Car tires squealed somewhere out of sight. Apparently, he’d had someone waiting to pick him up.
As she ran to pick up her purse, she reached for her cell phone. It wasn’t in her pocket. Hurrying back inside, she glanced around near the night deposit and found her phone on the floor. The Optician employee held up the store’s money bag to show she’d found it. At least the thief hadn’t gotten that.
With shaking fingers, Darcy dialed 9-1-1 and reported the robbery. A minute later, mall security arrived.
All Darcy’s belongings were found safely in her purse. Thankfully, she’d had the money bag disguised as a package, and the shop’s money was accounted for. The whole time she was on the phone and talking with police, all she could think was how grateful she was that the security vehicle had pulled down her aisle at that moment. Grateful that the guy hadn’t been armed, and that she hadn’t been injured…or worse.
Thank You, Lord, for protection.
She hated to admit it, but Luke had been right.
I want him here with me. I need him.
Even if he said “I told you so.” Even if he once again insisted she quit her mall job. Even if he dogged her every footstep for the next week.
The police took her statement, then the officers left to go examine security camera footage. Once the store’s money was safely deposited, she made the dreaded call to her manager who, surprisingly, thanked Darcy profusely.
When she was finally free of her duties, Darcy dialed the person she most needed to talk to.
“Hey, Darcy, what’s up?” Luke said.
Hearing his voice glued her mouth shut. Why had she called him? She shouldn’t act like a needy wimp. After their kiss, he would fear she’d fallen for him or something. He’d think she was acting like every other female who’d ever wanted his attention.
And that would freak him out. He’d leave town so quickly she’d be left bobbing in his wake.
“Darcy? Are you there?”
Simply hearing the concern in his voice sent her throat to convulsing and nose to stinging. “I got robbed,” she blurted in a pitiful, wimpy voice she hardly recognized.
“Where are you?”
She could imagine him with jaw clenched, color streaking across his cheeks, muscles coiled to act. The thought made her want to cry, now that the adrenaline had passed.
She cleared her throat before he went into full panic mode over her silence. “I’m okay. I’m at the mall entrance.”
“On my way.”
Less than fifteen minutes later, an indication he’d broken the speed limit, he charged into the mall, expression frantic, as if ready to slay dragons. The moment was the closest thing she’d ever had to experiencing a knight on a white horse.
When he spotted her sitting on the floor, back against the wall near the night deposit, he stopped in his tracks, fists clenching. His shoulders sagged, his relief was palpable even across that distance. She wanted to jump up and run into his arms.
She had no right. Their relationship was on rocky ground. Not to mention the kiss that he thought a mistake.
She had to get hold of herself. They needed to be able to work together for another week. Less than one week. Then he’d be happily on his way back to Tennessee. Away from her and what they could have had together.
* * *
Luke’s knees nearly buckled when Darcy wiggled her fingers in a little wave, letting him know she was okay. Though he’d like to rage about her not taking his advice to get an escort, he quickly closed the distance, wanting to hold her in his arms.
How had he, even for one moment, thought he could sever his tie with her?
When she didn’t stand and rush into his arms like he expected, he stopped and jammed his hands into his pockets to keep from reaching for her.
Yeah, they’d really messed up at the lake.
“Are you okay?” he asked, wanting to check her over yet unsure whether she would allow him.
She stood slowly, as if she might be injured.
His heart lodged in his throat. “Did he hurt you?”
“No. I’m fine. He shoved me from behind, so my neck is a little stiff. Really, it wasn’t as if he threatened me. No weapon. Just a grab and run.”
“Just a grab and run? Just?” he nearly shouted. He paced to the door and back. “Darcy, please. You could have been hurt. Or worse. You have to quit this job.”
“You know this isn’t a dangerous job. We have security.”
“And you haven’t been taking advantage of that option when closing the store.”
“I’ll call security from now on. But I won’t quit.” She crossed her arms so stubbornly he didn’t think he could manage another civil word.
Of course, she was right about the job being basically safe. At least compared to other jobs out there. Still… “Please consider quitting. You need to have time for a life, time to go out, to date, meet someone nice who deserves you. Someone you can spend your life with. Don’t you want all that?”
She looked stricken, a shock of pain darting to her eyes.
“Look, I only meant—”
“I know what you meant. And I get it. Believe me I get it.”
She didn’t look at all as if she got what he was saying. She looked as if he’d stabbed her in the gut.
What did she want? For him to stay here, to beg his dad for a job and to attempt—and ruin—a relationship with his best friend? “What do you want from me?” he asked, his voice strained and gravelly.
The pain in her eyes turned to steely, cool resolve. “Not someone telling me what to do. And certainly not that kiss.”
“So we finally hit on the real issue. I already said it was a mistake. I’m sorry, okay? Can we move on?”
“Though I don’t think it’s possible to go back to the way things were, I believe we can be mature about it while we finish working on the auction.”
He nodded. “Fine. Mature, it is.”
