Page 43 of Falling for You
“I’m glad there wasn’t any traffic.” CeCe laughed.
The drive consisted of open country roads and barely any stoplights. The only traffic they were liable to have was the four-legged variety.
The man nodded and jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Everything is gassed and ready to roll. I thought we could do a walk-through before you leave.”
Evan took charge and inspected the truck. After paying and saying goodbye to the seller, he turned to find CeCe already getting behind the wheel of her truck. She wasn’t going to say goodbye?
“CeCe, hold up!” Evan shouted as he ran to the driver’s side window. “Where are you going?”
CeCe forced a smile. “Home? I figured we got what we needed.”
Unable to argue with her logic, Evan tried another tactic. “But we were talking. Is there anything you want to discuss? You seem distracted, upset even.” For a moment, Evan held his breath. Something was definitely up, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it. “You can talk to me. You know that, right?”
“Because we’re friends?” Her question pushed Evan back on his heels.
“We established we’re more than that,” he said, reaching through the window to take her hand. He traced a path over her knuckles and watched her sigh a long exhale. “Aren’t we?”
Slowly, CeCe nodded. “We are, I’m sorry. I’m just tired I guess.”
“You seem bothered by something. Let me help.” Evan watched a flurry of emotions cross her face, but he kept his mouth shut. Growing up with three sisters taught him when to talk and when to keep quiet.
“Do you want to have dinner with Natalie and Anthony?”
The abrupt topic change gave Evan whiplash. “What?”
“Like a double date, you know, four people eating at a restaurant that we don’t work in. We might as well get out there and do couple things.” CeCe explained, the words tumbling out of her in quick succession.
“Sure. When?”
CeCe seemed surprised by his quick agreement, frowning for a moment before recovering. “I’m not sure, but she asked this morning, and I forgot to ask you at the diner. Then I thought you might not want to, and then I thought—” Her words trailed off.
Evan was young, but he wasn’t stupid. The mayor and his wife wouldn’t want to have dinner with him unless CeCe told them about their budding relationship. Evan wasn’t sure if this was a test or not, but either way, he was diving in head first. “Let me know when.”
Without another word, CeCe turned on her truck and put it in gear. Evan had to step back and drop his arm before she drove off and maimed him. “I’ll back up so you can get on the road. Max said we can park that beast behind his cottage for now.”
Giving a thumbs-up, Evan walked toward the food truck. He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Mallory’s number as soon as he hit the road, putting it on speaker.
“Ev, what’s up?” Mallory answered. Evan could hear voices in the background and the sound of squeaky shoes.
“Crap. Are you still at work?” he asked, his attention on the country road.
“Yeah, but I’m going on break. You okay?”
Evan explained the situation—from CeCe’s distraction to the fumbled date invite. “What do you think it all means?”
Mallory hummed considerately before saying, “I think your girlfriend wants to go out with her friends. Pardon me for stating the obvious, but isn’t a double-date good thing? You sound like she’s asked you to undergo unnecessary surgery or something.”
“But then why is she distracted? Do you think it’s because of family dinner? Do you think Dad scared her?” Leave it to his father to complicate yet another aspect of Evan’s life.
Mallory hummed for a moment. “I think if our family scared her, she wouldn’t be planning double dates. Or I don’t know, Ev. Maybe ask her about it?”
“I did!” he practically shouted, his voice echoing through the truck’s cabin. “She said she was thinking about the diner and the competition. She said she wasn’t worried about our parents.”
Mallory huffed out a laugh. “Maybe she’s all hot and bothered about meeting Eric Watson. I know I would be if it were me.”
Evan rolled his eyes. “You realize they’ve already met. She used to work for the guy. Do you think it’s just nerves about competing?”
“CeCe doesn’t strike me as someone who gets nervous, especially when it comes to food.”
