Page 44 of Sweatpants & Sweet Tea

“Sure,” I agreed as I headed outside.

That was two days in a row. I wondered if maybe there was something more going on between the two of them. That seemed insane, considering how much Grandad had loved Meemaw. But then again, I never knew he had a thing for Daphne’s grandma, so maybe there was a lot I didn’t know about him.

As I climbed into my truck, my gaze fell on the Moore farmhouse. The SUV was gone, and I wondered if that meant Daphne was gone, too. These next few weeks were going to be torture if I didn’t figure out how to stop obsessing about her. The problem was, I hadn’t had feelings like this—well, maybe ever. No, notmaybeever. I hadneverfelt this much, this fast for anyone in the past. I’d cared about my exes, loved them even, been attracted to them obviously, but nothing like this.

It was like I had no control over it. And I didn’t like having no control. As I drove to the restaurant, I tried to put Daphne and the show she was going to be filming out of my mind, but all my thoughts kept circling back to the blue-eyed beauty who had invaded my brain.

When I pulled into the parking lot of the Opera House, where I was meeting my ‘date’ for dinner, I realized I felt nervous. Not because I was worried about impressing my mystery woman, but because I wasn’t sure exactly what she was expecting from her ‘generous’ bid.

Who in their right mind would pay five thousand dollars for four hours of time with someone they didn’t know?

I guess I was about to find out.

During the elevator ride up to the rooftop, where the restaurant portion of the Opera House was located, I felt fidgety. I checked the buttons on my shirt to make sure that they were alldone. I checked my fly to make sure it was zipped up. I checked my shoes to make sure my laces weren’t untied. These nerves were not something I was used to. The last time I’d felt them was my first time up to bat in the majors. I hoped this would go better than that had, considering I struck out.

Not that I wanted to get a home run, or even get to any bases. In fact, I had no plans for that at all. That was part of what I was worried about—that she would be thinking that was going to happen.

When the elevator doors opened, I saw Corey Banks, a teen who officiated AJ’s games, waiting at the host stand.

“Hey, I’m here to mee?—”

“She’s here,” he cut me off, his lips parted in a knowing smile, revealing a mouth full of braces. “She’s waiting at the bar.” He motioned to the right, where the bar was located.

I walked around the corner and saw a woman with her back facing me. Her long, brunette hair hung to her mid-back. She was wearing a form-fitting red dress that clung to her curves, stopping just below her knee.

“Ms. French?”

She turned, and when she did, I was taken aback for a couple reasons. One, she had the bluest eyes I’d ever seen in real life. They were damn near electric. And two, she looked familiar. I’d seen those eyes before.

“Ari?” I questioned.

“Ariana, now, but yes.”

“Ari Culpepper?” I didn’t mean to call her Ari again after she’d corrected me; it was just out of habit.

Ari’s great-great-grandfather, Trenton Culpepper, was one of the founders of Firefly Island. Culpepper’s father was an oil tycoon. He attended Harvard, and his fraternity brothers,Carlton Abernathy, whose family owned luxury hotels, and Benson Montgomery, who was heir to a shipping dynasty,bought the island after graduation to use as a private vacation destination. But then their plans changed, and the trio decided to move to the island permanently and develop it.

She was from old money. If memory served, Ari’s parents broke up in the middle of fourth grade. She never returned after Christmas break. She and her mom left town.

“Culpepper-French now.”

I still couldn’t believe that it was her. “What are you doing here?”

The corners of her lips curled. “Meeting you.”

“No, not here in the restaurant.” I shook my head. “I mean, Firefly Island.”

She exhaled slowly. “I guess you could say I’m going back to my roots.”

“Your table is ready,” Corey interjected as he approached, holding two menus.

Ariana and I followed Corey to a table overlooking the water.

After we were seated, Corey took our drink orders and let us know that Mauve would be over to take our orders shortly. Mauve Dennis was a few years behind me in school and was one of my Farm Strong clients. She’d been dropping serious hints that she’d like me to ask her out for the past year, but I’d ignored them. For a while now, I felt like I’d been treading water.

Every time I thought I had my life together, a wave would crash over me. The first big blow was tearing my rotator cuff. Losing my lifelong dream and then recovery had taken its toll on me, but I’d managed to come back. Then, once I was able to survive that, I moved home and discovered how bad things were at the farm when Meemaw got sick. I managed to figure out a way to make ends meet, and Meemaw passed.

After Corey delivered our drinks, we sat in silence for a moment before Ariana asked, “When did you move back? You were out in California, right, with the Waves?”

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