Page 50 of Trophy
Allison felt a little like squirming, but she knew Chelle pretty well now, and she trusted her. “We’re not telling anyone. It’s not a serious thing, and we don’t want it to get around.”
“I won’t say a word, but you might want to tell Rob it’s not serious.”
“What do you mean?” Allison asked with a surprised frown.
“I mean that man is obviously crazy about you. It’s as clear as day in the way he looks at you. He worships the ground youwalk on, like you’re some sort of angel or goddess. He’s already imagining you having his pretty little babies. Don’t tell me you don’t see it too.”
Overwhelmed with the strangest mingling of pleasure and fear, Allison ducked her head and slid the napkin into her pocket. “It’s not like that.”
“Hey, I’m only telling you if it’s really not like that, you better tell him. He wants to make you his little wife, forever and ever, amen.”
“He does not! He knows it’s not serious. We have an agreement.”
Chelle chuckled and shook her head. “Okay. If you say so. I’ve got to get this food out.”
Allison stood for a minute and stared blindly as Chelle loaded up a tray with orders. She was wrong about Rob. She was imagining things or making things up. Rob liked Allison—a lot—just like she liked him, but they were simply having a good time together.
That’s what they’d agreed. They wanted to be together for now, but there were no promises or expectations of a future.
Early on, Allison had thought it safer to keep their nights together to just once or twice a week, but they were getting together almost every evening now, and Allison would spend all day looking forward to being with him. Last night Rob had shown up with his tools, insisting on fixing the lock on her front door, which often annoyed her by getting stuck. After he’d done that job, Allison had been inspired to do a little job on him, which had left him very happy indeed.
They were both having a really good time. That was what Chelle had seen in Rob’s expression. It didn’t mean Allison needed to start worrying or feeling guilty that she wasn’t really the kind of woman Rob needed to build a life with.
Feeling better about things after sorting them through in her mind, Allison went to take an order and was too busy for most of the day to worry any more about things with Rob.
She was finishing up after three thirty when she heard a text message chirp on her phone.
It was Cali, who’d taken to texting her occasionally with random questions. This time the girl had sent two pictures of different outfits, asking which one would be better for a date. One of the outfits was much more appropriate for a teenager than the other, so Allison immediately responded, saying that one was better. The girl’s taste in fashion was a little questionable, as far as Allison was concerned, but she was a nice little thing at heart. She needed more attention than she got from her mother, which was probably why she’d decided to like Allison.
Allison wanted to help, but she was always careful not to be too presumptuous or take up too much of Cali’s time. The last thing she wanted was for Dee to get angry or jealous over her daughter.
Cali texted her a Thnx, and Allison dropped her phone in her purse, deciding to walk over to Rob’s hardware store to get a new spotlight bulb for her back porch light, which had burned out a few nights ago. She waved across the street at Ernie, who was sitting outside the laundromat again, and said hello to a friendly woman who often had lunch at Dora’s but whose name Allison had never known.
The store was kind of busy when Allison walked in. Rob wasn’t behind the counter, and all the clerks were helping customers. She knew where the lightbulbs were, so she walkedover to that aisle. She was looking through the shelves for the bulb she needed when she heard Rob’s laugh. It was coming from the back of the store.
She took a few steps farther down the aisle and could see him, standing near the door to the back room, talking with a couple of guys who looked like they might be contractors.
Allison stood silently and watched Rob for a minute. He was completely unaware of her. He was smiling and talking as if he knew and liked the other men. One of them pounded Rob on the back in a jovial manner. “You’re a stand-up guy, West,” the man said, loudly enough for Allison to hear.
He was strong and handsome and sexy and kind and trustworthy. A stand-up guy if there ever was one.
For the first time, Allison wondered what it would be like to spend her life with him, to have him in her bed every night, to wake up with him every morning, to eat and sleep and laugh and work and talk with him all the time. To know he was actually hers—and not just a temporary enjoyment.
She wanted it. So intensely that she broke out in chills.
But she’d sworn to herself she wasn’t going to be dependent on a man again, and she couldn’t help but wonder if that was what she was starting to do with Rob. She wanted to be with him all the time. She wanted to turn to him every time she needed help. The other night she’d even caught herself imagining moving in with Rob. She could sell her house and get a nice little savings account that might one day get her closer to her jewelry shop.
Remembering those reflections now, she was horrified with herself. She was turning Rob into a paycheck, exactly as she always had with Arthur.
Rob was better than that. And so was she. She wasn’t going to do it again, which meant she had to take things slowly with Robright now so she didn’t become another trophy wife. One of her doing, not his.
The idea was so upsetting that Allison pushed it from her mind. No matter what Chelle had said, she and Rob both knew that they were just together for right now. She’d been absolutely open and honest about that. Rob was a smart guy who always had things together. He wasn’t going to do something stupid like fall in love with her, when she’d told him over and over again that they had to take things slow.
She’d been standing too long, staring at him, and he finally noticed her presence. His expression transformed into surprised pleasure, and he gave her a little wave.
She smiled and waved back, but she ducked over to the lightbulbs when the other guys turned to see who’d distracted Rob.
After a minute of staring at bulb boxes, Rob came around to join her.
