Page 64 of Hidden Nature

“Nice to meet you.” She held out a gloved hand.

“You, too. You work for All the Rest. We’ll be doing some work for them.”

“So my father told me.”

“Your father?”

She smiled back at Theo again. “Dean Cooper. My father. He said you’d already started demo on the old Parker place. I guess that makes it the new Littlefield place.”

Nash knew his job as wingman was to make nice and disappear.

“It’ll take a while before much of anything looks new. I’ve got to place that order,” he said to Theo. “See you inside. Good to meet you, Drea. Give our best to your father.”

“I will. I won’t hold you up,” she said to Theo as Nash walked down to the restaurant. “And I have to get this food to the hungry horde at the office.”

“Right, but… Could I buy you a cup of coffee sometime?”

“Coffee?”

“Or dinner. Maybe a trip to Barbados.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “I’ve never been there. Sounds tempting, but…”

“Are you with someone? I should’ve asked that first.”

“If I were, I wouldn’t say you could buy me dinner tonight. I’ll meet you at By the Lake. Seven o’clock.”

Everything in him sang, joyfully.

“Great. Where is it?”

She passed him the take-out bag, then took a map and a marker out of her purse, and outlined the route.

“Great,” he said again, and pocketed the map. “I could carry these up for you.”

“That’s all right.” She took the bag back. “I’ve got it. See you tonight.”

He watched her walk away, then floated into the restaurant on puffy white clouds.

Nash already had a table, and worked on his phone.

“I’ve got a date with the most beautiful woman in the world.”

“Quick work. I ordered already—burgers, fries, Cokes. You usually go for the cuties. Like Pink Hair and Freckles. The bouncy ones.”

“Bouncy?”

“Yeah, the kind that see a friend, squeal.” Nash mimed bouncing a ball on the table. “Bounce, bounce, bounce. This one strikes as smooth.”

“I don’t know what it is. It’s like getting hit by lightning. I like it. I’m taking her to dinner tonight.”

“Just some brotherly advice? Hold off on the proposal, at least until dessert.”

On top of the world, Theo flashed a grin at the server when she brought their Cokes. “Thanks. We did a good morning’s work, got a gut job coming, and I’ve got a date with Dreamy Drea.

“I’m having a real good day.”

When their mother mentioned the date, Sloan began to fret. She’d talked herself out of digging into the Littlefields, and now regretted it.

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