by Elicia Hyder
He touched his chest. “I could totally make a music video.”
“Oh, really?” I crossed my arms.
He leaned toward me, tipping his chin slightly up and squinting with mock disgust. “Don’t look at me like you’re Audrey Scott. You don’t know my life.” With that, he popped his collar and put on his sunglasses. He began humming the melody to “Stayin’ Alive” and disco dancing for all of downtown Nashville to see through the glass walls of the Summit Tower.
The elevator doors slid open. West froze, mid Saturday Night Fever stance, as the two women waiting to get on erupted in laughter. So did I. He pressed his lips together and slowly lowered his John Travolta disco finger.
“Don’t stop dancing on our account,” the older of the two women said as they walked inside. “I was just about to break out some dollar bills for you.”
West’s shoulders were shaking with silent laughter as he pulled off his sunglasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. When he looked at me, happy tears sparkled in his eyes.
“That was impressive,” I said as the elevator began its descent again.
He turned his palms up. “But how many views and clicks would it get?”
“Millions, no doubt.”
Still laughing, he slipped his arm around my waist and pulled me against his side. My knees felt like jelly underneath me. When we reached the lobby, he wished the women a good day and led me toward the parking garage.
“So about this Jake Barrett party,” he said as we walked to his truck.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Is that where all this superhuman charm is coming from lately? Are you trying to get into my good graces so I’ll take you to the party at Jake’s house?”
“What?” he asked, a slight pitch of offense in his deep voice. He pulled me closer, digging his fingers into my hip bone. “Absolutely not. I’m trying to get into your good graces so I can get into your pants, silly girl.”
I laughed so loudly it echoed off the concrete walls of the parking garage. “Seriously?”
He shrugged. “Of course. I’m a dude.” He looked at me and jerked his thumb over his shoulder toward the building. “Didn’t we just agree to skip the mystery and say what we really mean?”
“Well…yeah, but…um…”
We reached his truck, and he put one hand on the passenger-side door handle and used his arm to maneuver me against the back door. Suddenly his face was inches from my own, and he was smiling as he stared at my lips. “I don’t think I’ve seen you this flustered since the car accident. Are you nervous?”
I swallowed.
He leaned in and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Good.” Then, with a forceful jerk, he pulled the door open and laughed. “Relax, Lucy. I’m joking.”
I took a deep breath and let it out in a shaky chuckle.
He smiled as I got inside, then leaned in my doorway. “Well, sort of.” He winked at me and closed the door.
*
Lunch was ridiculously delicious. West took me to a new place that had recently opened in The Gulch, just a few blocks down from the skyscraper his company was building. Biscuit Love was aptly named with fluffy biscuits piled high with chicken and gravy (on mine) and shaved country ham, fried eggs, and gravy (on his).
We sat at a table near the window that overlooked the bustling sidewalk outside. “This may be the best breakfast I’ve ever had,” I said, wiping a dribble of gravy from my chin.
“Wait, try this.” West held up something that looked like a donut hole to my lips. It was oozing with smushed berries and cream sauce.
I bit into and had to will my eyes to not roll back in my head. “Oh my god.” I chewed the bite slowly, savoring the flavors. Blueberry, lemon, cream cheese…
When I opened my eyes, West was biting his lower lip as he watched me. “You’re beautiful, Lucy.”
I licked my lips and laughed. “You know, I’m really liking this whole honesty thing. Everyone should date this way.”
He leaned on his elbow. “I completely agree. I’m going to do this with all the women I’m seeing.”
My mouth dropped open enough for him to notice.
“I’m kidding.”
I reached over to his plate and picked up the rest of the donut hole. “You like teasing me,” I said, popping the rest of it in my mouth.
He sat back in his chair. “You make it so easy. I’ve never seen anyone blush as quickly as you.”
“Those things are delicious.” I pointed to his empty bowl.
“Should I order some more?” he asked.
