’s feelings?Are people’sfeelings that trivial to you?What if someone had done that to me or your sister?Would it still seem insignificant?”
“What’s this now?Carson hurt someone?”Luke came further into the room, his eyes turning hard, ready to tear into him.
Carson glowered at Sandy, knowing she had phrased her words on purpose to get his teammates to turn against him.
