“I’m not sure. I know her and her mother used to go out and do fun thingslikethis.”
Used to. Tara wanted to pry, but she didn’t even know his name. Asking personal family information would have been a littlecreepy.
She wadded up the soiled napkins and stuffed them down her now empty tea cup. “I’m sure she’ll love it, then. I always like the Ferris wheel and the shooting gallerygames.”
Now she was oversharing.
He smiled to her and put the ad back on the table, leaning over her a bit in order to do it. Tara took a deep whiff and hoped he didn’t notice. Damn, hesmelledgood.
“Are you going tonight?” he asked, pulling her out of her fantasy for amoment.
Tara shrugged. “Probably not. I tend to spend my evenings at homenowadays.”
There she went again, oversharing and making herself look like a pitiful, lonely singlewoman.
He didn’t seem to notice – either that or he didn’t mind at all – because he went on to say, “Well, maybe you can make an exception tonight. If Dixie’s never been to a fair, I’m not going to know the first thing about what she’ll like or not like. Maybe you could come with us and show us all the fun stuff to do. I remember going to fairs when I was a kid, but what I like may not be what shelikes.”
If Tara didn’t have a good handle on herself, she might have let her jaw drop in disbelief. Was this guy asking her out? No, he wasn’t asking her out on a date. He was asking if she could come along and show his niece a good time. This had nothing to do with her. She had to keep that in mind or she would blow it way out of proportion, just like she dideverythingelse.
“Sure,” she replied with a grin. “That’d be fun… My name’s Tara, by the way.” She offered outherhand.
“Beau,” he introduced, wrapping his fingers around hers in a firm, but friendly handshake. Something in her made her grip his hand a little harder and his brows shot up. “Nicehandshake.”
Oh God, what if he was turned off by a girl that asserted herself? Tara let go quickly and let her hand drop to her lap so he wouldn’t see how badly she was shaking. “Sorry. Badhabit.”
“No,” he laughed. “Ilikeit.”
Tara wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but she refrained and kept her wits about her. As if that were even possible when Beau was lookingather.
“So, the doors open up at four,” he continued. “We can meet you at the ticket boothatfive.”
She winced. “I actually work until five and then I have to grab dinner. Would six be okay?” That little nagging voice in the back of her head berated her for trying to negotiate terms with Beau. She was the one doing them the service, not the other way around. Maybe she could try and find a way to get offearly.
Beau slipped his hands into his front jean pockets and she couldn’t help but notice the way his muscles moved so erotically beneath his skin. “That’ll work. Do you think the food at the carnival is safe to eat? I’ve been to some where the food tasted good, but you’d regret it the nextmorning.”
Tara giggled, though joking over food poisoning wasn’t exactly supposed to be funny. “I never got sick from eating the carnival food around here, so she should be safe. In that case, we could make it five-thirty. I can just grab some food withy’all.”
He gave a nod, as if the deal was sealed. “Great. I’ll see you then, Tara. It was nice tomeetyou.”
“Nice to meet you too,” she said through possibly the biggest grin in the history of grins. “Looking forwardtoit.”
He turned away and met Rachel at the counter to take his coffee. As he walked out the door, she saw him glance at her over his shoulder. Beau smiled and gave a little wave before leaving, but Tara was nearly frozen with that goofy smile still plastered onherface.
This was insane. She was going on a date with the hottest guy she had ever met, and it was all about his niece having a good time. Not them. That was new, yet oddlyendearing.
When her world came back into focus, Tara snatched up the book and peeled through the pages to find where she had left off. Sure enough, the following few pages that were once blank were now filled. Every piece of dialogue, every action and internal thought she had, was exactly mirrored in thestory.
Even more insane than her date with Beau, was the existence of this book. Could it tell the future? Or was she secretly dictating what needed to be in the book based on what was happening in her life? Would she be able to read Beau’s point of view? By the way the pages hadn't manifested farther than the moment he walked out, she knew there must have been a limit somewhere. It wasn’t going to tell her anything beyond the present, or beyond what she wasexperiencing.
The alarm went off on her phone, telling her it was time to return to reality. She needed to run across the street, back to the desk job she so desperately wanted to throw out the window. Maybe the heroine in the book will get a new job by the end of the story. One thing’s for sure, the other books on her to-be-read list would have to wait until this new dramaplayedout.
