“I have another appointment coming in about twenty minutes. I need to prep for that.”
“You do that,” she declared as she stood and followed me to the door.
“I saw that.”
“What?”
“How you let it slip that you weren’t ready for me to leave yet, that you’re missing me already.”
She giggled and tossed her head back. Shaking it, she replied, “You’re so crazy.”
“Crazy about Baby with those buns,” I replied, winking at her.
The way her mouth dropped, and her face grew red, was so cute. “Yeah, I’m definitely about to apply the pressure to your li’l cute ass.”
She giggled and closed the door hurriedly behind me. I jogged across the street with my mind already on Friday night.
I loved it when a woman made it easy for you to come for her. Baby was definitely giving me all the green lights, and I had a feeling that it might be easy to love a woman like her.
I was ready for love with no drama.
7
TEGAN
THE SURPRISE – FRIDAY EVENING
Iwas feeling good about how things were progressing. Easy had convinced my daddy to head to the mall and buy that all-white outfit after all. Everything was ready to go for the launch party, and Harlem was still bringing me coffee and breakfast every morning.
Whenever he couldn’t bring it himself, he paid the barista who made it to bring it to me too. I only knew that because I asked one of them why they were bringing them to me instead of him.
I thought it was sweet that he went the extra step to do that, but I was still trying to caution my heart not to jump into the deep. It was hard though when he added little corny, but inspirational notes to the breakfast and coffee like, “Hope your day is fueled with a cup of joy” and “Think of me with every sip, I’ll be thinking of you too.”
I hadn’t seen him the last couple of days since he stopped by my shop after the staff meeting, but I was certain that he had been busy. I wasn’t sure what all he did besides cutting hair,but I knew that he had other business ventures because he had casually mentioned them during our coffee date.
I grabbed my purse, keys, and phone and set the alarm before I locked the bakery for the evening.
A smile lit my face when I saw Harlem jogging across the street toward me. I stopped at my car and waited expectantly for him. It amazed me that I barely knew this man, yet, in the last couple of weeks, he was one of the people I looked forward to seeing the most. He easily brought a smile to my face with just his appearance, and his smooth and easy words and manner filled my heart.
He was a man of action, but I knew that Carl had been, too, in the beginning. He hadn’t done major things, but he had done things until he stopped. I was afraid that Harlem might be the same way, but I also didn’t want to judge one man off another man’s actions.
“Hey,” he greeted when he came to a stop in front of me. He held two bags in one hand and a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of champagne in his other hand.
“Hi, yourself. I haven’t seen you in a couple of days.”
“I know, and I apologize for that.”
“You don’t have to. You owe me no explanation,” I declared, although I had greatly missed his presence.
“I feel like I do, and I’d like to share that over dinner. Have you eaten yet?”
“I was on my way to grab a quick bite to eat. What are those for?”
“These flowers and the champagne are for you,” he declared, extending them to me.
“That’s so sweet. Thank you, Harlem.”
“You’re welcome. I brought flowers a couple of days ago, and I wanted to give them to you then. When I saw your staff there,I figured it wasn’t the right time. I tossed those out and bought some fresh ones this afternoon.”