I shook my head and wiped my mouth with my napkin. “God, no. I’ll be in a food coma by the time I get back to work. Thank you for lunch.”
“Thank you for joining me.” He pushed his plate away. “Tell me something I don’t know about Lucy Cooper.”
“You know a lot,” I said with a laugh. “My address, my medical history…”
He pointed at me. “Your STD status.”
I laughed. “And that. What else is there?”
“Do you have any pets? You already met mine,” he said.
“Not since I was a kid, and never for any significant amount of time even then. My mother always loved the idea of having animals until we actually had them, so the dogs and the teacup pig never lasted very long around our house.”
“You had a teacup pig?”
I nodded. “His name was Keith Richards.”
West laughed. “You had a pig named Keith Richards?”
“He was born with a birth defect that made him walk a little sideways, so Mom started calling him Keith Richards.” I thought for a second. “We also had a hedgehog named Donkey Kong for a little while.”
“Did your Mom name him too?” he asked.
I shook my head. “My brother, but he’s just like her. I told him we should name the hedgehog Sonic, obviously.”
“Obviously,” West agreed.
“So he named it Donkey Kong.” I chuckled and chewed on the end of my straw. “I almost forgot about that.”
“Do you have any more siblings?”
“Nope. Just me and Ethan. Oh, wait. I guess that’s not exactly true anymore. I now have a stepbrother named Bryan who lives in St. Louis.”
His head pulled back. “So your parents are divorced?”
My shoulders sagged. “No. My mom passed away last year.”
He frowned, and it was almost as adorable as his smile. “I’m really sorry to hear that. Was she sick?”
“Lung cancer. By the time she was diagnosed, it had spread all over her body. There wasn’t much they could do to save her.”
West reached across the table and put his hand on mine. “I’m really sorry, Lucy.”
“Thank you.” The corners of my eyes were beginning to tingle. We needed to change the subject. Fast. “What about you? Any siblings?”
He withdrew his hand. I was determined to not read into it. “I have a brother,” he said.
“Please tell me his name is East,” I begged, clasping my hands beneath my chin.
He balled his napkin and threw it at me. “His name is Lucas.”
“Is he in the construction business too?”
“No. We’re not really close. He lives up near Bristol now and works for the city.”
He was probably the mayor if the rumors were true about the Adlers.
“I went to school in Johnson City, then lived there for a couple of years before I moved back home.”
“I know exactly where it is. You’re a Buccaneer?” he asked.
I nodded. “It was the farthest place I could go away to school and still get in-state tuition.”
He laughed. “That’s always a good reason. I did the opposite. Went to school practically in my backyard at Belmont.”
I already knew that.
“What did you study?” I asked, though I already knew that too.
“Business.”
I raised my hand. “Marketing.”
“You know, we’d make one hell of a co
rporate power couple,” he said.
My eyebrow lifted. “Is that a proposition?”
His perfect lips spread into a smile. “It’s certainly looking like it could be.”
I leaned my elbows on the table. “OK. I have to ask. Why did you wait a month to ask me out? I really thought we had a connection the day we met.” I held up my hands. “Then nothing for weeks.”
He sat back in his chair. “Do you want the truth?”
I nodded, though I wasn’t so sure about it.
“I was seeing someone when I met you.”
My heart deflated with all the force of a punctured balloon.
Then he reached across the table and took my hand again. “I wanted to call you. I wanted to see you. But I needed to do it the right way.”
Something tugged in my chest. It was my heart swelling again.
“Will you forgive me?” he asked.
I smiled. “I think I already did.”
When we got back to my office, he pulled up to the curb instead of parking in the garage. “I have meetings this afternoon in Franklin, so I have to run. Sorry, I can’t walk you up,” he said.
“It’s all right. I think I can find my way. Thanks again for lunch. It was great.”
He pointed up at the building. “I hope your boss doesn’t give you too hard of a time.”
