Page 35 of Tight Spot

“All right.” Margo was still smiling at me in that dazzled kind of way as I settled my hand to Hailey’s lower back and guided her to a table. I gave her a better view of the place and sat my ass down next to her. The tables were small, four-person bar-height tables, but that would only comfortably seat two, which meant even though it was just us, we were close enough to touch.

Heaven and hell mixed in one, especially given what I’d just said.

I waited until she was settled on her seat before taking the one next to her. Given my size, even with pushing the other two stools out of the way, I could still brush my knee against hers. I refrained since she was still looking like I’d swept her feet right out from under her.

“You didn’t have to do all of this.”

“I also didn’t have to treat you like you were some object and hurt your feelings, but I spoke without thinking, and that’s exactly what I did.”

“It’s fine.” She waved her hand in the air, flippantly trying to blow me off. Only pissing me off more.

“It’s not fine. We both know what this is, but I don’t have to throw it in your face, and I won’t. Swear it, Hailey, you might not really be mine, but you’re still mine, and while we’re doing this, my job is to make sure you don’t get hurt, especially by me.”

“Your job is to make sure your general manager likes you again.”

Yeah. That was also true.

“Doesn’t mean your feelings aren’t important. I’ll do better. Like I said, I don’t date much, and outside of hook-ups and shit, I don’t have a lot of experience with women. At least not dating them. Pretty sure I’ll fuck up this fake dating thing as much as I would a real relationship, but I do promise to try and be better.”

“Why don’t you date women?”

“Excuse me?”

“Here we are,” Margo sang, and arrived at our table with a bottle of white wine in a chiller and two glasses. “Want me to pour?”

“I got it.”

Another white wine. Not my choice, but this was for Hailey anyway.

“Okay, I’ll leave you two alone then. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Thanks, Margo.” Hailey smiled at her while I poured her a glass and then one for me.

I told her why I needed her, and a bit about my sister, but maybe, if she was really going to understand, I needed a dash more honesty. She hadn’t hidden shit from me the other night, not when it came to why she agreed to date me.

“There’s not a woman in my life yet who hasn’t fucked me over in some way. It’s not that deep. And that doesn’t mean I hate women, or whatever, but for me, it means my life is a hell of a lot less complicated when I’m not close to them.”

She sipped her wine. Took her time. Eventually, she brought her eyes to mine and smiled. That same damn smile that made a warning shoot straight to my gut. This woman was trouble, in a vastly different kind of way than what I’d just been thinking of.

“Maybe you haven’t met the right kind of woman then.”

Yeah. She was right about that.

* * *

It was after an order of bruschetta came. After we finished our first glass of wine. After we talked more about her work because that’s exactly where I was trying to keep the conversation headed as long as it didn’t come back around to me when we finally got around to talking about Hailey’s family and her three siblings.

“Your parents must have been busy. You close with them?”

“Yeah. I mean, I see them frequently. Mom occasionally pops into the store during the week when it’s slower, brings me lunch or hangs out. Dad texts me random facts about his day, like how many deer he saw on their property.”

“Your sister and brothers?”

When Crystal and I were younger, up until our parents’ marriage imploded and took us all down with it, we’d been practically best friends. Only two years difference between us, we’d hung out all the time. Lots of weekend nights she’d come into my room, we’d turn on a movie, and she’d fall asleep. I never cared, even when we were too old probably to be sharing a bed. It was cool. She was cool.

“They were all born within four years of each other, and I came six years later. My brothers are protective, to say the least. My sister thinks she’s my second mom. But they’re all good. Charlie’s in Portland. He’s a tattoo artist and works at some like, famous tattoo shop or something. Tate’s a plastic surgeon, lives out in San Diego, and Holly’s a lawyer and lives in New York.”

“You’re the only one who stayed close to home.”

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