Page 23 of Take Me Home

I nodded and grimaced. “Yup.”

He made a cute sympathetic face. “Sorry. Can I get you anything? I can grab you some ibuprofen from my trailer.”

“I’ll survive. Thanks, though. What’s up?”

“Oh. I, uh, won’t be up to the house tonight. I’ve got a thing, so I won’t be needing your superior internet,” he said, smiling nervously.

“Shit, I keep forgetting to get you a better router,” I scolded myself, pulling at my neck. “I’ll try and grab one tonight after the market.”

“No, no, it’s not that. I don’t mind coming up to get a better signal.” He paused, chewing his lower lip. “As long as it doesn’t bother you.”

What was he doing? Trying to make me scream that he was the star of all my fantasies? That I spent long hours of the night analyzing our every interaction, wondering how soon he’d grace my body with a touch from his strong hands again?

“No! Not at all. You’re always welcome.” I felt my face warm. I grabbed my wallet and slipped my phone in my back pocket. I walked toward the door until I noticed that he was lingering like he had something else to say. I stopped, watching him to see what that might be.

“Well, I…hope the market’s good. I’ll see you tomorrow?” He held open the door for me and gestured for me to walk ahead.

“Yeah, sure,” I said, walking on. I sped to the truck, my thoughts racing. What “thing” was he doing tonight? A date? I felt stunned, dazed at the thought.

The thought of Jake dating was both a relief and a huge letdown. It did nothing for the rollercoaster feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Becca finished her cig and jumped in the truck with me.

“Let’s go sell some flowers, sweet cheeks,” she crooned, then did a double take of me. “Shit, you look like you seen a ghost.”

I tried to play clueless, shrugging and checking my flushed cheeks in the rearview mirror. I hated how much my face gave away.

“What happened with Lover Boy in there?” Becca asked salaciously, turning her body toward me.

“What? Oh, nothing. He just said he didn’t need to come to the house tonight.”

“Wait, he’s been coming to the house? Is he actually your Lover Boy? I was just kidding! You’ve been keeping secrets!” Becca squealed.

“He did come over on Sunday to use the better internet. But he hasn’t come by the last two nights,” I said, thinking out loud. “It just seems weird that he’d say he was going out tonight.”

“Ooh, do you think he’s trying to make you jealous by going on a date?”

I shrugged. But I did hate the thought. It made me insanely jealous. I wished I could be the one to have him pick me up at 6, to have him lead me into a room by my lower back, to have him laugh at my jokes with that pretty twinkle in his eye. To walk me to my door, tension in the air as we decide whether or not we’d kiss. His mouth on mine, finding out what he tastes like. His big hands on me. Opening the door and inviting him inside.

I wanted that pretty badly. I knew I shouldn’t have it, but I wanted it anyway.

“Maybe he just doesn’t want me to worry if I see someone coming in late,” I offered. “But Caleb’s out at the trailers too and I don’t watch him come and go.”

“Maybe,” Becca said, drawing out the word, “he just wanted an excuse to talk to you and wanted you to ask about his life.”

Well if he did, I fumbled the chance pretty good. I had a headache. Sue me. At least it wasn’t one of my full-blown stress migraines. I had plenty of those in college, and a resurgence when I was deciding to break up with Rob.

“I honestly don’t know why he told me that. I don’t need to know what y’all are doing when you’re not here,” I said definitively, trying to close the subject.

“Ouch! You don’t want to know the ins and outs of the life of Becca?” She pretended to be offended.

“I actually do want to know about your life, Becca. You have captivating stories.”

“Okay good, because I need to tell you what this dumbass girl from my high school did,” Becca started. My mood lightened. I’d picked the right market partner in Becca.

10

DARCY

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