Page 60 of The Hometown Dilemma
Cami and Braden were in the living room. Given the way they hastily rearranged their clothes as I walked in, I swear they must have been in the middle of a heavy make-out session.
“How did it go?” Cami asked, running a hand through her mussed-up hair.
I hid a smile as Braden pulled one of the couch cushions over his groin. Thank God I hadn’t come in five minutes later. “Always emotional finishing a job. Even more so when it’s the first one for your own business.” The smile turned into a fully-fledged grin. HIDE was already a hit. As well as Moira, I was talking to Shannon about revamping her B&B, The Inn, plus some other friends of Mom’s who had originally thought of moving, but then decided to stay put and invest in their current properties based on Moira’s experiences.
“I’m proud of you, sis. We should celebrate with champagne tonight.”
“What? And ruin the Panthers tradition of beer and wings?” Braden’s expression was horrified. “If I don’t have that, we won’t win.”
Cami ruffled his hair. “Aww, you’re so cute.”
“I need to get changed before we go over to the bar,” I said, plucking at my formal skirt and blouse. “Not sure this is a good Monday night football look.”
“Shouldn’t take you long to put on a Dempsey’s t-shirt and jeans, right?” teased Cami.
I poked my tongue out at her, not even meriting her question with a verbal response, then turned and headed up the stairs. It didn’t take me long to select a new outfit: jeans and a simple white, floaty broderie anglaise shirt. Slicking on a fresh layer of lip-gloss, I pulled my hair out of its functional half ponytail and shook the mahogany length loose over my shoulders. There wasn’t much time to do anything else.
Braden drove the three of us over to Dempsey’s in his Jeep.
The bar was ready for its grand reopening, festooned with banners and balloons, and the small parking lot was already crammed.
My heart swelled at the thought of the local support for the family run bar. They’d worked so hard to restore it to its former glory and tonight signaled a new chapter.
When we got inside, Violet and Lloyd were behind the bar, Brad and Terri covering the floor, along with several other newer staff I didn’t recognize.
There was one notable absentee, and even though I looked around, I couldn’t see Wade anywhere.
“Come on, let’s get a table.” Cami pulled at my arm. “Braden’s buddies have saved us some space and if we don’t go now, we’ll lose it.”
The thought of spending the evening with a bunch of kids didn’t exactly fill me with joy, but what option did I have? “Sure. I’ll be over in a minute. I want to speak to Violet and Lloyd first.” Leaving them to go and find their friends, I went over to the bar.
“Jaime! How are you?” Violet immediately stopped what she was doing and turned her attention to me. “We haven’t seen you in ages.”
“I’ve been busy finishing up the work for my first client.” It still seemed surreal to be saying that, but I honestly didn’t care. “Being a one-woman show can be difficult sometimes.”
“So happy how things worked out for you, sweetheart,” Violet said. “And glad you stayed around.”
Involuntary tears filled my eyes at her words. She didn’t know how much they meant.
Someone tapped my shoulder and I turned to see Austen holding a huge bunch of flowers.
“These are by way of an apology,” he began. “I shouldn’t have lied to you about Moira’s intentions purely for my own gains. Seeing the pictures on your social media, the project looks amazing. I want to recommend you to my clients if you’d be alright with me doing that?”
“I-” Suddenly lost for words, I was glad when someone else stepped in.
“What are you doing, Jenkins? Not making moves on my woman, are you?” Wade stepped in behind me, encircling my waist with his strong arms.
I leaned into his chest, breathing in the scent of his woodsy, citrusy aftershave, relishing his closeness.
Austen held up his hands. “Wouldn’t dream of it. Made that mistake already.” He let out a laugh. “Can I get you guys some drinks?”
“Rude not to,” I answered. Twisting around in Wade’s grasp, I tilted my face up towards him. “Hey, you.”
He moved his hands from their resting place on my hips to take my face between his palms. Pulling me towards him, he captured my lips in a tender kiss. “How’s my favorite designer today? It feels like I haven’t seen you in ages.”
Nipping at his bottom lip before drawing back, I answered. “It’s been approximately ten hours since you got out of my bed.”
“Ten hours too long,” he groaned.