“Fine.” She nodded as firmly. Then winced as if it hurt.
He let out a huge sigh as he ran his fingers into her soft hair, massaging her neck muscles. “Look, I’m sorry. You know how I turn into a raving lunatic when I’m scared for someone I l—care about.” Love?
Had he really just thought that word?
His fingers froze momentarily, but then he resumed kneading her knotted muscles.
She remained stiff, as if she didn’t want his touch. Gradually, she inched away, rolled her shoulders. “Thanks. I appreciate you caring.”
Her gaze darted outside looking at something in the darkness. “I’m wiped out. Maybe later this week we can set up tables in the Fellowship Hall, and then on Saturday take the auction items to the church.”
“Sounds good.”
She glanced outside again. “Good night.” Yet she didn’t make a move.
“I’m walking you to your car.”
“Okay. No argument from me.”
They walked in silence. When they arrived at her door, she reached for the handle.
“Wait.”
She turned and leaned against the car, waiting for him to speak.
He had no clue what he’d wanted to say. He just didn’t want her to leave so quickly.
Not a good sign. How was he going to leave after the auction?
Simple. He had a job to do in Nashville, people who happened to think he was good at that job. And he and Darcy had a friendship they needed to protect.
“Darcy, I really hate that a kiss is standing between us, like we always feared something like that might do. Please say you’ll forgive me and try to move on.”
“Why do you think it happened?” she asked instead, her gaze holding his as if something hugely important depended on his answer. “Honestly, Luke. Don’t try to spare my feel
ings.”
He couldn’t tell her the whole truth. That the kiss had cut him to the quick and left him raw, needing more from her than he’d ever dare ask. “I think that somehow, despite the fact that we grew up together, we’re physically attracted.”
She nodded, all business. “So that’s it from your end? Improbable attraction?”
“Yes,” he said immediately before he dared allow himself to tell her the crazy thoughts he’d been having. Thoughts about settling in Appleton, like his dad mentioned. Thoughts of seeing her every day. Of dating. All totally out of the realm of possibility if he was going to take over and run his new business in Nashville. “And you?” he had to ask as he, too, moved to lean against the car.
Her doelike eyes looking up at him in the moonlight made his heart thud in his chest. He reached for the ends of her long silky hair, brushing them between his thumb and forefinger gently enough that she wouldn’t be able to feel it, the only closeness he could allow.
Why did he want to hold her close, anyway? To simply hug his good friend? Would those hugs even be possible anymore?
“I think feelings have no place in this discussion,” Darcy said. “We know what we need to do.”
No, feelings weren’t relevant when he had a mortgage, a job commitment and the need to prove himself—if not to his dad, then at least to Roger and himself.
“Yep. Auction work,” he said. “And then march toward our futures.”
She looked up at him with a weak smile, then gave him a brief hug. “I guess I’ll see you later this week. Good night, Luke. Thanks for coming when I called.”
“Sure. That’s what friends do.”
She nodded and climbed into her car.
As she drove away, all he could think about was the feel of her arms around his waist and her hair brushing his chin in a hug that ended way too soon.
Chapter Ten
Feelings have no place in this discussion. No feelings. Feelings not allowed. To crush the memory of Luke charging in to rescue her last night at the mall, Darcy envisioned a big red circle with a line through it stamped over her feelings for Luke. She needed to focus on setting up for the auction.
“You are ridiculously stubborn, you know.” Chloe lifted one end of the heavy eight-foot-long foldable, plastic table.
Darcy lifted the other end, and they carried the table across the church’s small fellowship hall, placing it along the wall. They would have to squeeze in as many tables as possible to fit all the auction items. “One down, eleven more to go.”
“I should have refused to come this late in the evening. Should have called Luke and told him what you’re doing.”
“I’m merely setting up tables to save him work. Plus, Grace has been sick this week with a stomach virus, so he’s been staying with her. He took her to the doctor today, but she’s still not better.”
“You’re avoiding him.”
She glared at her sister as she scooted another table from the stack onto its side and unfolded the legs at one end. “I have every right.”
Chloe opened the legs at her end, and they set the table on its feet. Then they hauled it to the opposite wall, sliding it in place by the first one. “Suppose you tell me what’s going on. You’ve acted weird all week. And at church on Sunday, when Luke got within ten feet of you, you fled in the other direction.”
“We kissed,” she blurted, the announcement spewing like carbonation from a just-opened can of Coke.
She really needed to develop a better filter around her sister.
As if processing that bombshell, Chloe stared at her, shaking her head. Darcy had to give her credit, though. She didn’t looked as earthshakingly shocked as expected.
“Now that’s a development. And about time, I’d say.”
Exactly what she suspected her sister would say. “No, it’s not about time. The kiss was a disaster. After he looked forty-five shades of horrified, he called it a huge mistake.” She crossed her arms and raised her brow. “Admit it. Not exactly what you’d want to hear after you kiss someone.”
Chloe raised a brow to match Darcy’s. “Did you force the kiss on him?”
