Page 40 of Clean Sweep
“Look, Mav, everything is on track, okay? Your siblings won’t arrive for several more weeks. The flights are booked. Serafina and I have confirmed everything with the lodge. The catering company called me today with a confirmation of orders, and the events you’re going to in Jackson City are booked out. I even have split firewood getting dropped off.” I gestured between us. “I got your back.”
He melted under my comprehensive list. If Mav loved anything, it was a plan that came together just right. The strain drained away from his taut features.
“Thank you, Leslie. You’re a lifesaver.”
“I know. You good now?”
“Yes. Much better.”
After he asked a few more questions—and attempted to meddle in my job, which I quickly scolded him for—I shooed him away to take dinner to his pregnant wife.
Their little girl was only a few months away from her due date, and Bethany was more than ready to get it over with. Lizbeth’s presence in the Frolicking Moose had waned the last few weeks as she took care of her own baby.
Whatever he thought, the Mercedy family reunion would be an epic one.
The moment Maverick disappeared, Celeste took his place. “Hey Leslie!”
“Hi!”
She dropped her backpack on the floor next to my booth and slid into the open seat. As usual, she was perfectly put together and totally oblivious to my jealousy.
How did they make teenagers like that these days? The only memories of high school I held onto involved very frizzy hair, braces, and an awkwardness that went bone deep. Girls like Celeste, who were all natural ease and warmth from the get-go, boggled my mind.
“So.” Her bright eyes met mine. “Did you say yes?”
“To what?”
“My dad.”
My brow furrowed. “About what? The invoice he brought over this morning?”
“No.” She recoiled, then rolled her eyes. “The date? Duh!”
My throat grew tight and hot at the same moment. I opened my mouth to speak, then stopped. Date? The sound of something crashing followed. Dahlia called out, “I’m good!”
“Date?” I whispered, blinking through blurry thoughts.
Celeste’s expression loosened, as if she realized she’d just done something wrong. “Uh oh,” she whispered.
“Um . . . what do you mean?”
Her eyes widened like snow globes. Seconds before I thought they’d explode, she burst into a giggle.
“Double uh oh,” she sang, a hand over her mouth. “I totally mucked that up. He didn’t ask you on a date this morning? Really?”
My mind shuffled through a few questions all at once, but ended on the most pertinent. “Your dad was going to ask me on a date?”
“Supposedly.” She shrugged. “Sounds like he lost his courage, or something. He never does that by the way. This is awesome.”
The replay of Tanner’s conversation at my house wasn’t difficult to conjure. He had definitely been more flustered than usual. Fumbling over words, his thoughts, his own invoice, which I’d never even glimpsed.
Had he been nervous?
Was that why he delivered the invoice in the first place? It seemed a weird time to swing by considering he’d be back in two days to clean again. Also, he had my number. Why not just text me? Ultimately, only one question kept replaying in my mind.
Whydidn’the ask?
I tried furiously tonotblush and managed to fail on an epic level.
