Then there was Sawyer. He never showed up for dinner at his dad’s house. He said by the time he was done working he was beat, so he and Shelby grabbed a bite to eat before he went home. How come he had enough energy to eat with Shelby? I guessed it had worked out. It let me get to know Bridget and Warren better and get some of my questions answered. I didn’t like what they had to say, but I figured I wouldn’t. I did like them, though—a lot. I kind of sort of mentioned that to Sawyer on the phone when I called him from the airport to let him know I arrived safely in Huntsville Saturday night. He got quiet, like, the deafening kind. I probably should have waited to have that conversation in person, but he’d brought it up. He said, “I never got to ask you how dinner went on Friday.”
I mean, I didn’t tell him I wanted to kiss Bridget because of her chocolate cake. Or even that when they both hugged me goodbye it felt like when he hugged me. All I said was, “I had a great time. They want us to come over sometime next week when I get back.”
Sawyer suddenly had to get off the phone. He and Kellan were watching the Rockies or something. That was three days ago, and we hadn’t talked since. It was a good thing I hadn’t mentioned I was meeting Bridget at the cute new ice cream shop in Edenvale when I returned.
On top of my Sawyer dilemma, I was struggling with whether or not I should talk to my dad. Would he even listen to me? Or would he chalk it up to me not understanding what marriage was all about? Maybe I didn’t have firsthand knowledge, but I sure knew what a good marriage looked like, and his and Josephine’s didn’t qualify. I was racked with thoughts of what if things didn’t work out between them, which I’m not going to lie, I would be A-okay with that, but would he be upset after the fact that I didn’t tell him what I knew?
This was all giving me a headache. I was glad when the presenter gave his ending spiel about the company he worked for and all the amazing research they could provide, you know, for the right price.
I stood and took a deep breath and let it out.
“That sigh sounds like it has some meaning,” the man next to me said. Of course it was a man. Eighty-five percent of the attendees here were men.
“Scrap metal supplements deserve deep thought.”
The stranger chuckled and stood. “I’m Dustin.” He held out his hand that looked like it had seen some hard work. Veins popped out under his calloused skin. My own hands had looked that way from time to time. It was a byproduct of my profession.
I took Dustin’s hand and shook it. “I’m Emma.”
He let go of my hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Emma. Where are you from?”
“Colorado. How about you?”
“Born and raised here.”
“So, do you work at a local steel plant, or do you just like to crash these kinds of events?”
His grin lit up his pretty blue eyes. I wasn’t sure why I noticed that, but then I noticed he was a handsome guy. He wasn’t much taller than me, but he was well built with a pleasant face. For a second, I almost felt guilty for thinking he was attractive, like I was cheating on Sawyer. Sawyer had consumed so much of my thoughts the last year, I realized I hadn’t really noticed any other men. Don’t get me wrong, this Dustin was no Sawyer, but Sawyer was my friend, end of story. Dustin would probably end up that way too. They all did.
“I work at Ducor.”
“Oh. I signed up to do a tour of your plant tomorrow.”
He leaned in, allowing me to get a whiff of his spicy cologne. I’m not going to lie, it was kind of nice. “Then I will see you tomorrow, Emma from Colorado.”
Was he using a flirty voice there?
“See you then.”
“I look forward to it.” He walked off to join a few other guys, but not before he looked back at me and flashed me a smile.
I looked behind me to see who his pearly whites were directed at. There was no one there. I guess that meant it was me. I smiled back and waved. His smile grew bigger before he turned around. That was weird.
What was weirder was Dustin wasn’t the only man who had given me attention since my arrival at the conference. Maybe I should do my hair more often outside of work and wear something besides old T-shirts. It was really time consuming, though, to do all the girly things like blow drying, curling, makeup, shaving your legs. Though I had to do that last one religiously unless I wanted to look like Bigfoot’s younger half-sister.