Page 65 of All Dressed Up

She still didn’t know where things stood with him and Amber. Was she wrong to assume that after Friday there wasn’t a him and Amber? “We can talk later,” she said to his back.

“You said there would be a guy hanging around a lot.” He turned around. “You were talking about Jesse.”

“Yes.” Guilt washed over her. She really shouldn’t have blindsided him this morning. It’s just Friday had been so perfect. She didn’t want to jeopardize telling him then. “He started this morning and will be working part-time.” She paused, adding, “Mostly nights and weekends. You won’t really see him.”

“And Sheila is okay with it?”

“Totally.” Rachel nodded. “I got her blessing. I went by her house, and we had a long talk on her porch. She told me to hire him.”

He cast her a doubtful look.

“Really, she did.”

Will shoved his hands into his pants pockets. “Well, I don’t like it, but if that’s what you want.”

Seriously?Was he that clueless? What she wanted was him. Every decision she’d made over the last week had been with Will in mind. All of this—the upstairs boutique, the antique trunk, hiring Jesse—was to get closer to him. “It’ll be fine, you’ll see.” She hoisted her bag over her shoulder. “I’ll see you later. I’ll lock the door so that customers for my shop don’t come in until I’m back.”

“Fine. Whatever.”

She watched as Mr. Moody disappeared out the back, his footsteps heavy on the stairs, and heavy on her heart. “This better work,” she said, patting her bag with Mary’s purse inside and exiting the shop.

Jesse stood on the sidewalk waiting for her. “Everything all right?”

She brushed off his concern—if that was what it was—with a, “It’ll be fine. Let’s go.”

They started to walk down the street when a loud voice called out for them to stop. Will had come outside. “Jesse Taylor,” he shouted, “I’m watching you, old man. You screw up even in the slightest, and that black eye I gave you last week won’t compare to what I’ll do to the rest of your face.”

Rachel pasted on a smile at the two passersby who both got an earful. “We’ll be back soon, Will.” She tugged on Jesse’s shirt. “Let’s go.”

“Sure you want his heart?” Jesse mumbled under his breath as they walked down the street.

*

What the ever-freaking hell possessed Rachel to hire that loser?Will watched Rachel and Jesse take a left turn. “Yeah, coffee, my ass.” The Star Lite was to the right.

Fuming, he flung open the door and stormed through the shop only to remember he needed to lock it.

Dammit.Pissed, he flipped the lock. Losing his cool and threatening the old man in public probably wasn’t the smartest thing. He moved across the shop, heading upstairs. Once there, he went over to his desk chair and sunk down. Man, this day sucked.

His flipped up his laptop, nearly knocking over a glass vase filled with purple and white flowers that Rachel must have put on his desk.

Jesse wasn’t the only reason for his bad mood.

He set the vase far off to the side.Dude.You need to relax.At least it wasn’t Marc she was talking about on Friday night.

He should be happy about that—and he was. Still, Marc or no Marc in the picture, it sucked that she’d disappeared after their night together.

He half expected it. Waking up Saturday morning, he’d felt like a million bucks because Rachel was back in his bed, but then he rolled over to find that she wasn’t. Her early hours Houdini escape all but proved that she was only interested in a hookup with him. It’s what she’d always done in the past, run for the hills.

Why was the other night any different?

He wanted to talk about it with her—and well, he didn’t. He raked his hand through his hair. God, when did he become so schizophrenic?

His phone buzzed. It was Christy Davidson, his ten o’clock appointment, and she was outside the flower shop. He’d called the young nurse over the weekend to see if she could come in about her dress. He planned on letting her open the antique trunk.

It would be nice to have Rachel here for this. He stood and adjusted his tie in the full-length mirror. His mom had bought it for him for his birthday. She’d want a full report soon on what was going on. It was time to get to work.

He didn’t need Rachel to be here. Either a dress was going to be in the trunk or not.

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