Page 12 of Ice, Ice… Maybe?

“I’m not ditching Travis, but I appreciate the warning.”

“Bring him out to the farm.”

“Why? So you can all gang up on a guy that I barely am talking to? No thanks,” she muttered in disbelief and annoyance. “I’m not siccing my brothers on a friend that…” and paused to hear a knock at the front door of her apartment. “I’ve gotta go. Someone just knocked on the door.”

“Stay on the phone with me,” her brother growled protectively. “If it’s Travis, I’ll call the police and be there in no time to put him six feet underground…”

“Geez, now you really sound like Jason,” she chuckled, opening the front door and hesitating as a massive bouquet of roses nearly filled the doorway. “Can I help you?”

“I’ve got a delivery for Becca Baird.”

“Who is it?” Matthew asked bluntly as she stared in disbelief at the roses. There had to be at least twenty or thirty buds in what looked to be a crystal vase.

“F.T.D. delivering flowers for me,” she whispered weakly. “I gotta go,” and ended the call as the driver handed her a clipboard to sign – before exchanging it for the vase.

Walking back inside her apartment, she put the flowers on the small round table near the kitchenette before plucking the card from the clear floral pick. Opening it slowly, her hands trembled as she read it silently.

I hope these make you smile – and I can’t wait to see you on Friday.

Travis

Stunned, she took a moment to breathe in the perfume of the dazzling array of flowers. There were large, deep red blooms mixed with some pale pink ones, yellow buds, and white ones. It was like someone tossed every color rose into the bouquet just to make it look full – and she loved it.

Picking up her phone, she took a photo of it, wanting to keep the beauty and this moment fresh in her mind. Looking at the unread textmessages, she saw one from her sister, Toni – and one from her brother, Luke.

And eight from Travis.

Good morning. I’m off to practice and just wanted to preface the next text with a reminder of what a real dork I am.

I can’t stop thinking about our conversation and how much I enjoyed it.

I guess you are busy…

I hope you are busy and not ignoring me.

Just fyi – the ‘nerd’ is sweating buckets. Between the grueling practice from Coach and my anxiety, I might be dehydrated now. If something has changed, just text me.

This is me, not panicking at all.

Not at all.

(I’m lying.)

Becca laughed softly, realizing she could hear his voice practically in her mind as she read his text messages.Panty-Slayer?This sweet guy was supposedly as big of a ‘player’ as her brother?

Her brother Matthew never dated anyone twice. In fact, he had come home more than once, rapping on her window because he forgot his keys – and pants- at some unknown location. Yeah, Matthew was a wild one, and she was pretty sure he was going to give her oldest brother, who took on the role of protector for the family, an aneurysm one of these days.

I just got home – and saw the text messages along with the roses. THANK YOU! I’m really touched, and you have no reason to panic. It’s just dinner, and nothing has changed.

Clicking send, she hesitated.

That sounded so cold and elusive and wasn’t exactly warm and fuzzy like his text messages were. He was opening up and putting himself out there – and she liked him enough to do the same, even though she wanted to take things slowly.

I really enjoyed our phone call, too – and I haven’t stopped smiling yet.

See you Friday, Travis.

She waited a few moments, hoping that he would text back and then sighed. No, she wasn’t going to hang on this man reaching out to her because they were only barely talking. They were strangers. She knew nothing about his life or his world – except that he couldn’t cook, played hockey, and might possibly be loaded financially.

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