Work at the diner was slow but more pleasant because Sharon had given up on quitting smoking again. I hated to say I was glad for it, because it was bad for her health. But damn, she was scary when she was off cigarettes.
With her hands on her hips, she surveyed the nearly empty diner. “Maybe you should call your boyfriend and ask him to come in. That’ll drum up some business.”
I didn’t correct her about the boyfriend part. There was no point. In Cedar Creek, memories were long, and change wasn’t easily accepted. “Have you ever thought about having a kids-eat-free night?” I asked. “Not many places do that anymore, but I think it might get people in the door on slow nights.”
The handful of times my parents had taken Lacey and me out to dinner had been on kids-eat-free nights. It stuck out in my memory because that had been the only way my mom could convince my dad to go—that way, he didn’t have to waste money on us.
“We’ve never done that,” Sharon said gruffly, though she didn’t immediately reject the idea. If she were still trying to quit smoking, I would have stopped talking right there, but she’d actually been in a relatively good mood that night.
“It’s worth a try. You could advertise at the local elementary schools and daycares.” One of my customers drained the last of his iced tea, so I grabbed the pitcher to refill it. “It’s worth a try,” I repeated as I walked away.
When I came back to the counter, Sharon’s eyes were narrowed, and I could tell she was doing calculations in her head. She might have been merely the proprietor of the small-town diner that had been in her family for generations, but she was a shrewd businesswoman. If it would increase the bottom line, she would grit her teeth and try something new.
The evening seemed to drag on forever because we were so slow, but eight o’clock finally rolled around, and I headed home to get ready for my date with Gabe. I couldn’t even pretend that it was a not-date.
I was playing with fire, but I couldn’t stop myself, nor did I want to. I had never stopped loving Gabe, but it was more than just that. When I was around him, I felt like I was alive instead of merely existing.
But we had to get a few things straight first.
He knocked on the door at exactly quarter to nine. Leaning against the doorframe, he smiled down at me. “I’ve been thinking about you all day.”
My heart somersaulted, and my stomach flipped. Damn him. It was going to be hard to lay ground rules when he had me swooning at his first sentence. More than that, though, he was crossing the friendship line again.
“Come in.” I stepped back so he could pass.
He gestured toward the shoe box that was sitting on my couch. “Do they fit? I thought I remembered you wore a seven, but I wasn’t one hundred percent sure.”
“Yes, thank you. But you shouldn’t have done that.”
He shrugged. “I wanted to.”
I pulled a wad of cash out of my back pocket and pressed it into his hands. “And you shouldn’t have done this.”
He looked at it in confusion for a moment before realizing it was the tip he’d left. He tried to put it back in my hands. When I didn’t take it, he tossed it on the couch. “You earned it.”
“Gabe, I brought you your takeout order. I didn’t even wait on you.”
“You brought me water and rolls.”
I stared at him. “That isn’t worth a tip that is more than my rent. Heck, that would pay my rent for several months.”
“Well, good, then.”
“Gabe.” I couldn’t even put into words how wildly inappropriate it was. Anyway, he should get it without my having to tell him.
“I’ve left big tips before, and no one has ever complained.”
It didn’t surprise me that he was generous, but he was missing the point. “It’s different with me. I’m your ex-girlfriend.”
He flinched a little at the “ex-girlfriend” bit, and I felt bad for a moment before I shook it off. I was simply stating a fact, and maybe he needed the reminder. Even if I’d said “friend” instead, the truth remained. If Tyler were in the service industry, Gabe wouldn’t have left Tyler that kind of tip.
“It’s weird,” I said gently. “It makes me feel like a charity case. I don’t like it.”
“But we’re friends,” he protested. “Can’t friends help friends?”
“Yes, but I didn’t ask for help. And I’m sure you’ve heard that you shouldn’t mix money and friends.”
He cracked his knuckles. “What’s the point of me having all this money if I can’t spend it on the people I care about?”