“She will, but you won’t be the reason. And even if you were, it would be worth it.”
His smile was intoxicating. “I should be done by four or so today,” he said. “Do you have plans for dinner?”
No, but I did have practice. Mandatory practice. Practice I wasn’t ready to tell him about.
“I don’t, but I have other plans tonight I can’t get out of,” I said, hoping that would be explanation enough.
It wasn’t.
“Another hot date lined up?”
I put my hand on the door handle. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“I actually would.” He stretched his arm along the back of our bench seat.
I hesitated. “I’ll tell you someday, maybe.”
He sighed. “We’re still on for Friday though?”
“Absolutely.”
“Any hints as to where we’re going?”
“Nope. I’m keeping that a secret too.” I opened my door.
“I thought we agreed to not play games,” he said, cutting his eyes over at me.
I slid out of the truck and leaned back in from the curb. “No, West. You agreed. I never did.”
He laughed. “That’s how it’s going to go down, huh? Me laying my heart out and you keeping secrets?”
“Only for a little while. I’ll see you Friday, West.”
*
“Guess what,” I told Monica later that evening as our small group of friends pushed and shoved each other around one of the two tracks that were taped onto the floor of the practice arena. There were two tracks to accommodate all the skaters who’d taken Medusa’s warning literally. That meant everyone had shown up for our defensive-blocking practice.
Monica pushed Zoey off the track. “What?”
“There was waffling today,” I said.
She gave me a high five as Zoey scrambled to catch back up with us. “Congratulations, Lucy!”
“Zoey, you have to come back onto the track behind Monica!” Maven shouted at us.
“You saw him again?” Olivia, our mock jammer for the drill, asked as she tried to push between me and Grace.
I nodded. “He came by my office and took me to lunch.”
“That’s awesome,” Grace said.
“Congrats,” Zoey added, shaking my shoulder.
“Does the waffling constitute a relationship serious enough to tell your friends who this mystery man is?” Monica asked.
I bit my lower lip. On one hand, I really wanted to tell them. It had been such a long time since I’d had girlfriends to share boy news with and much longer since I’d had boy news worth sharing. But on the other, West was a team sponsor. What if Olivia was right, and word got around that we were dating? Would the girls think I was trying to whore my way onto the team? Would the coaches feel obligated to keep me even if I didn’t deserve to be there? Nope. Couldn’t do it. Not yet.
“Can’t. Afraid I’ll jinx it,” I lied. Sort of.
Grace bumped me with her hip. I didn’t wobble nearly as much as I expected. “How are we supposed to live vicariously through you if you never give up the details?”
I laughed. “So you’re living vicariously through my love life now too?”
“Yeah. Not exactly. I’m just hoping someone can tell me there’s still hope in the dating scene, in case I ever stop hating men,” Grace said.
Zoey shoulder checked Monica. “How’s the divorce coming, Grace?”
Grace’s arm was anchored against mine. “It’s coming, but not fast enough. We’re currently fighting over the dog.”
“The dog?” Olivia asked, her face squashed between Grace’s arm and my shoulder as she tried to come through the wall we’d formed to block her.
Grace pressed into me. “Yeah. Our Golden Retriever, Bodhi. Technically, I gave him to Clayton as a birthday gift a few years ago, but he’s my dog. Clay doesn’t give a shit about him.”
“Your husband’s name is Clayton?” I asked, straining to keep contact with her.
“Yeah. Clayton Byron Maxfield the Third.”
“He even sounds like an asshole,” Olivia said.
Grace laughed. “Right?”
Olivia finally busted Grace and I apart. She patted my helmet. “You’re the jammer.”
I skated to the back of our little group, and she took my spot with Grace. I skated as fast as I could toward them to try and break through, like a vicious game of Red Rover on roller skates. I hit Grace’s protruding backside and bounced back without breaking them apart.
She did stumble a bit though. “So is this thing with the mystery man getting pretty serious?”
