Page 23 of Defending A Promise
“Jealous?”
“Yeah. I miss having friends like that. Although I enjoyed living in Atlanta – it’s nothing like living in a small town; like living at home. I missed Hibiscus Harbor and the sense of community. Atlanta, or any bigger city for that matter, is just too big to have that feeling.” She eats the last of her burger. “I think it’s pretty great that you guys did that for Reid.”
“Yeah, well… he would have done it for any of us.” I’m not too sure what else to say. Maybe it’s a guy thing, but we saw Reid needed us, so we showed up. Not much else to talk about. It’s what you do for a life-long friend.
“You guys are lucky.” She plays with Nicholas’ hair. “It’s what I’m hoping I’ll find again now that I’m on the kickball team. The ladies on my team all seem pretty great, so far.”
“So far?”
She laughs at my question. “Yeah, so far. You’re not a girl, so you have no idea how catty women can be towards each other. But in all fairness, I haven’t seen any of that with these women. It’s kind of refreshing.”
“Speaking of kickball, what’s your schedule look like this week? What are your plans?”
She laughs, “Are we doing the whole domestication thing already? It’s kind of soon, isn’t it?”
I raise one eyebrow at her, “We can if you want to. Don’t tempt me.”
She stares back at me, and I’d pay every penny I have in the bank to know what’s going through her pretty little head right now because I can’t tell by the look on her face. Did I scare her? Did I freak her out? Did I excite her?
“Really, in all seriousness… what’s your schedule for the both of you this week? Just trying to keep you both safe, Riley. That’s all.” I add the last part in case I did actually scare her.
“Um, well, Ian Gallo wants to meet with me to get me signed on as the official event planner for Hibiscus Harbor Country Club.”
“Wow. That’s exciting. Are you going to do it?”
She looks down at her son who is dancing in his seat as he continues to color on his placemat in between eating chicken fingers and then nods at me. “If he offers, then yes, I’ll do it. Depending on what the contract says, of course, but it’s time to create, or reestablish, my roots. For him.” She nods to her son.
“I’m really glad to hear that. For more reasons than you’d think.”
“Really? Like what?”
I look around at all the people laughing, dancing, and having a good time. “Well, Hooplas would like to hire you to be our event planner, as well.”
Her eyes almost bug out of her face as she sits forward in excitement. “Really? Like what kinds of events were you guys thinking?”
“Well, for starters, we’d like to do something for Labor Day. Then, the major holidays. You know, to drum up business and like you said earlier – bring the community together. We own the empty lot next door and we’re thinking that would make a great area to hold stuff like what you put together for Kate and Hudson.”
I can almost see the thoughts growing in her head. Her eyes are dancing around the place as she takes in the atmosphere of Hooplas. She starts nodding, “I can see it. That would be great for business for you guys and for the town.”
“We’d like for you to think about it and maybe bring some ideas to our next meeting?”
“When is your next meeting?”
“Wednesday night. We’ll be meeting here after work. There’s a conference room in the back. No rush, though and no pressure. If you can’t do it – or don’t want to do it – it’s fine.”
“No rush? Labor Day is in four weeks. We’re already late if we want to get this going for this year.” She pulls out her day planner and starts jotting things down.
“What are you doing there?”
“She’s writing. She gets like this when she’s excited,” Nicholas says as he keeps coloring.
I watch the two of them focused on what’s in front of them when I notice my partner Jax walk up to our table. “Hey man.” I shake his hand.
“Hey. What’s up, little man?” He shakes Nicholas’ hand. “How are you doing, Riley?” He kisses her on the cheek, andI have to hold back my knee-jerk reaction to punch him for putting hands on her. She’s not mine and I’m not a barbarian… I think.
“Good.”
“Riley’s agreed to plan our Labor Day event,” I tell him to distract myself from wanting to kill my partner.