My resolve softened. “If we were going out to dinner, I’d let you pick up the tab. That”—I gestured toward the pile of money—“is something else entirely. Leave me a thirty percent tip. Hell, I’ll even take a fifty percent tip. But that tip was obscene.”
“Okay.” He reluctantly retrieved the bills, peeled off a few, and stuffed the rest in his pocket. “Here.” He offered me the bills. “You’re keeping the shoes.” His hardened expression dared me to argue.
Considering it a fair compromise, I accepted the more reasonable tip and put my hands up in surrender. “I’ll keep the shoes.”
Gabe drove us out of town and onto the county roads. “Where are we going?” I asked. I was already on edge because of this date that shouldn’t even be happening, and he hadn’t clued me in on the plans.
He glanced over at me with a grin. “You’ll see.”
I’d never liked surprises, but I trusted Gabe—this would be a good one. “How did you manage to find a new pair of those shoes? I think they were discontinued last year.”
“I’d like to take credit, but it was all Bette.”
“Bette?” An image of an attractive aspiring actress or singer came to mind. With a name like that, she was probably curvy like a pinup model. I hated to admit I was jealous. Friends shouldn’t get jealous. I nearly sighed. My feelings toward Gabe would always go beyond friendship. It was stupid to try to pretend to myself. But as long as he didn’t know that, I could outwardly toe the friendship line.
“She’s my assistant. I have no idea how old she is, but she claims to have been a groupie since before I was born. She reminds me a bit of Aunt Rose, actually. You’ll love her.”
If I ever meet her, which is doubtful. I stared out the window. I didn’t know why I was being so sullen. It was just that Gabe’s life only intersected with mine in the tiny corner that was Cedar Creek. For me, Cedar Creek was my whole world. He didn’t seem to understand that, though, and until he did, he wouldn’t understand why us being together wouldn’t work.
Gabe took a turn sharply enough that I gripped the door handle and sucked in a breath. “Sorry,” he muttered. “It looks different in the dark.”
I ran my fingers along the supple leather seats. The muscle car suited Gabe. Most men in Cedar Creek favored pickup trucks, but Gabe didn’t fit that mold. Perhaps that was why he’d been able to break out and not look back.
We finally pulled into an overgrown driveway, and if I’d been on a first date, I would have worried that I was about to become a murder victim. We were truly in the middle of nowhere.
“Where are we?”
“See that property line there?” Gabe pointed. “Well, actually, it’s dark, so I’m sure you can’t see it. That’s the far side of Tyler’s dad’s property.”
I’d been to Tyler’s dad’s place a million times, but I’d never seen the whole of it. I thought he owned almost two hundred acres. “So whose property is this?”
“Tim said the guy’s name is Bill. This parcel is about one hundred and fifty acres. It’s for sale, so I told him I wanted to take it for a test drive.”
We hit a huge pothole in the dirt drive, and I bounced so high I would have hit my head on the ceiling if I hadn’t been buckled in. I was about to ask what he meant by “test drive” when he came to a clearing, and the headlights shined on a huge white screen.
“What is this?” I asked.
He put
the car into Park then took my hand in his and brought my knuckles to his lips. “We couldn’t go to the movies, so I brought the movies to us.”
I took my hand back, but I didn’t bother chiding him for his action. Correcting him didn’t seem to make a difference, but perhaps ignoring it would. Fat chance. Despite my taking my hand away, he was grinning like crazy. He was proud of his effort, and damn it if my heart didn’t melt at the thought of a mega superstar going out of his way to impress me.
“But… don’t we need power?” Oh my God… He’d made this sweet, over-the-top gesture, and all I could do was try to poke holes in his plan. Way to go, Leah. But that was me. As Lacey would have said, I was all about the practical rather than the idealistic. Perhaps that was why I’d never had bigger dreams than what Cedar Creek had to offer.
