Page 8 of Welcome Home, Cowboy
DISHWASHER
MAIL CARRIER
The man’s voice carried. He was upset and the woman looked shaken by whatever he was saying.
Memories of Daren slammed into Julie’s mind as she pretended not to watch the couple. She’d had countless times with her ex where he’d been angry and she’d been…frightened. He hadn’t always been that way. He’d been gentle once, she remembered.
The woman reached for the man’s hand and he jerked it away. His frown was a sneer now.
What is he saying to her?Julie couldn’t hear, but she caught the gist of the conversation by the body language between the two. Bringing her coffee cup to her mouth, Julie sipped anxiously.
Just leave him,she mentally begged the woman.Don’t waste too much of your time, or heart, on a guy like that.
She’d made that mistake in her own life. Never again.
A finger tapped her shoulder and Julie jumped, nearly spilling her hot coffee down the front of her blouse.
“Whoa! Hey.” Lawson was standing beside her table. He must’ve walked around, avoiding her peripheral vision. And she’d been distracted by the couple. “If you keep startling like that every time you see me, I’m going to think I’m a scary-looking guy.” He offered up a grin that poked dimples in his cheeks.
Not scary.Sexy.
“You okay?” he asked.
Julie shrugged. “Just lost in my thoughts, I guess.”
He nodded. Then, without invitation, he sat in the open chair beside her. It was just as well because she’d been hoping to talk to him.
Brushing a chunk of hair behind her ear, she met his gaze. “Lawson, I want to apologize for Monday morning. I was rude and antisocial and…” She shook her head. “You were just being nice. I know that. So, I’m sorry. And thank you.”
Lawson sipped his coffee. “Apology accepted. And you’re welcome,” he said, watching her, making her body heat. She was definitely attracted to him and definitely didn’t need to be. Not right now.
The couple at the neighboring table was still arguing. Her gaze flitted toward their rising voices. Then the man slammed a hand down on the table, making the woman jump.
Julie jumped, too. Then her body heated for totally different reasons as she turned back to Lawson.
“Glad to see I’m not the only person making you jump,” he said, his voice lowering.
Julie shifted uncomfortably. Folding up her newspaper, she tossed her bagel back in its bag. Then she stood and offered him a smile, summoning that shattered confidence. “I, uh, really need to get going.”
“Busy day?” he asked, his gaze laser sharp.
She wished she could say yes, but without any job prospects, there was just the volunteer work she sometimes did at the local elementary school for her sister, Kat. “Something like that. Good seeing you, Lawson.”
“Always a pleasure,” he said.
Passing the table with the woman, alone now after the jerk with the anger problem had marched out, Julie gave an empathetic smile; she understood how the woman must be feeling. Like she’d done something wrong, which she probably hadn’t.
Or maybe that was just Julie projecting the details of her own past on the stranger.
Julie made it to her car and exhaled. She could ride around and check storefront windows forHELP WANTEDsigns. There was always that. Opening her purse, she noticed her cellphone blinking. She’d had it on mute in the café.
Checking the screen, she saw that she’d missed a call from Allison at the Veterans’ Center. With her luck, Allison had called to hammer the final nail in her proposal-package coffin.
Best to get this over with and let the day go up from here.
Julie pressed redial and waited.
“Good news,” Allison said, bypassing hello. “Mr. Banks is going to give you a chance.”
