Page 36 of So Wrong It Must Be Right

“Barely, and only because I stepped in when she told me Gallagher’s was intimidating her. You guys like intimidating elderly women? Well, we’re not going to let you do it. We’re not going to let you ruin this neighborhood and turn it into some white-bread, suburban bullshit. This neighborhood is real, and we’re not going to let you guys come in here and suck the life out of it.”

“Mr. Washington, Gallagher’s has been here for over a century. We’re just as much a part of this neighborhood as anyone. All we want to do is bring in more revenue and more—”

“Fuck your revenue,” Jordan spat.

Carter couldn’t take it any longer. No matter that Dinah could handle it; he couldn’t sit here and let . . . Well, he just couldn’t. “Jordan, come on. You don’t have to be an ass.”

“Nice side of the street you’re walking on these days. See you later, man.” Then Jordan strode away.

“I’m sorry,” Dinah said, frowning after Jordan’s retreating form. “Did I cause a problem with you and your friend?”

“No. I caused that problem.”

Dinah was quiet a few seconds. “When you hooked up with me, you mean.”

He couldn’t read her tone, and he found he didn’t want to. He rubbed his fingers on his temples to alleviate the headache that was now pounding there. “Why are you here, Dinah? I assume it is Dinah business, right?”

“Yes. Dinah Gallagher, who would very much appreciate if Carter Trask would meet me at a neutral location for a business meeting after your market.”

“Dinah.” He shook his head. “I’m not selling. What could there possibly be to talk about?”

“It’s not about selling. It’s about a new, alternate option.”

“There are no new alternate options. There is onlyI keep my land, and Gallagher’s does not get it. Nothing can change that.”

“What if this business proposition includes a stipulation that you keep your land?”

Carter’s head pounded harder at that nonsensical statement. “You said you have to get my land in order to make your mark or whatever, so I don’t see how—”

“Please.” She reached across his table, giving his arm a squeeze. “Just meet me. You can pick the location, and the time, and we will sit down and have a business meeting. And, if you say no, I will take no for an answer and never bring it up again.”

“You’ll never bring it up again?” he asked suspiciously.

“Notthisidea. I’ll still try to buy your land if you refuse this deal, but I’ll leave this business proposition completely off the table if you say no.” She thrust out her hand. “Deal?”

The last thing he wanted tonight was a business dinner with Dinah. He was feeling confused and guilty and pissed off, and her in her business demeanor only served to piss him off further. But the quicker he agreed, the quicker he could tell her no and move on.

He took her hand and shook. “I’ll meet you at Capilierries at eight, okay?”

“Capilierries at eight. I’ll be there.” She shook his hand and smiled, and he didn’t have the energy for the tightness in his chest or the want in his gut. He didn’t have the energy for the complication of Dinah Gallagher.

But he had the complication, and he couldn’t seem to work up the decision to give it the old heave-ho.

She glanced down at his table of produce and selected a watermelon. “And I want to buy this.”

“Five bucks.”

She only grinned at him. “A steal.” She handed him a five-dollar bill before sauntering off the way she’d come.

This was nothing but trouble and it would only serve to irritate him, so why he was smiling as he watched her sashay away he would never understand.

Chapter 11

Dinah sat at a tiny table in a hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant she’d never eaten in before, and waited for Carter to show. She was nervous, for a lot of reasons. Considering it was now ten after eight, she was a little worried he wasn’t going to show up.

Would that be the end of it? He’d just stand her up and . . . then what?

She shook her head, sipping the glass of water in front of her and trying to remember she was Dinah Gallagher, future director of operations of Gallagher’s Tap Room. She was not some lovelorn email correspondent who’d be devastated if all this didn’t work out.

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