I knew exactly what he was doing, though. His outlandish act was just the sort of thing Gabe had done as a teenager to woo me, albeit on a much smaller scale. Back then, all he’d wanted was for me to love him, and it seemed that hadn’t changed.
But damn it, so much had changed, and I couldn’t get my head around how he could ignore that.
“That’s the only thing that’s developed on this property—the utilities.” He pointed to a pole I could barely make out in the dark. “Bill had it set up for power and water before he decided he didn’t want to build back here. So I bought a heavy-duty extension cord, and voila!”
“And you just happened to own a giant inflatable screen and projector?”
“Well, no. I ordered those last night after I made plans with you.”
Of course he did. I couldn’t stop myself from guessing how much it had all cost. Once again, at least as much as my rent. I couldn’t fathom dropping that kind of money on a whim. I debated trying to reinforce the we’re-just-friends idea, but I didn’t have it in me. I’d already won the battle about the tips, so I wasn’t pushing it. “Cool,” I said.
“So what are you in the mood to watch?”
Exhaling, I tried to get myself in check. There was no reason I couldn’t enjoy the evening. “What are my choices?”
He shrugged. “You name it, and I’ll download it.”
I eyed him. “You’re forgetting that cell service is spotty at best out here.”
He held up his phone and stared at it. “Shit. Only one bar. That’s probably not going to cut it. It’s okay. I already downloaded a shit ton of stuff.” He passed over his phone. “Take your pick. I’ll get the popcorn.” He hopped out of the car before I could figure out what he was doing.
I twisted in my seat to watch him go to the rear of the car, where he lifted a bright-red, old-fashioned novelty popcorn maker out of the trunk. He carried it toward the electricity pole he’d pointed out earlier and plugged it in to the extension cord.
I shook my head, but I couldn’t find it in me to be surprised. Gabe never did anything halfway. I got out of the car as he returned to the trunk and took out a cooler. “How big is your trunk?” I asked incredulously.
He grinned. “You’d be surprised. But what I’ve really been wanting to test out is the back seat.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me.
I laughed. “Once was enough, thanks.”
“Aw, where’s your sense of adventure?”
“I lost it after having a gear shift nearly shoved up my ass.”
“Good thing gear shifts aren’t in the back seat.” A smile teased the edges of his mouth. “Good times.”
“For you, maybe.”
He sauntered over and snaked his arm around my waist, dragging me against him so that our faces were only inches apart.
I was too shocked to react.
“You can’t deny we had some good times together. No, better than good. Great times.”
When I was pressed up against him, I couldn’t breathe, much less think. His cheeks were freshly shaven, and I could smell that he still used the same brand of shaving cream.
I tipped my head back, not even meaning to. But the kiss didn’t come. I opened my eyes, also not having realized I’d closed them. What am I doing?
Gabe was staring at me intently, and I realized he was waiting for me to make the next move. His earlier declaration came back to me: When you’re ready to admit it, I’ll be here. Despite all his flirtation, he wasn’t going to make another move. I was relieved and oddly disappointed at the same time.
Chapter 14
Gabe
I reluctantly pulled away and realized I’d been holding my breath, hoping Leah was going to take that next step. Inhaling deeply, I warred with myself. I’d only been half joking about crawling into the backseat of my car with her. But if I did that, I’d lose any progress I’d made with her. I’d told her I wanted to be with her. The rest was up to her.
I didn’t want to be without her—I’d been there, done that, and wasn’t better for it. It was killing me that it was taking her so long to get on the same page, because we never should have split in the first place. If I’d stayed in town, we would have worked it out. The whole thing was caused by shitty circumstances and immature decisions. We’d both grown since then.
But we were still fundamentally the same people, and I was still beyond in love with her. Once I’d acknowledged that, there was only one thing left to do—convince Leah that we could have a future together. There wasn’t a question about whether she was also still in love with me. I knew she was.
Maybe our love hadn’t been enough when we were only eighteen, but it was damn well enough now.
