Page 38 of Conflagration
“No, baby, my dad isn’t going to be anywhere near us tonight. Trust me. I have my ways,” he says, his eyebrows waggling up and down. “Just be ready to go by eight.”
“Can I get a hint as to what we’re doing?” I request.
He shakes his head. “No way. Tonight’s going to be a surprise. Dress casual, and trust I’ll know how to show you a good time.”
I laugh at that. “Babe, that’s all you’ve been doing since I got here.”
With one last wink, he goes to get out of the car. “That’s right. And don’t you forget it.”
Resting back against the seat, I sigh as I watch him walk towards the house still using his crutches. My eyes stay on his ass until he disappears into the house.
Tonight, I have a date.
As I glance down at my hands on the steering wheel, my eye catches the sight of my engagement ring, and I can’t help the smile that curves on my lips. The last date I went on led to my being engaged. This time, my engagement has led to a date.
I only wonder what’s going to happen after tonight.
WITH EXCITED anticipation of the upcoming night, I head straight to the guest bedroom Branson offered for me to use to keep my clothes in. After getting home from a full-day shopping trip with his mother with more bags than necessary, it became apparent that one drawer in his dresser wouldn’t suffice, so he led me to a second bedroom and gave me the closet. He made an offhand comment about his mother going a little crazy with her credit card, not being used to having a woman to shop for, and I realized that he thought his mother had bought all of this. I was about to tell him that I’d paid for it all with my own money, but his phone rang and I never got the chance.
Now that I’m standing in front of my closet, I vow to clear that up. He’s being extremely generous by letting me stay here, always refusing to allow me to pay for the groceries or any time we order takeout. I want him to know that, just because I’m not working right now, it doesn’t mean that I don’t have more than enough money in my bank account to take care of myself. I definitely don’t want him to think I’m some sort of leech.
My phone rings, breaking me from my thoughts. I’m thrilled when I see that it’s my sister calling for her weekly chat. “Hey, Lyss. Thank God it’s you. I need your help.”
“Hello to you, too. I can’t talk long, but I wanted to check in before the weekend,” she says. “What can I help you with?”
“Well, Branson’s taking me out on a date tonight. Our first date, in fact,” I admit as nervous butterflies start to swarm in my stomach. “I’m nervous and I have no idea what to wear.”
My sister laughs, and I wait a few beats before she calms down. “You’ve been living with, and sleeping with, this guy for almost a month now, Ari. What the hell is there to be nervous about?”
She’s right, and it’s probably irrational, but I can’t help it. “I don’t know. It’s just that it’s one thing when we’re just sitting around the house together, hanging out in sweats, and trying to see who can catch the most Cheerios in our mouths. But actually going on a date? That just makes it feel all that much more real. And I’m afraid the lines might get blurred.”
Alyssa is silent for a moment, and then she starts cracking up.
I frown as I sit down on the edge of the bed. “Care to tell me what’s so funny?”
“Ari, I love you. I really do. But come on. You’re not that blind. Don’t you think the lines became blurry the first time you slept with Branson? And then continued to do so? Look, I admit I thought this whole thing was crazy when you first told me what you were doing. I had half a mind to come up there myself and drag you back home. But as crazy as it may have seemed, there was a light in your voice. You sounded…happy. Carefree, even, and we both know you haven’t been that since you started working for Dad. I don’t have to be there to know you’re already falling for him, Ari. I think you have a little more to worry about than blurring the lines.”
Running a hand through my hair, I realize that she’s right. Iamcarefree. Iamhappy, and I’ve never felt this way before. My sister knows me better than anyone, and I know there’s no use in protesting because she’ll just call me on my bullshit.
“It scares the hell out of me, Lyssa,” I whisper as I lie back on the bed and stare up at the ceiling. “Every day that passes, I fall harder.”
“And that’s a problem, why?” she asks.
“Because this is temporary. There’s no spoken expiration date or anything, but it’s inevitable. Maybe that’s why this date’s freaking me out. For the past month, we’ve been in our own little world. He goes back to work next week, and I… I’ll have to do the same eventually. This can’t last.” As soon as I say the words, I have to squeeze my eyes shut to keep the tears from spilling over.
“Honey, if he just wanted temporary, why would he be asking you to go on a date? Has he made any indication that he wants you to leave any time soon?”
“Well, no—” I start, but she cuts me off.
“Exactly. My guess? He’s just as head over heels for you as you are for him, but he’s a man. He’s not going to just come right out and say it. Maybe that’s what this date is. His way of telling you he wants more without actually telling you.”
“Okay, fine. I’ll bite. Say he does want me to stay here… What about work? I only have five more months off—if I even still have a job when I get back,” I say, wondering for the first time what I’ll be going home to. And the thought is wrong because Atlanta no longer feels like home. Belle Meade, here with Branson, has become my home.
“Ariana, for someone who graduated magna cum laude, you’re kind of acting like an idiot,” she teases, and I can just picture her sticking her tongue out at me. There’s a small pang in my heart from missing her. “You have a master’s in accountancy. I’m pretty sure you can find a job in Nashville. And let’s be honest here. You know Daddy Dearest never intended for you to come back to work. He only gave you those six months thinking that, in that time, you’d slide right into the dutiful housewife role. So if you’re worried about a job, start looking there. In fact, I can put out feelers if you want.”
As the head of the HR department at Wellsley-Callahan Enterprises, a Fortune 500 company that’s headquartered in Atlanta, I know she’d have the connections. “No, it’s fine. Maybe next week, when he’s at work, I’ll start looking. I wouldn’t mind a change of scenery. Plus, I know you’re right. They gave me six months to appease me, and I actually took it to appease them. What a freaking mess. Looking back on things, I can’t believe how far I let them go. How close I came to becoming Victoria two-point-oh.”
She laughs. “You definitely dodged a bullet. Trust me. If I’d been around more, I could’ve smacked some sense into you.”
