Page 31 of The Hometown Dilemma
Nice was a pretty strong compliment from her, and I’d take it. I checked my phone seeing if there were any updates. Nothing. “Austen. You know, the guy who’s selling Moira Channing’s house.”
Sylvie frowned. “No, he’s not.”
“What do you mean? I went there with him to talk about staging her house for sale, but she didn’t like any of my designs.” Sure I’d told her that, I wondered why she seemed convinced he wasn’t.
Glancing down and selecting one piece of popcorn, she popped it into her mouth. “Moira’s not moving any longer. She took one look at the things you were suggesting to make her house look fabulous and told her husband she wanted to completely renovate rather than relocate. Didn’t Austen tell you?”
No. He hadn’t told me.
Anger bubbled in my chest. Suddenly, I didn’t care he was almost half an hour late for this date. I had no intention of going out with him if he’d lied to me. Had he been stringing me along about the potential other clients as well?
As if on cue, the doorbell rang.
Taking a deep breath, I went to the door and opened it. Austen stood there, a bunch of flowers in his hand, the other raking through his hair, a lazy smirk on his face.
“Jaime, hey. Are you ready to go?”
He held out the flowers to me, I guessed they were an apology for being late.
I tilted my head to one side, looking at the lilies in his hand. “Sorry, Austen, change of plans. I’m going out with my sister tonight.”
“What do you mean? The restaurant will hold our table, I called to let them know we’ll be late.”
“Let’s hope they don’t mind you eating alone.”
His smile disappeared. “Come on, Jaime. I thought we were going to have a nice evening.”
“I don’t enjoy going out with people who lie to me.” I paused. “Why did you say Moira didn’t like what I’d done?”
Austen shifted from foot to foot, and I knew I’d caught him. “How did you find out?”
Not wanting to tell him my mom was the tattletale, I shrugged. “Does it matter? I prefer my men to have integrity, Austen. Flat out lying turns me off.”
“And here I was thinking you actually liked me.” He sniffed. “Guess I wasted my money on these then?”
“Maybe there’s someone at the restaurant who would like them. Goodnight, Austen.” Without waiting for him to answer, I shut the door in his face then leaned my back against it.
Listening for his car to leave, I went back upstairs and knocked on Cami’s door before sticking my head into the room. She lay sprawled on her back on the bed, holding her phone up and watching something.
“You busy?”
She dropped the phone on her chest. “Shit, Jaime, give a girl a heart attack, why don’t you?” Propping herself up on her elbows, she stared at me. “I thought I heard Austen’s voice, so why are you still here?”
“We’re not going out.” I took a deep breath. “He lied to me about Moira Channing. She loved what I’d done for her and decided not to move. But he told me she didn’t like anything I’d come up with and I spent ages beating myself up about it.”
“So he didn’t want to lose face on a client who changed their mind and made you question yourself instead? What a dick.”
That had been one of the words I’d mentally labeled Austen with. There were also several others I wouldn’t repeat in polite company.
“Wanna go out? I could use a drink,” I said, the suggestion joined by a gurgling from my stomach. “And maybe a burger.”
Cami laughed. “Sounds good.” She plucked at her jeans. “Gimme a minute to get changed. I look like a hobo compared to you.”
I shook my head. “No, stay as you are. I’ll take off this outfit. It’s not like I’m in New York now.”
Half an hour later, we were in my favorite Abbott Ridge burger bar - outside of Dempsey’s of course. I hadn’t wanted to risk going there in case Austen turned up to tell Wade about my behavior. I didn’t care. Going out with men who weren’t prepared to be straight with me wasn’t my thing.
We ordered a pitcher of margaritas and two burgers with the works, as well as sides of fries and onion rings to share. I was ravenous.
