Page 18 of Shadowed Rubies
Max had his back to us. He was banging relentlessly on something with a hammer. His navy shirt stretched taut over his broad shoulders as he moved. I would have gladly watched him do that all day, but one of the guys called out to him. When he stopped pounding, the man pointed to me.
Straightening to his full height, Max glared in my direction, making no move to come to me.
My confident stride faltered when I saw his angry stare. Once I was within speaking distance, I said, “I misspoke earlier.” The words came out as a croaky whisper, so I cleared my throat, licked my lips, and tried to get my point across again. “I meant to say the answer is yes.”
It felt like eons as I waited for his reaction. His face was an unreadable mask.
Had I waited too long? Was he not going to forgive me for initially declining his offer of a date? Had he changed his mind?The concerned thoughts rapid-fired in my mind, hammering as quickly as Max had been when I walked back in.
When he broke into a wide, dazzling smile, it nearly bowled me over. I let out a deep whoosh of air from my lungs, suddenly realizing that I must have been holding my breath.
His deep voice rumbled when he said, “I’ll pick you up tomorrow at seven.”
Not trusting my voice to refrain from squeaking with excitement, I merely nodded and turned to leave.
I was only a few steps away when Max called after me, “If you’ll let me, I’ll show you the time of your life, Dr. Waters.”
Rather than attempting to devise a coy response, I kept on walking. It didn’t seem wise to reveal to him that his promise was precisely what I was afraid of.
21
Max
What was one supposed to wear on a date with the woman of his dreams? I had asked the guys at the station, but their answers mostly involved neckties, and I simply wasn’t a suit and tie kind of guy. I wanted to put my best foot forward with Dani, but I didn’t want to blatantly false advertise.
I wished I could ask Molly or our mother for advice, but either woman would latch onto the news about my date with Dani and badger me with questions. My father was known for saying that Wrangler jeans went with everything, so I wasn’t going to him for any fashion tips.
Eventually, I decided on my newest pair of Levi’s and a light blue button-up shirt. I tucked the shirt in and put on a belt to help dress up the casual look a bit. There was no point in pretending to be something that I wasn’t. If Dani didn’t like the real me, then things would never work out between us anyway.
I pushed the errant thought out of my brain that we were already destined for a breakup before we really even started, regardless of what she thought of my wardrobe. Dani’s career would take her back to Boston, or some other metropolis, once things calmed down from the heartbreaking loss of her father.
As much as I’d like to think I could follow her and become a big city fireman, I knew that deep down, I was a lifer in Brunswick Bay Harbor. I was a small-town boy at heart, and this quaint little town was, and always would be, my home.
After opening for the first time the bottle of aftershave Molly had given me a couple of Christmases ago, I patted some on. Since I usually never bothered with the stuff, I hoped I hadn’t overdone it. The last thing I needed was for the overwhelming smell of my cologne to greet Dani before I did.
With a quick final glance in the mirror to make sure I didn’t have a piece of hair poking out in some odd direction, I proclaimed myself to be ready for our date. Since my hands were sweaty and clammy, I swiped them down the front of my jeans before taking long strides across the room to grab my phone and keys.
The phone’s screen lit up when I picked it up. Although I was relieved to see that Dani hadn’t texted to cancel while I was in the shower, it was disheartening to note that I still had forty-five minutes before it would be time for me to leave to go pick up Dani.
I paced and stewed and tried to watch television. Each time I glanced at the time, thinking that a half hour must have passed by, it was only five minutes later than the last time I had checked. Although it was the longest stretch of waiting time in my life, it did eventually pass. Once it did, I wished I had made better use of the time by coming up with some interesting anecdotes and conversation starters, but it was too late for that now.
Dani opened the bright red front door of her mother’s house as soon as I walked up the sidewalk. I had been intending to take a deep breath before knocking on her door. In my mind, I envisioned smoothly telling her she looked even lovelier than the bouquet of colorful wildflowers I’d brought her, but her sudden appearance startled me so much that I ended up just awkwardly shoving the arrangement in her direction.
While she went inside to put the flowers in water, I sat down on their hanging front porch swing and ordered myself to calm down. This was too important for me to blow my chance with Dani within the first few minutes.
The biting wind was cold on my cheeks as I waited for her to return. Despite my efforts to ease my jittery nerves, my knees jiggled up and down, jostling the entire swing.
As soon as Dani emerged from the front door, I bolted to stand up. It was too chilly to sit out here anyway, and I wanted to get our date officially started. Maybe once we were alone together in the truck, my anxiety would lessen a bit.
When I opened the passenger’s door of the truck for her, she smiled in appreciation. It was a small gesture that was ingrained into my personality, but my guess was that the jerks she met in the big city didn’t have a polite bone in their bodies. As I jogged around the tailgate toward the driver’s side, I ordered myself to play it cool. I was a catch, and there was no reason for Dani not to like me. Just because she was the epitome of perfection didn’t mean that she shouldn’t give me a chance.
Once I was seated behind the steering wheel, I turned and got a good look at her. She nearly took my breath away. Her creamy complexion appeared flawless in the glow of the old-fashioned, torch-style street lamp. Her eyes were shining with anticipation as she gave me a warm smile, and I completely lost my train of thought.
When the silence hung in the air a bit too long, Dani asked, “So, where are we headed?”
“How about The Rusty Nail Saloon?” I suggested.
Dani wrinkled her nose. “It’s really smoky in there.”
