Counting on You (Amarillo Sour, #1)

by Laura Chapman

She chuckled. “I even have cherries in there somewhere to top it all off. We can put it to use after dinner.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “I’m thinking sundaes in front of the TV. I can grade papers while you play with your code.” She gave him a coy sidelong glance. “What did you have in mind?”

  It probably wasn’t polite to go into details. He shook his head instead.

  After they finished dinner, they settled onto the couch with their heaping bowls of ice cream just like she’d suggested.

  Haleigh pulled up an episode of Doctor Who on the TV. She promised he could pick out their next binge-watch. But if their relationship had any hope of lasting, they had to at least start here. With hundreds of episodes ahead of them, it would probably be years before he took a turn.

  He liked the idea of years of lazy Monday nights in with Haleigh after a long day of work. It wouldn’t be boring. Not with her there to make every day special.

  What a sap.

  Unlike him, she took neat, concise bites with a proportionate amount of ice cream, chocolate, and whipped cream in each spoonful. The way she carefully measured a precise amount of each topping in every bite—all without tearing her eyes away from David Tennant—had more than ice cream stirring in his stomach.

  He wanted to nibble on her instead. Even more than the hot fudge drizzled over his ice cream. But he could wait. At least until she finished her ice cream. It was the least he could do.

  Clearing his throat, he pointed to her pile of homework. “How’d everything go at work today?”

  “It wasn’t that bad.” She tore her eyes away from screen. “After going over my report, the principal seems more open to a Link Digital-Girls Who Code partnership. Of course, now we have her negotiating with Taylor. Who knows what that will look like?”

  “Yeah, sorry again about that.” He shook his head. “I talked to her about jumping the gun.”

  Which was a nice way of describing the exchange. Taylor had taken exception to his tone. He’d accused her of being a steamroller. She’d called him a few other choice words.

  By the end of it, they’d come to some sort of consensus. She’d hash out the agreement with the school, and then she’d leave him to the rest until they were ready to publicize. It wasn’t a perfect compromise. But they’d also avoided a full-fledged knock-down, drag-out fight.

  “It’ll be fine.” Haleigh patted his arm. “They can figure out the boring details, and you can figure out the work with the girls.”

  “And what will you do?”

  “Chaperone.”

  He cracked a grin. “How did the meeting go with that kid and his parents?”

  “Oh . . .” She grimaced then. “That was a bit trickier, but I think we have a schedule figured out. Jacob isn’t happy about having to meet with a tutor every day after school, but we’ll find a good match.”

  “What makes a good match?”

  “Someone who will keep him interested and engaged.”

  “So a pretty girl?”

  “Not necessarily.” Haleigh rolled her eyes at him. “This isn’t a high school rom-com. We’ll find a student who knows the work—no matter how he or she looks.”

  “Poor Jacob.”

  “He’ll deal.” She pointed her spoon at his computer screen. “How are you feeling about the launch?”

  “We’re ready.” At least he hoped they were.

  This actually brought them around to a subject he’d hoped to broach. “I know you have a lot going on this week. And not to add something else to your list, but . . .”

  “Yes?”

  “Would . . . would you want to go to the launch party with me? It’s not going to be a huge deal,” he added quickly. “We’ll have good food, free drinks. Rub elbows with a few people. Clap politely when the founders and investors talk. We don’t have to stay long.”

  She stared at him, unblinking. Crap. Maybe he should have found a better way to ask her. He could have at least made it more romantic or done it during the actual dinner.

  He also should have asked her sooner. Instead of forty-eight hours before, making it seem like a rush job. Which it wasn’t. He just really hadn’t thought about the party until the email reminder earlier that day.

  “You want me to go to the XO launch party,” she said at last.

  “Right.”

  “And meet your co-workers. As the guinea pig or—”

  “As my date.” He frowned as he slowly began to understand her hesitation. “As my date,” he repeated. “Not that many people know you tried out the app.”

  “And the ones who do?”

  “Will probably think it’s a little funny. Not that we’re dating. How we met.” He really needed to do a better job of thinking before speaking. He was making a mess of this. “Look, the launch is important to me. You are, too. If you don’t want to go I understand, but—”

  “I’d love to go.”

  “Really?”

  “Like you said, it’s important to you.” Her eyes softened. “And you’re important to me, too.”

  “Haleigh . . .”

  He wished he was as good at telling her how much she meant to him as he was at building apps. Taking her dish and setting it on the coffee table next to his, he reached for her.

  Slipping his arms around her back, he pulled her close. His mouth was just beginning its exploration of the curve of her chin when someone knocked at the door.

  Haleigh paused, a frown marred her smooth forehead. “Are we expecting someone?”

  He shook his head and craned his neck to listen. Maybe if they were really quiet, whoever it was would go away.

  The knocking resumed. This time a low voice accompanied it. “Ian, it’s your father. I know you’re in.”

  Ian bolted upright even as Haleigh pulled back, sending her sprawling to the other side of the couch. Swearing under his breath, he offered a hand to help her up.

  “Sorry. I should . . .” He scratched the stubble on his chin. “I should probably get that.”

