“Wait, are you in Texas,Sunshine?”
“I’ve been here a couple years. I just graduated with myMBA.”
“That’s awesome.Congratulations.”
“Thanks.” She gulped. Where exactly in a conversation should a person cross over from friendly catching up to asking for fifty thousanddollars?
Noah continued. “Harley and I read your email. We’re definitely interested in talking to you sometime about this doggiecafé.”
Cedar squeezed her eyes shut and worked hard to contain her squeal. “Great. When are youavailable?”
“Well, we’re headed out of town next week, so we can do Monday or in threeweeks.”
Cedar pressed her hand to her stomach. Monday was the day she and Teo were supposed to take Akoni to the zoo. There were just three weeks left before Teo had to report in for preseason workouts, and then his life, and their time together, would revolve around the team’s schedule. She had no idea what that meant, having never dated an NFL player before, but got the distinct impression that the carefree days of off-season were about todisappear.
Nevertheless, she needed this meeting, and she couldn’t wait three weeks. Darrin may be out there schmoosing his way into a contract for his own doggie café as she sat there in her pajamas. In three weeks, Akoni would have a new nanny and she’d be out of a paycheck. She needed to ensure an influx of money before that happened. “I’ll take Monday.” She petted her laptop like it was a cat, grateful she’d spent the last two days buried in her work and could accept the earliest date available. It made her sound confident,prepared.
Teo would be upset. He’d been feeling neglected lately. Not that he’d said as much, but she could see it in his warm brown eyes. He was battling demons of another sort, but she was the one who raised them from where they slept. If she could just get this business up and running, then she would be able to make thingsright.
“Great. I’ll email you directions to Harley’soffice.”
“I’m looking forward to meeting your bride. I can only imagine the woman you roped into marrying you.” Shelaughed.
“Ha! I can’t believe she agreed to it in the first place. There’s a whole story there. I’ll fill you in when you gethere.”
They said their goodbyes and hung up the phone. Cedar pressed her warm hand to her clammy forehead. She’d known Noah for years, seen him play tag with children, ghosts in the graveyard with teens, and had even pranked him a few times; but asking him for money caused her limbs to quake. She was independent by nature. She started doing her own laundry at ten—not because her parents made her, but because she felt it was time she stepped up. They, of course, were all too happy to have one lessresponsibility.
She needed to continually remind herself of the fact that loans were part of a business. And just because she was borrowing from a friend, didn’t mean she was any less of a success than if she’d borrowed from astranger.
The question of why she didn’t take Teo’s money popped up and made her sit down. Teo was different from Noah. She wasn’t dating Noah. Of course, she hadn’t been on a date with Teo in over a week, either. Still, she wanted to keep Teo separate from all this. Not that she was worried that things would end between them; on the contrary, they fit so easily together there was no reason for insecurities between them. The reason she didn’t want Teo’s money was that she wanted to show Darrin up, and she didn’t want Darrin thinking she had to date a man to get him to hand over funds. Heaven forbid she gave the impression she was sleeping with Teo or that they had a quid pro quo thing going on. Keeping Teo out of this was the only way to maintain herreputation.
Another big argument for doing this on her own was that she didn’t want to feel obligated to Teo—like she owed him for anything. She just wanted to be free to be with him without a loan muddying up themix.
Suddenly wondering why she was sitting in her messy apartment when she could be sitting on Teo’s beach, she sprang into action. She fit what she could in the dishwasher and calledTeo.
He answered on the second ring. “Hello, lovelylady.”
“Hey,stud.”
Teo laughed, a deep, throaty, intimate sound that sent a thrill all the way to her toes. “Stud? Can you call me that in front of the team at leastonce?”
“I’ll call you stud once a day if it will get me a kiss.” She was happy to be all bold and flirty since he couldn’t see the misshapen T-shirt and sweats shewore.
“Deal.”
There was so much happiness in his voice—so much, dare she say, love?—that it gave her pause before she broke the bad news. She had no desire to wipe those adorable dimples off his cheeks. “So, I have some great news and some grayclouds.”
“I don’t like the sound of grayclouds.”
“Let’s start with the great news, then.” She shut the dishwasher and selected the hot-wash cycle. Some of those bowls were crusty. She proceeded to tell him that she’d landed a meeting with a promising potential investor. He heartily congratulated her, which made her feel all the worse for adding, “The not-so-great news is that I have to take a rain check on the zoo—the only day they’re in town for the next three weeks isMonday.”
“That’s one big rain cloud.” Teo spokelow.
“I know. I’m so very sorry. I don’t mean to disappoint you and Akoni. I didn’t really have achoice.”
He sighed into the phone. “I don’t know when else I’ll have time to go. I’m booked with preseason interviews. The pictures of us at the restaurant a couple weeks ago came out, and everyone wants to know about the new woman in mylife.”
“Really? I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that.” She picked up a clean washcloth and dug the disinfectant out from under thesink.