“I wouldn’t call it serious. Today was our first real date, I guess. I mean we can’t really count him driving me to urgent care.” I skated at them again and collided where their shoulders met and pushed against my toe stops to try and burst through.
“But you still like him?” Olivia’s voice was strained and she pushed against Grace to hold me back.
I sighed and my face broke out in a gooey smile against Grace’s arm.
She turned and pointed at me. “Enough said.”
I took advantage of her movement and broke through the small space. “He wanted to go out again tonight.”
Grace took my spot as jammer. Olivia and I braced for her impact. She busted us apart like a bowling ball, knocking the wind out of me. I held up my hand, panting. “I need a break. Go attack Zoey and Monica,” I told Grace.
“Wimp,” she teased as she caught up with our other friends.
Olivia and I skated easily. “Did you tell him you’re doing this?” Olivia asked, motioning around the track.
I shook my head. “Not yet. The skills test is coming up soon. I’m going to try and keep it quiet till then. There’s no point in making myself look even more stupid if I don’t pass.”
Olivia smiled over at me. “You’ll get there, Lucy.”
“You really think so?”
“I do.” She looked down at her skates. “To be honest, I thought you would’ve already quit, but you didn’t. I really think you can do it. I’m proud of you.”
I gave her shoulder a playful shove, a move she usually used on me. “Look at you being all sentimental and shit.”
She laughed. “Don’t get used to it.”
We skated for a half a lap in silence. “I’m really afraid I’m going to fail. I don’t know how I’m ever going to get twenty-seven laps. My record is only twenty-four.”
“You just need to skate more. We’ll start going to the park and the skating rink on my days off. I’ll help you.”
“Olivia, all your days off are spent here.”
“Yeah
, I guess that’s true.” She looked around. “Maybe Zoey, Grace, or Monica can go with you.”
I stopped skating. “That gives me an idea.”
Twelve
On Friday morning, I was drafting the email for Jake Barrett’s fan club announcing his “Live from the Release Party” forthcoming video when Ava Scott walked into my office. She jingled the keys in her hand. “You ready?”
My mouth fell open as confusion swirled around in my brain. “Ready for what?”
She lifted an eyebrow. “To go to Jake’s?” She sounded as perplexed as I felt.
“We’re going to Jake’s?”
“Audrey emailed me on Wednesday and said I was taking you to his house today to video something for the fan club,” she said.
“At two o’clock today, right?”
“She told me ten.”
I opened up my email inbox and went to the folder marked with Audrey’s name. I quickly found the message and clicked it open. “Yes. Here it says, ‘Will you be available for Ava to take you to Jake’s house on Friday at two? Please advise.’”
Please advise. I chuckled. Thanks to Peter, I’d never again be able to read her emails without laughing.
Ava was looking at her phone when I glanced up. “My email says, ‘Can you set up the interview for Jake on Friday at ten question mark.’” She groaned. “You know what happened? She keeps trying that speech-to-text thing on her phone. The line actually reads ‘question mark.’ Look.” She walked over and showed me her phone.
I laughed. “Oh wow.”
She sighed and tucked her phone back into her pocket. “I’ll call Jake and see if we can reschedule it.” She started to turn toward the hallway.
“Ava, wait. I can go.” I looked up at the clock. It was half past nine. “It shouldn’t take that long, right?”
She cupped her hands around her mouth and lowered her voice to a loud whisper. “I have no idea what we’re doing, honestly. I’m just your driver.”
I laughed. It was hard to believe she and Audrey were even related. “Let me finish up this email and we’ll go.”
“Great. I’m going to grab a drink from the break room,” she said, and then she was gone.
I finished the copy for the email and sent it off to be proofread and sent by Jake’s fan club manager, then I shut down my computer and gathered up my things. As I started to get up, I froze. Oh crap. I’m going to Jake Barrett’s house. Right now.