  “Do you want me to give you guys space?” She scanned the room, like she was looking for a place to hide. “I could take the trash out or move my papers into the bedroom or—”

  “Stay. Dad won’t be here long.” Ian wasn’t sure why he was here at all. Running a hand over his hair, for the only time in his life, he wished he had a mirror in his living room like stepmom number two.

  Grasping the handle, he took a breath and opened the door. “Hey, Dad. Sorry, I didn’t hear you.”

  “You must have been busy,” his father said, not waiting for an invitation to come in. “Watching TV, I suspect, or playing video games, or . . .”

  The rant came to an end as his dad noticed Haleigh, now seated primly on the couch with a pile of papers in her hand.

  Rushing forward, he made the introductions. “Haleigh, this is my dad. Dad, this is my . . .”

  For whatever reason, he couldn’t quite say the word girlfriend. They’d been seeing each other for barely a week. It seemed like longer, but her dates with other people didn’t count. They also hadn’t discussed labels. While he might think of her as a girlfriend, they’d agreed to take it slow. Introducing her to his father—even inadvertently—was already expediting things.

  Throwing in the g-word was taking it to another level.

  Haleigh sprang to her feet and offered her hand. Either she was reacting to the panic on his face or she was better at meeting parents than prospective dates.

  “Mr. Henning, I’m Haleigh. Ian’s friend. It’s great to meet you.”

  Friend. That was a good choice and an obvious one. Yet the casualness of it made him want to spill the whole story, even if his old man wasn’t the ideal audience.

  “Well, aren’t you pretty?” His father grasped her hand between his, lingering. “And what’s that you’re working on?”

  “Homework. I’m a math teacher. There’s always something to grade.”

  “I bet. A math teacher.” He finally released her hand
and raised an eyebrow at Ian. “Someone with a real job.”

  Ian took a step forward. “Dad—”

  Holding out a hand to stop him, his father turned back to Haleigh, a grin playing at his lips. “Haleigh, I hate to interrupt, but would you mind if I had a few minutes alone with my boy?”

  Sparing a hesitant glance his way, she nodded and grabbed her phone. “I’ll just . . . take a walk around the block.”

  She didn’t wait for him to reply but hurried out of the apartment. The second the door closed, the grin fell off his father’s face.

  “Friend?”

  “Well—”

  “That’s a pretty shade of lipstick you’re wearing. It’s your color and everything.”

  Ian wiped at his lips and cringed at the pink smudges left on his finger. He really should have taken another minute to check the mirror. “We’re . . . dating.”

  “So I gathered.” His father’s jaw tightened. “I have to say I’m surprised. You told your stepmother you were single. And your product launches in just a couple of days.”

  “Since when have you cared about any of my product launches?”

  “Do you have any idea what kind of prospective investors you have on the line? I’ve taken no fewer than five calls from business contacts wanting to know more about you and your company.”

  Of course, it came down to money and business contacts. His father wouldn’t care about anything less.

  “We’re ready to go.”

  “That’s what I told my colleagues. That you worked around the clock and wouldn’t let them down.” His father shook his head. “Yet, I stop in to see you two days before your launch and you’re not at the office. Your intern sends me here, where you seem to be more interested in a math teacher than a career-making product.”

  “It’s not like that.” Ian started forward again but stopped, taking a few seconds—and a few deep breaths—to collect himself. “I told you, we’re ready to go. But if something comes up, I have my computer, I have my phone—”

  “If something comes up,” his father repeated, eyes narrowed. “That’s not going to be good enough if you want to seal the deal with these investors. Unless you’d rather seal the deal with—”

  “We’re ready to go,” Ian insisted. “I’m allowed to have a personal life.”

  “Are you? Are you really ready to do what it takes to get your company to the next level?”

  “I am.”

  “I thought you knew what it takes to get ahead in business. You have to make choices. You have to make sacrifices. Those choices and sacrifices affect other people.”

  Ian started to respond but stopped. What could he even say?

  He’d seen how it worked over and over again growing up. Every missed dinner, every skipped baseball game. His father had missed a lot of their lives, but he’d built the career he wanted. Even if it made his sons and a series of wives resent him.

  When he didn’t speak, his father continued, “I still don’t understand what you do for a living. But I’ll admit, the more I hear about what you’ve built, I can say I’m proud of you. You have a shot at being at the top of your game.”

  His father picked up the spoon from Ian’s bowl of ice cream. “But staying at the top isn’t easy. At a certain point you have to decide what you’re willing to risk, what you’re willing to give up. Work-life balance is a myth. No one can have it all.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  He shouldn’t have worn the tie. Ian was barely out the door, and he could already feel it sucking the life out of him. The damn thing was going to strangle him before the night was over. He’d tried to loosen it. He’d retied it at least a half a dozen times, until it barely hung around his neck. It didn’t matter what he did, he couldn’t make it feel right.

  What would his father have to say about that? Probably something about how his son obviously hadn’t been born to wear a tie. Then he’d add something smug about how that explained everything he wasn’t doing right in his life.

  Ian wasn’t sure what bothered him most. That he didn’t even have to speak to his father to know how he’d dress him down in any situation to make sure he understood how low he ranked in the world. Or that in this moment he couldn’t deny that his father might be right.

