Page 42 of After Tonight

He swore and tossed his phone on the seat next to him, starting the truck and pulling out of his drive.

But a minute later, when his phone dinged with a text, he reached for it. He pulled up at the stop sign at the end of the block and opened the message. It was from Riley.

Yes.

That was all. But he was relieved.

I want you to taste test a couple new pizzas, he sent back. The pizza business was going to be all his, and he was excited. It was still a couple months away from opening, but at the same time, he felt like he was running out of time to get things done. And he was getting nervous. He never got nervous. He never had a reason. But he supposed that was a sign that this business really mattered to him.

He realized he was holding his breath, waiting for Riley’s response. The truth was, he wanted to see her tonight. He didn’t want to have to give her a minute-by-minute account of his day, and he didn’t need that from her either. But he was curious about what she’d be up to, and he knew by eight, when she usually came in, that he’d wonder where she was if she didn’t show. And that was so fucking stupid.

Great. I love pizzawas her return message.

He tossed the phone onto the seat again, realizing that he was far too pleased by her answer.

But Riley would tell him the truth about the pizza. That he could be sure of. If they sucked, she’d have no trouble breaking the news. These were not the typical pepperoni or everything pizzas that most people were used to. He’d have those too, but his were going to be stone-oven pizzas, so a little different from the pizzas people ate around here now, and he wanted to have a couple specialties. Barbecue chicken was one. Philly cheesesteak was another. The ones he’d sampled in Omaha had been good, but he hadn’t tried to reproduce them. For some reason, tonight seemed like a good time. Maybe it was because Riley told him about the task force project. Maybe that had opened up a new state where they actually told each other things and had serious discussions instead of him just constantly trying to push her buttons. Huh. Maybe they were going to be able to be grown-ups together.

At least if he quit saying things like, “I jerked off in the shower thinking of you.”

He’d hoped that if she knew he wanted her opinion on something, she’d definitely come in tonight. He’d been 90% sure she would anyway, but that was before he told her about the shower. No doubt that could make things awkward. So he wanted to be sure she came into the bar. And Riley loved to give him her opinion.

But, for a change, he wanted her opinion.

It’s just pizza, he told himself as he turned into the church parking lot.

But his new business wasn’t just pizza. It was a chance to do something totally on his own, a chance to bring something new to the town, a chance to be an actual business owner instead of working for someone else all the time.

And it was a chance to spectacularly fail. He didn’t have those chances very often. The things he did were pretty safe in general. So this was new.

He supposed that was also why it felt like bringing Riley in on things fit. Their relationship had always been safe. They were just…there. In each other’s lives. He showed up, he teased her, she got annoyed, she left. Then the next time, it started all over again. He knew which buttons to push, knew which reactions he was going to get. Now though…things between them didn’t feel as predictable. Or safe.

So maybe he was just in the risk-taking mood.

Of course, it was equally likely that he was doing something really stupid here.

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