CHAPTER 40
Reagan
“I’m headed out for lunch.” I waved to Daisy, who was standing at the printer, on my way out the door of the office.
Her only acknowledgement was a clipped nod. I wasn’t sure what I’d done to rub her the wrong way, but over the past few days, things had been like the North Pole in reception. Very icy. She only spoke to me when absolutely necessary, and even then it was clear that it was painful for her.
Hmm. Maybe I’d pick her up a dessert to smooth over whatever wrong I’d done. In my experience, chocolate anything went a long way to cover a multitude of sins.
The sun was shining brightly as I stepped outside. I flinched before grabbing my sunglasses out of my bag and putting them on. As I made my way downtown, the rays beat down on my arms and neck. The warmth reminded me of yesterday’s afternoon delight beneath the midday sun. I wondered if, for the rest of my life, every sunny day would bring back the memory of the most perfect afternoon I’d ever had.
Deep down I knew the answer was yes, not that it mattered. It didn’t take the sun for me to be reminded of Billy Comfort. I couldn’t seem to escape the man that had wormed his way into my mind, body…and I feared, heart.
He’d consumed my thoughts all day. I’d been going crazy sitting at my desk so when Nadia’d invited me to lunch, I jumped at the chance in hopes it would distract me. The streets were still crowded, but not as crazy as they’d been over the weekend. I did my best to people watch as I made the short walk to the restaurant where I was meeting Nadia, but inevitably, everything I saw reminded me of the man I was doing my best to forget.
I was momentarily distracted when I got that same feeling I’d had since moving down here—that someone was watching me. I looked around, but no one seemed to be paying me any attention.
Then, it was back to the regularly scheduled Billy Comfort programming. A red truck drove by and for a split second I thought it might be his. It wasn’t. A block later, a mom was calling after her son, who—you guessed it—was named Billy. Before I’d even made it to the corner, I passed Comfort Construction, the business owned and operated by Billy’s older brother Hank.
I could not escape the man! And even though it had been less than twenty-four hours since I’d seen him, I missed him. He’d texted me this morning while I was in court filing the brief for the Sanders case—the one I’d been working on over the weekend. My first impulse had been to message him back, but I stopped myself. I would text him when I was done with work for the day and not a minute before. If I didn’t put up some hard boundaries, I didn’t trust myself not to let him bleed into every area of my life.
After Hank’d caught us up in his attic, Billy tried to convince me to go back to his place, but I’d declined. Things between us were crossing all sorts of lines. As much as I’d have loved to spend the night tangled up in sheets with Billy, I knew that things were getting dangerously blurred.
Our friend(with benefits)ship was really confusing. I could honestly say that I felt closer to a man I’d known for a week than I ever had to the man I’d been engaged to and spent eight years of my life with. I kept having to remind myself that the man I was falling for was not the settle-down type. Not that I was looking to settle down. I wasn’t.
But, even if I were, Billy Panty Dropper Comfort wouldn’t exactly be a qualified candidate.
“Reagan!”
I heard my name and looked over my shoulder to see Nadia waving from a table behind a wrought iron fence.
Shit.I’d been so lost in Billy thoughts I’d almost passed right by the restaurant.
I doubled back and walked through the gate. The entrance led to an outdoor patio, complete with a pergola and Edison bulb lights strung above the tables. I joined my friend at the end of a farm-style table. “Hey chickadee, so good to see you. This was exactly what I needed.” I gave Nadia a big hug before taking a seat across from her.
“Of course! I’ll admit my motives were a little selfish. I wanted to debrief because I went out with Rusty last night.” Her hundred-watt smile told me things had gone well.
Now if I could only remember who she was talking about. “Rusty?”
“I met him at the crab feed. He was that cowboy that asked me to dance. I figured you might remember him because it was before you slammed two glasses of moonshine.”
“Oh, right! I do remember him. It’s pretty much the only thing I remember. So I’m guessing it went well.”
“Hell yeah, it did. We went to the beach because he wanted to see the fireflies and let’s just say that they weren’t the only things lighting up the night.”
“Fireworks, huh?”
“Girl, you have no idea.” A sly smile spread on her face. “Or, maybe you do.”
I did, not that I wanted to share that with her. Thankfully, I didn’t have to.
“Welcome to Granny’s Pantry.” The kid’s voice cracked as he approached our table. He wore a blue polo shirt with the restaurant logo on the chest that hung on his skinny frame like he was a hanger. And his khaki pants looked three sizes too big for him. “Hi Ms. Olsen. Have you had a chance to look at the menu?”
“Timmy Grimes, what are you doin’? You are not old enough to be workin’ here.” Nadia voiced the same thoughts I was having.
“I’m filling in for Jacob.”
“Ahh, is your brother enjoying spring break a little too much?”