  It was, after all, arguably the biggest night in his career. He should be celebrating with his colleagues as they officially activated the app they’d put sweat and tears into—literally and figuratively. Instead, he was twenty minutes late to pick up his date for the evening, because of his whole tie meltdown.

  Worse, he hadn’t even picked up flowers. It was the least he could have done, what with it being Valentine’s Day. The professor probably would’ve shown up with a full arrangement.

  Instead, he pulled into her driveway empty-handed. Before he could put the car in park, she was out the door, shrugging into a jacket to cover the green dress that seemed to hug her hips just right. She’d done something with her hair to add a little extra curl, and it just touched her shoulders as she strode toward him.

  His heart did a little flip. She was beautiful. Of course, she could look pretty in a burlap sack tied with a shoelace. But she’d put some effort into her appearance, and he appreciated that. She’d done it for him.

  And he hadn’t even called to let her know he was running late.

  That was just one more thing he could add to the list of ways he was screwing up his life. God, he sounded pathetic. He was throwing himself a pity party over a series of small—and hardly earth-shattering—blips. That only made him feel like more of the loser his dad had painted him out to be the other night.

  “Happy launch day,” Haleigh said brightly as she slid into the car. “I’m proud of you.”

  Some of his edge slipped.

  “Sorry I’m late.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” She leaned across the car and pressed a light kiss to his lips. “Thank you for inviting me.”

  He slipped an arm around her before she could move back. He kissed her, this time longer, deeper. As the seconds passed, as he poured himself into the kiss and her, his fears and concerns passed until they were almost gone.

  Somewhere, at some point in time, he must have gotten something right. That was the only explanation for how he’d been lucky to meet Haleigh. Out of all the bars, she’d walked into his. Out of all the dozens of seats in Amarillo Sour, she’d ended up in the one next to him. It was more than luck. Cheesy as it was to even think it, it was serendipity.

  Somehow, being around her put him at ease. It made him feel like no matter what happened with the app or the launch tonight, everything would be fine. He’d figure it out.

  Haleigh wasn’t a distraction. She was a lifeline. She was his lifeline.

  Nothing anyone said—not even his father—would change that. Not wanting to let his old man spoil another moment with Haleigh, he pushed him out of his head and lingered on the kiss just a little longer. He wished they didn’t have anywhere to be. Now, more than anything, he wanted to turn off the car, take her by the hand, and lead her back into the house. They didn’t even have to go right up to bed. They could order some takeout and fall asleep watching Doctor Who.

  But if spending time together was all he wanted to do, they might as well do it at the launch. They’d make an appearance. He’d introduce her to the people she hadn’t met on the tour. Then, just as soon as they could escape without being noticed, they’d come back here to Netflix and chill. Or maybe just chill. Or just Netflix. Either way, it would be just them.

  Breaking the kiss, he rested his forehead against hers. “Thank you for being you.”

  She pulled back a little to look up at him, eyeing him curiously before a grin spread across the lips still swollen from his. “Thank you for being you.”

  If they didn’t leave now, they’d never get there. He’d be perfectly content to sit here exchanging compliments and smiles.

  “Ready to go?”

  She nodded. “Let’s go get you cro
wned as king of the launch party.”

  The drive across town flew by as they caught up on everything they’d been up to the past couple of days. He was pleased to hear the Girls Who Code had made even more progress on their proposal. He was even happier to hear the principal approved of the plans and was going to allow them to go forward. He might let Taylor sweat it out a few days longer before he shared that tidbit with her.

  It was the least she deserved for putting Haleigh through the ringer by going around their backs.

  By the time they walked into the swanky hotel ballroom, hands linked, he felt more ready to celebrate. Giving her hand a gentle squeeze, he led her into the room and toward the bar.

  “We should probably grab our drinks now.”

  “Okay,” she agreed easily. “You never know if you’re going to get caught up in a conversation.”

  “And it’ll make any of the conversations easier once we’re a drink or two in.”

  Her laugh lingered in the air, encircling them while he ordered her wine and his beer. With their glasses in tow, they moved aside toward the outskirts of the room. Wanting one more minute of just the two of them, he tapped his glass with hers.

  “Here’s to XO on Demand.”

  “Here’s to all the people you’ll help find love.”

  Her words sent a dart to his chest, filling it with warmth. For being a woman who claimed to only understand numbers, she certainly had a way with her words. It was kind of incredible to think about all the people who might find that special someone because of code he’d written. It had certainly helped him find love. Maybe not the code or by being matched through the app. But he wouldn’t have fallen for Haleigh if not for XO on Demand.

  Whether or not his promotion came through, the app had already paid off for him in more ways than he could have ever imagined.

  They had barely finished their toast when Bryant and Sarah, the founders, joined them.

  “Ian, congratulations.” Sarah raised her glass to him. “We wouldn’t be here tonight without you. Our investors are thrilled.”

  “Just doing my job,” he mumbled, oddly embarrassed by the praise. “Sarah, Bryant, this is Haleigh Parde. Haleigh, these are the founders of Link Digital.”