I stepped away from her and shoved my hands into my pockets. I figured it was the only way to guarantee I would keep them to myself. I had honorable intentions—mostly—but I couldn’t be around her without wanting to touch her.
Leah gestured to the popcorn maker. “Do you know how to use that thing?”
I shook my head. “I just got it, but it’s cool, right? I’m sure I can figure it out.”
Twenty minutes later, I was eating my own words. The thing was more complicated than it needed to be, which was probably why microwave popcorn had been invented. It might have been easier to bring a microwave out here.
“We don’t need popcorn.” Leah was trying to be nice, but it just made me feel like an idiot. Instead of trying to create an authentic movie experience, I should have just bought a bag of premade popcorn. Oh well. Maybe it was one of those it’s-the-thought-that-counts moments.
I grinned. “We’ll have to skip the popcorn and go straight to candy.” I walked back to the trunk and took out a grocery bag. “Peanut M&Ms for you and regular M&Ms for me. Did you pick a movie?”
She shook her head. “Sorry. I didn’t even look.”
“Here’s another decision—sit in the car, drive-in style? Or sit outside in chairs? Or lie on a blanket?”
She blinked. “You put a lot of thought and planning into this.”
“Anything worth doing should be done right.” And okay, maybe I wanted to show her that taking advantage of my wealth could be fun.
In the end, she decided we should sit in the car since even though it was cool in the evenings, there were still mosquitoes to contend with. Probably for the best, because I would have had to wear a straitjacket to keep from trying to wrap my arms around her if we lay on a blanket. I could think of so many better things to do while lying together than watching a damn movie.
Fuck. This was so much harder than I thought it would be. I wasn’t cut out to be just friends with her.
She let me pick the movie, and I chose Black Panther with the late, great Chadwick Boseman because she hadn’t seen it. Once I got over the shock of that, we climbed into the car, and I realized almost immediately that sitting in the car might be just as bad as lying on a blanket—at least outside, we could have put some distance between us. In the car, we were practically shoulder to shoulder. She swept her hair behind her shoulders, and I nearly groaned. I loved putting my hands in her hair. Gritting my teeth, I cued up the movie.
“I never would have taken you for a superh
ero-movie buff,” she commented.
“You know David Franz?”
“Of course. Everybody knows who David Franz is.”
“I guess that was more of a rhetorical question. I opened for him before my first album was released.” It was a pretty big deal, because while my friends may joke about me being a rock god, David Franz actually was one. He was also a genuinely nice guy who liked to help up-and-coming artists he thought had talent. Long story short, he happened to be in the studio when I was recording one day and took a liking to me. I couldn’t have gotten luckier if I’d tried.
“I know.”
My eyebrows shot up. It wasn’t as if my past touring schedule was a secret, but I hadn’t expected her to know offhand details like that about my career. It made me happy to know she’d been following me. Looking embarrassed, she cleared her throat, so I didn’t say anything about it.
“Anyway, he’s totally into them. You probably don’t know this, but his oldest three sons are named Peter, Tony, and Steve.”
Her nose scrunched. “As in, the names of the Avengers?”
I nodded, glad she’d picked up on that. “Yeah. He was into Marvel before it was cool. He wanted to name Steve Thor, but his wife at the time wouldn’t go for it.”
“Can’t say I blame her there.”
“You have him to thank for my newfound love of Marvel.” I chuckled. “Those were good times.” It had been my first tour, and I was still wet behind the ears and easily dazzled by everything. The only thing that would have made it better was if Leah had been by my side instead of nameless faces warming my bed. I definitely wasn’t going to tell her about that. She probably already knew. It wasn’t as if I had been discreet, and celebrity gossip was big business.
“I’m sure it was exciting.” She sounded not exactly jealous but wistful. While I’d been living it up—trashing hotel rooms and having my ass cheeks featured on celebrity gossip websites—she’d essentially been thrust into a role as a single parent to a teenager while she was still a teenager herself.
Back To You (In Tune Book 1) Page 13