Page 214 of As They Are
“By the end of this, I’ll be getting coffee from you.” He tilted his cup. “This is from your sister store, isn’t it?”
Theo eyed the cup. “It is, though I have a different name in mind. The manager I spoke to said she didn’t have a problem with it.”
“I bet it’s gonna be the hot spot of the town,” Dean said. I saw Theo’s shoulders relax a bit. He’d been nervous about this since we first met to talk about this renovation, but Dean’s easygoing nature seemed to calm most people. “Should we get started?”
“I have one thing before we do. You’re staying in one of the hotels for a month, right?” I asked.
“It’s a bit of a far drive, so yeah. Why?”
“You’re from a small town, so you know how this works, right? Gossip, Facebook groups, and all that?”
“I don’t care what people say about me. I’m only here for a month.”
I groaned.
“He hasn’t met the people here, has he?” Theo asked. “They’llmakeyou care. Even if you don’t want to.”
“I doubt that.”
“Okay,” I said, getting in Dean’s line of sight. “Ground rules. Can you follow them?”
“You sound like my mom.”
“Dean.I live here. I want people to continue to trust me and those who I trust.”
He let out a sigh. “Fine. What are the rules?”
I read them off each finger. “Don’t add to the population. Don’t subtract from the population. Stay out of the hospital, the newspaper, and most importantly, the Facebook group.” I paused when I realized he wasn’t looking at me. He was lookingbehind me.I turned, only to see Grace walking down the street. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
Dean didn’t budge until I snapped my fingers in front of him. “What?” he asked, blinking back into himself.
“New rule. Stay away from Grace.”
“Why?”
“She’snota one-night stand type.” I turned to Theo for confirmation. “Right?”
He shrugged. “How would I know? I don’t date anyone.”
“Ever?”
“Sounds like my kind of man,” Dean added.
“Or have one-night stands.”
Dean’s eyes widened. “Then what do you do all the time?”
“Work.” He said it like it was obvious.
“Okay, then I’m gonna make an assumption based on what I’ve seen. Grace is kind and sweet and doesn’t need you breaking her heart.”
“I don’t break hearts,” Dean said. “I make it clear from day one?—”
“And yet they get mad when you leave. Just don’t do that to Grace, okay?”
He let out a sigh, but nodded. “Fine. Now, can we get to work?”
“Yes, but Theo should get first dibs.”
