Page 10 of Just the Tipsy
An unexpected benefit of a dog: I can talk to her and not feel nuts for talking to myself. So far she’s been just as easy as Waylon said she’d be.
I waffle between two dresses, then pull out some shorts and an off-the-shoulder blouse. Maybe shorts will work more? My phone pings and it’s a text from Waylon, saying he’ll be here in five minutes. I throw on the shorts and blouse, double checking that I didn’t mess up my hair and makeup, then grab Sadie.
I step outside right as Waylon steps out of his car. My stomach flips up into my chest. He’s wearing a green button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, showing off his muscledforearms, and shorts. I’ve never paid a lot of attention to men’s legs before, but his thighs and calves are thick and muscled too.
“Hey, you look beautiful,” he says with a soft, polite smile. But his eyes travel up and down my body, a little heat in them.
“Thank you.” The way he says it hits differently than it does from everyone else. “You look nice too.”
Now that I’m not ogling him, I let out a tense breath. We actually look like we’re going to the same place, which takes a mountain of stress off of my shoulders. I always hated it when Kyler would be wearing sweats and a t-shirt — both designer, but still — when I’d be wearing a dress. It made me feel like I was trying too hard for no reason when in reality, I was just dressed for the occasion.
“You ready to go?” He opens the passenger side door for me. It could come across is ridiculously corny, but it feels sweet from him.
“Yep. Thank you.” I slide into the front seat and immediately feel something damp on my shoulder — a dog’s nose. Duke is in the backseat, buckled in with his harness, and wags his tail when I look at him. I pet him between his ears.
Waylon slides behind the wheel and starts the car again, a podcast coming through the speakers. He pauses it before I can hear what it’s about.
“There’ll be a ton of dogs, by the way,” Waylon says.
“Your family are animal people too?” I give Duke one more pet.
“Oh yeah.” Waylon backs out of the driveway with ease. “They’re definitely the reason why I love animals so much. We always had at least two dogs — they have two right now. Speaking of, how’s Sadie so far?”
“Good. I think?” I pet her inside the bag. “She follows me everywhere and takes a lot of naps, so I bought her a few more beds.”
“Yeah, she loves a good nap. Sleeps pretty deeply too,” he says. “When she lived with me, I had to wake her up to go for walks, and even then, she’d be a little annoyed that I wasn’t carrying her the whole way.”
I take a peek at his hands on the wheel and try to ignore how good his forearms look as he controls the car. We’ve only been on the road for about a minute but I can tell he’s a good driver. Or at least a way better driver than Kyler, who drove like he was intentionally trying to be an asshole.
Waylon just seems like a nice, rule-following type of guy.Seems. But hey, I’d prefer him seeming some kind of way with a superficial relationship like we’ll have.
“That kind of reminds me that I don’t know anything about you and we’re supposed to be…on a date? A one time date?” I ask. “I just know you’re the town veterinarian and you like dogs.”
“Right. And all I know is…” He trails off. “You’re from California. And you’re Miss Gloria’s great niece.”
“Yeah. I’m from LA,” I say. “Lived there my whole life. Up until now, of course.’
“What do you do for work?” He gently slows to a stop at a sign.
“I’m a model and influencer.” I don’t mean to sound like I’m saying I have to fight babies for a living, but it comes across that way. My distaste for modeling has only grown since I basically quit six months ago. I barely wanted to be an “influencer” but social media and modeling go hand in hand these days.
“You are?” He doesn’t look particularly surprised.
“Yeah. I’m trying to get out of it, to be honest. My friend and I want to open a spa so we’re working on that.” I fidget with my bag. “But for now I’m just laying low. Dealing with the house and taking a break.”
I can’t keep the wariness out of my voice and I hope he doesn’t pry. I’d rather not rehash my whole messy relationship and the reasons why I’m here to a near stranger.
“What do you want our story to be?” He asks. “Like how we met?”
“I guess through the estate lawyer would make sense. Maybe we’ve been talking and just hit it off.” I shrug and look out the window. “The simpler the story, the more believable it’ll be.”
“Yeah, agreed. And to be honest, people might not even ask.”
His parents’ house isn’t much further. We turn down a private side road, which is lined with trees, and eventually end up in an open clearing. The massive, sprawling ranch-style house is gorgeous, with a big garden and yard in the front. All my Googling told me his family had to be well-off, but they’re more well-off than I even thought.
“We’re still good on everything we discussed?” He asks as he parks in front of a massive six car garage.
“Yep, all good.” My heart is about to pound out of my chest, though.
