My god, what was the matter with me? I’ve blushed more today than I have in the last year.
“After you’re done, you wanna grab a bite to eat?” he asked.
I opened my mouth, ready to accept the invitation.
Except I forgot my mother was within earshot.
“We’re having family dinner at my house. Pulled pork. You’re welcome to come, Shaun,” my mother interjected.
I turned. “Mom!”
“What? We are. And you already said you’d come.” Mother crossed her arms, her eyebrow raised, like she dared me to challenge her.
And people wondered where I got that stare.
“I could have changed my mind,” I said.
Shaun grinned. “I’d love to come. I haven’t had pulled pork in forever.”
“Wait,” I snapped, turning back to him.
“What?” Shaun asked.
“You, you can’t.”
“Why not?” my mother asked.
“Yeah, why not?”
I opened my mouth.
Closed it.
Because damn, if I couldn’t think of a serious reason why.
Shit.
This was not how I wanted to tell my family I had gone on a date.
Especially not how I wanted them to know I wanted more of said dates.
14
Shaun waited outside for Winter to lock up.
He glanced up and down the sidewalk and noticed that one of the shops down the way hadn’t cleaned off their sidewalk.
He’ll take care of it when he did his. The salon will need it done too, likely. He was usually one of the first at his store on Monday mornings.
He didn’t mind taking care of the sidewalks for the different stores. He’d always found shoveling driveways or sidewalks peaceful.
Was he weird?
Probably.
Okay, so truth be told, he’d probably use his snowblower anyway, and it was just an excuse to play with his toy.
The lights in the salon clicked off systematically, and then her silhouette came forward. Like a scene in a movie, she came forward, dramatic music in the background.