“No. He initiated it.” Her face burned as if she’d scooted too close to a Bunsen burner. “I may have closed the gap.”
“Well, there you go. He was a willing participant. You don’t make that kind of mistake,” she said, wiggling her fingers in quotation marks, “unless it’s something you want.”
“Participant or not, it doesn’t matter now. He’s avoiding me, too.”
“So? Now you deal with the fact that you’re more than friends. You can’t ignore those feelings.”
“Yes, we can.” She grunted as she picked up another table. “We go back to acting as if everything is normal. Otherwise, what are our options? Acting like fools declaring our love and devotion on the phone from three hundred miles apart, and kissing each other at Christmas and Thanksgiving?” Her voice wobbled from saying the scary words she’d been thinking. “Oh, and then don’t forget the part where I suffer a broken heart, just another of his conquests.” Because, how likely was it Luke would suddenly decide to commit, would decide she was the right one for him? How was Darcy any different from Chloe and the others he dated?
There was no way for a relationship even if they wanted it, even if he wasn’t such a poor risk. Darcy wanted to be near home and family and had a job she loved. Luke was determined to prove himself, to make his own way in Tennessee. He’d finally found the success he’d always wanted and wouldn’t walk away from that.
They carried two more tables in silence, proving Chloe had no answer to the dilemma.
“Admit it,” Darcy said. “You know how he never settles down. If a woman even hints at love or long-term, he can’t get away fast enough. And I want long-term.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” said a man several yards away.
Darcy whirled around at the voice, nearly dropping the table, to discover who had heard her embarrassing admission.
“Who’s the hunk?” Chloe whispered. Then she gasped in recognition.
As the handsome guy approached, Darcy realized it was Bryan. Days before she expected him. “Bryan?”
He smiled. “Thought I’d arrive early and surprise you.”
“I’m glad you’re here.” As they hugged, she registered the huge change in his appearance since the last time she’d seen him on TV. “Look at you with a buzz haircut and beard. I hardly knew you, except for that big smile and your bright green eyes.”
Darcy pulled her gaze away from Bryan’s. “You may remember my sister, Chloe. Chloe, this is my high school friend—
“Bryan Winningham,” Chloe blurted. “I’m a huge fan. Love your lyrics.”
“He’s come to save our auction,” Darcy added.
With a friendly smile, he shook Chloe’s hand. “Good to see you again, Chloe. Glad to know you’re a fan.”
Bryan scanned the room. “Your mom told me where you were. I’m here to help set up.”
“That’s so nice of you,” Chloe said. “Because I need to go and hated to leave Darcy by herself.”
What? Surely Chloe wasn’t trying to play matchmaker. Darcy turned her face away from Bryan and widened her eyes at her sister. What are you doing?
“I’m sorry, Darcy. I totally forgot to mention that I needed to go back to the shop to close up.”
Chloe, who not five minutes before had been pushing Darcy and Luke together, was now pushing Darcy on poor, unsuspecting Bryan?
Darcy would wring her neck later. “That’s fine.”
Chloe headed over to grab her purse from a table and winked at Darcy on the way out the door.
Not knowing what else to do, Darcy grabbed another table. “We have a few more to set up. If you don’t mind…”
“I’m happy to help.”
As they lined up tables in the center of room, she found herself staring at him. He’d recently cut off the long, unruly blond hair that had hung in his eyes. Now it was close-cropped and darker. And the well-groomed beard made him look much older than the last time she’d seen him. He’d also filled out in the chest and arms, was much broader, more muscular.
Bryan really had ended up handsome. No wonder she’d heard that girls were going crazy for him at concerts.
Once the last table was set in place, they covered each with a white cloth.
“Do you have items to set up yet?” Bryan asked.
“Luke Jordan and I are going to do that on Saturday.”
“So Luke’s back in town, huh?”
“He’s visiting, and helping on the auction.”
“I see. I heard he finally settled down and made it through law school.”
She wanted to defend Luke but recognized Bryan spoke the truth. “Yes. He’s doing very well.”
“Is he by any chance the man you were talking about when I came in?”
Darcy wanted to slink away and die of mortification. “Um. We’ve always been good friends.”
He nodded. “So now it’s more?”
“No!” she said too quickly and way too forcefully. “I mean, the relationship is mostly the same. Though it’s been a little, um, different lately.” Embarrassment scalded her face.
“I see. So, the same…yet different.” Humor sparked in his eyes as brightly as his smile.
She had no idea what to say. She hadn’t talked to Bryan in ages and certainly didn’t plan to bare her soul. Instead, she pressed a cool hand to her cheek, hoping to tone down the hideous red she knew streaked across her pale skin.
“Ignore me,” he said with a laugh. “I’m teasing you. Just say the word, and I can help on Saturday.”
Straightening her T-shirt, she tried to act as if she hadn’t just practically admitted she felt something for Luke. “Sure. We’d love some assistance. I’ll call and let you know when and where.”
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