“Nope.” Lauren was quick to squash that train of thought, much to my relief. “No outs. I’m not giving you one. You’re not giving me one. You’re a part of my life, and you always have been. We’ve just tweaked things slightly.”
“‘We’ve just tweaked things slightly?’ Is that going into the speech you’ve prepared for your dad? I don’t think he’ll go with that logic.”
“Whatever. I don’t have anything prepared. I’m still dwelling on how to end this call with you.”
“Okay, explain.”
Lauren gave a nervous laugh. “Well, you were the one who said, ‘I like you’ first. And I’m not ready for the other four letter L word yet. Is there something in-between people say?”
I rubbed my forehead. This girl. The first rule of commitment issues: you didn’t talk about your commitment issues. Unless you were Lauren. “You already know I’m bad at Scrabble. Now you want me to come up with a four letter word that’s in between like and love?”
“It doesn’t have to be four letters or start with L. For example, don’t British people say, I fancy you? What about that?”
“I’m pretty sure they don’t say it at the end of phone calls. Ta ta, I fancy you.”
She snorted. “Okay, what then?”
“Lauren, you are beautiful and weird, and I really like you. And I hope tomorrow doesn’t end in your dad wanting to punch me. Now go to bed, sweetheart.” I hung up before she spent another thirty minutes crafting an appropriate response.
26
___________
Lauren
Poor Parker was getting asked about his plans a lot. I think it was getting into his head because just our asking was causing him to make plans so he wouldn’t look like a loser. He had no idea all we wanted to know was the probability of him showing up unannounced at Clay’s front door.
I liked hanging out at Clay’s house. I liked dancing in his kitchen. And I liked planning our lunch schedules so we took different routes to the same cozy picnic bench. I’d never felt this way about anyone before, where instead of getting increasingly stressed out over the relationship progressing, I couldn’t wait to see him. Clay was the best part of my day, whether we were talking on the phone, or eating together, or he was kissing me goodnight on my doorstep in-between yawns. I really needed to let him get more sleep.
So far, the business hadn’t encroached on our relationship at all. But I knew it was coming. I hadn’t spoken up about anything in our company meeting on Tuesday, which was very unlike me. I didn’t butt heads with Parker in the warehouse. I was trying to stay off everyone’s radar. But things couldn’t go on in limbo forever.
We had an ownership meeting I’d successfully put off until next Monday. All I had to do was get through Friday unscathed and we’d have another weekend together without any work nonsense messing it up. I must have jinxed myself because I knew something was wrong the second the front office called me. A tingly thread of unease ran up my back.
“There’s a large flower bouquet up here for you,” the secretary, Paisley, said, with more than a hint of amusement in her voice. “And the sender would love to see you if you have the time. He’s talking to your dad right now.”
“Who’s talking to my dad?”
“I think his name is Nibble, but I was too afraid to ask again. It’s not really Nibble, is it?”
“Oh, no.” I hung up and sprang to my feet. Crappity crap crap. This was not good.
Clay glanced my way from across the warehouse when I walked past, but I gave a little shake of my head. Now was not the time for secret meetups, however much I might want that. Today was supposed to be about laying low, not dealing with insane ex-dates.
I jogged into the front office building and opened the back door with the stealth of a practiced ninja, ducking down behind a desk and surveying the situation. Noble and my Dad were shooting the breeze at the counter in front of the receptionist desk while Paisley listened in.
The flower bouquet perched on the end of the counter was loud and exotic and fragrant. Lilies and birds of paradise sprung out in every direction. I was so not carrying it back to my desk. It would take up the whole space and everyone would stop and ask about it. That was the purpose, wasn’t it? Noble had sent flowers as a statement. An attention grabber. He wanted me to know he was a nice guy who did nice things, not a guy who got ditched at the end of an awkward date. This was about wrapping things up with me in a nice, tidy bow. Well, that, or I had a go-getter stalker. How I handled things now depended a lot on reading his motives right.
“What are you doing?”
I about jumped out of my skin and turned around, grabbing the lapels of Parker’s shirt and dragging him down to my level.
“Keep your voice down, idiot.”
“Is this about the flowers? Who’s that guy talking to Dad?”
“Noble Tuttle, my date from last weekend.”
“So things went well.” Parker grinned at me.
