Page 8 of My Guarded Valentine

“It is as though you’re getting a talking to, and it’s not even your mom.”

“Ms. Dolly is like a mom to me,” he said with an affectionate glance towards Ms. Dolly sighed and picked up her notepad again.

“Well, I guess since he’s gonna be single forever, can I get your order?” she said, but there was an ice in her eyes as she looked back at Buck. I couldn’t help but giggle once more as I glanced at the menu once more.

“What about your fried chicken? With mashed potatoes and mac and cheese?” I said.

Ms. Dolly nodded and turned her head towards Buck. Buck waved his hand. “Just my usual thank you.”

She walked away, and he grabbed my hand. “I am really sorry about that. She means, well, she just cares about all of us a lot in this town.”

“No problem at all. It was just embarrassing. I didn’t expect that if I was seen in town with you, people would assume that I was your girlfriend. Does that happen often?”

He waved towards the kitchen. “As you can tell, it does not happen often, so she was really excited to see you.”

I made a face and then smiled. “No one is ever excited to see me.”

A small smile grew on his face as his thumb circled the top of my hand. “I was excited to see you this morning,” Buck whispered. My heart skipped a beat.

My mouth fell open, and I realized we were still holding hands. I didn’t know how to respond and I didn’t know if I should move or not. I felt frozen in this time in place. A curl of desire twisted in my belly trying to remind me he was an older man who looked exactly my type who treated me with so much respect and caring so far and he was touching me. Luckily, in that moment of indecision and questioning, Ms. Dolly walked over with our drinks in her hand. I quickly jerked my hand backwards and put them in my lap. I nodded and mumbled mythank you to her before she left the table. I wasn’t sure if he realized the awkward moment like I did or if it was just in my imagination, potentially it was all my imagination. Maybe this attraction to him was only on my side. Why would a man that looked like his life was put together with someone like me?

“Do you come here often? You must if she knows what your usual is?” I asked as I tried to break the awkwardness between us. Was I the only one that felt this energy between us? Or is it something I just hoped for?

Buck nodded. “Yeah, I come here quite often. Like I said, she’s like a mom to me. Most of my family is gone. I had my brother for a while, but…” Buck sucked in a deep breath through his nose. “Unfortunately he’s gone now too.”

I reached across the table again and grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “I don’t have a lot of family left either. It’s hard, especially after all the recent holidays. And the worst of all“—I waved to the window that had window marker hearts all over it—“this holiday might be the worst of all. Not that I think of Valentine’s Day as a card holiday. It’s because it’s just another reminder that I’m by myself after a whole Christmas, New Year’s, Thanksgiving by myself. I know there’s friends-giving and everything like that, but it’s not the same.”

Buck smiled and nodded. “You’re all right, Mitzi,” he muttered. Right on time, Ms. Dolly came back with our food in her arms and a knowing grin on her face, as I pulled my hand far away from his hands. We were caught in the act and somehow I felt like an errant teenager now.

Chapter 7

Buck

Before yesterday, you could’ve asked me if I believed in love at first sight and I would’ve said no. Now that I have met Mitzi, somehow everything has changed. But that was the problem. Nothing had changed. I still didn’t deserve anyone. Something would somehow screw up and they would get hurt, too. No, Mitzi was better off. She just went back to where she came from.

Ms. Dolly put her hands on her hip and looked at me. “You know, if you don’t find a girl one day, I’m gonna set you up in the Valentine’s Day auction if you’re not too careful.”

In a panic, I made a choice I shouldn’t have made. I grabbed Mitzi‘s hand and squeezed it tight. “Now Ms. Dolly, what if I just met Mitzi, and we were thinking of starting a relationship? If you put me in a Valentine’s day auction, you could ruin a budding relationship.”

Ms. Dolly stared at us before walking away as she tried to figure out if I was lying or not. Panic spread across Mitzi‘s face one more time.

“What are you doing?” Missy whispered harshly.

I winced. “Honestly I don’t know what I’m doing. There’s a high chance she would create some sort of bachelor’s auction forValentine’s Day or bachelor speed dating just to give me a date. I panicked. I try to give her hope that maybe you will be my next true love.”

“So you’ve had a true love before?”

“Well, no, I haven’t. But she knows I’ve been alone for a long time and she just wants me to find that perfect someone.”

Mitzi laughed. “Well, if there is a bachelor’s auction suddenly, you’re gonna have to get yourself out of it because I can’t afford no bachelor. I’ve heard things like that are, like, astronomical. I guess unless that’s just like what the media says. I don’t know.”

“I will give you the money to bid on me. It’d be simple if I could figure out a way to get myself not set up with anyone else in town.”

“Do you not like anyone in town?”

“No, it’s not that. I just don’t deserve anybody.”

“So, youdolike girls in town?”

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