Page 90 of You Found Me
“You, too, sir.”
Working with Theo has been great and Ihavebeen thinking about leaving Coleman & Jenkins. I started with them right out of college. And while they’re awesome, I think I’d like the freedom that Grant talked about me having here. I’ve helped rework a dozen designs for him so far and then finished a handful more when his old architect quit.
Coleman & Jenkins doesn’t have a no-compete clause, but they’ve been asking more about what I’m doing for Callahan & Son’s, and it gives me a weird feeling about them that I didn't have before. I know if I talk to Theo about it, he’ll be all for me quitting. Maybe this is something Emmy would be able to help me with.
Chapter 28
Emmaline
Today is the day for ourrealfirst date and I’m nervous.
Because what if we do this and he decides to change his mind. That the image he crafted of me in his head all these years doesn’t align with the person I actually am.
It doesn’t help that no matter how much I beg, he won’t tell me where we’re going. Only told me to dress in layers, which lets me know we’re likely to be outdoors. I settle on a pair of black leggings, a deep-green long sleeve henley, a cream cardigan in case it’s chilly, and my trusty white Converse.
Spencer is dressed similarly in a pair of black sweatpants, a tan quarter zip sweatshirt, and sneakers. As he was leading me down to his truck, I couldn’t stop myself from staring at his ass. Sweats really work for him. I think next to him being naked, this look is a close second favorite for me.
He caught me staring and instead of being shy, I told him that he was my boyfriend now and staring is definitely a girlfriend privilege.
We’ve been driving for around ten minutes before I catch onto where we’re headed. The Daisy Lane Drive-In has been around since my mom was a teenager. It’s in a part of townthat’s surrounded by fields of wildflowers, and is known for only showing movies twice a month.
“Are you bringing me out to the old drive-in to murder me?” I ask Spencer.
He throws his head back, falling into a fit of laughter. “Do you really think that I’d take you so close to where all your friends and family are to murder you? Give me more credit than that. We’d driveat leasttwo hours in the middle of nowhere for that.”
I lightly punch his arm. “Note to self, don’t go anywhere with Spencer outside of our hometowns. I ask because this specific drive-in only plays movies on the first and last Saturday of the month.”
“I kid, I kid. When I looked online it said there was a movie playing tonight. Guess we’ll see if you’ll be planning our future dates from now on or not.”
“Who says there’ll be any future dates?” I tease.
“Oh, I’m pretty confident we’ll havemanymore dates,” he tells me with his stupid smirk.
When we get to the gravel drive that leads to the drive-in, I notice only a few are lights on throughout the field. The concession stand is dark, but the projection booth is lit up. There’s one car parked next to the booth and a single truck in the lot where you’re supposed to park for the movies.
“Are you sure you read there’s a movie tonight?” I ask skeptically.
“I’m positive,” Spencer says with confidence.
He pulls in, putting the truck in park. Only he has us facing the back of the lot, rather than towards the giant screen.
“I’ve got to talk to someone really quickly,” he leans over, kissing my cheek. “Be right back.”
I watch as he reaches the booth and instead of waiting for whoever’s here to come down, he climbs the stairs. He knocks, and out pops Edie—and as if she knows I’m here, she looks my way and gives a wave.
She turns back to Spencer and whatever she says makes him laugh before he pulls an envelope out of his pocket. When he tries to give it to her, she shakes her head before handing him a set of keys. They talk for another minute before coming downthe stairs. She gets in her car, driving off, while he comes back to the truck and we drive toward the lot.
“What was Edie doing here and why did she give you keys?”
“She was my in with getting the owners to open tonight, because you were right—they weren’t scheduled to show anything. I did some digging and found an article about how Edie used to be married to the owner of this place. She agreed to help immediately and within twenty minutes, this date came to fruition.”
“Okay . . .” I say, still confused, “but why do you have them and why is there no one else here?”
“Because Emmy, this whole place is ours for the night.”
“You planned for us to have this whole place to ourselves, and you still want me to believe you’re not going to murder me?” I tease again.
Before he responds, he parks the truck, further away from the screen than I’d like but I don’t complain. He gets out, coming around to open my door like always.
