Page 12 of Heart Me Up
I thought back to Lisa’s questions yesterday morning. When was the last time I’d let myself act silly and have fun? I shook my head. Another thing to consider at a later time. I had a happy hour to go to, and the earlier I got there, the earlier I could leave.
As I walked past the front desk, Melanie called my name. I stopped and she handed me a small gray cloth pouch. “Mrs. Isaacs’ custom order for Jasper’s new collar came in. She’s laid up with a sprained ankle and can’t drive over to get it herself. Since she lives over by you, can you drop this off on your way home?”
“I have to go to the Chamber of Commerce happy hour tonight, and it’s in the opposite direction.” I considered. Mrs. Isaacs was elderly and probably wouldn’t be up late. “Can I run it by in the morning on my way to work? Maybe around 8:30?”
Melanie nodded. “I’ll call her to make sure, but go ahead and plan on it.” Melanie verified the address for me, and I put a reminder in my phone to stop by in the morning.
I opened the pouch and examined the collar. “Wow, Stan did a nice job on this.” The blue leather was tooled with gorgeous swirls. Bright white rhinestones lined the edges of the collar and “JASPER” was laid out in dark blue rhinestones across the middle with more rhinestones in the shape of paw prints on either side. It wasn’t what I’d have chosen, but Mrs. Isaacs would be pleased with it. I put the collar back in the pouch and stuffed it into my jacket pocket.
Wishing Melanie a good night, I headed for the car.
Chapter5
Craig
By the timeI arrived at Henry’s, I was more centered. I’d spent part of the drive over reminding myself I was an adult and I could be firm with Lisa, Greg and everyone else when they tried to pressure me about dating. I’d consider it, but it was my decision.
I may have also spent some of the drive reliving the memory of Detective Walkoviac’s eyes lingering on my chest yesterday. Maybe hewasgay. It’d been years since a guy had looked at me like that, though, so I was a little worried I’d imagined it.
I walked past the large picture window that framed one side of the bar before entering through the front door. I stopped in my tracks.What the hell?
Detective Walkoviac, in the flesh, was standing against the end of the bar as if I’d conjured him. When his gaze locked on mine, his eyebrows went up and a big grin spread across his face. He was wearing a dark blue button-down shirt which set off his black hair and made his eyes appear even darker.
Maybe I am ready to date.Shit. I forced myself to stop staring and walk over to him.
“Hi, Detective. What brings you here?” There. I sounded casual, right?
“Craig, it’s good to see you. Please call me Foster.” He made a hopeful face. “Um, I don’t suppose you go by any sort of nickname that sounds likeJames, do you?”
“No?”
His face dropped. “Yeah, I didn’t think so.” He shook his head and chuckled. “I let my great aunt set me up on a blind date. The guy’s name is James.”
I badly needed a minute to process everything I’d just heard, but there was no time if I wanted to act like a normal person. I’d figure out how I felt about his date being a guy later.
“You let your great aunt set you up on a blind date?”
He nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. “He’s the grandson of a woman from her church. Aunt Charlotte said if I went on this date and stayed for at least an hour she’d bake me a pie a week for the next month.” He grinned. “Her pies are good enough to be worth it.” Then his smile turned as sweet as a Golden Retriever asking to be petted. “But when I saw you I was hoping this wouldn’t be a waste of time after all. I guess I’ll just have to suffer through it.”
He thought it wouldn’t be a waste of time to have a date with me? Something else to push aside and deal with later.
“Hey, guys, I’m Daren. What can I get you?” The bartender was pretty, with a shaved head and warm hazel-brown eyes, but next to Foster he might as well have been invisible. Crap, this was bad.
I asked for a gin and tonic, and Foster ordered a beer. I paid for our drinks, which seemed to surprise Foster. He thanked me. I would’ve loved to have continued talking to him, but I felt awkward with the imminent arrival of James the blind date looming over us.
“Well, I’ll leave you to your, um, date. I’m heading to the back room. There’s a Chamber of Commerce happy hour I have to show my face at.”
Foster appeared disappointed, which was gratifying. “Oh. Well, it was good to see you again. And, hey, I told my neighbor Silvia about what her daughter and granddaughter did.” He twisted his mouth wryly. “She’s not mad at you anymore.”
There was my opening for spending more time with him. “Oh, I’d love to hear what she said. Um, hey, would you like for me to come rescue you later? I can keep an eye on you and if the date goes badly you can give me some sort of signal and I can interrupt.”
If his smile was anything to go by, he was glad to have an excuse to see me again as well. “You’d be willing to do that? I’d really appreciate it.”
We agreed if the date went south he’d run his hand through his hair. I should be able to see him from the doorway to the back room.
The bartender was standing near us, blatantly eavesdropping. I grinned at him and told Foster, “When I walk up, if you don’t need rescuing, call me ‘Greg’. But if you do need rescuing, call me by my real name.” I winked—fuck, why did I wink? “People mix up our names all the time, so Greg and I made a rule that we wouldn’t pretend to be each other when we were doing embarrassing shit.” I hadn’t done something like this since college. “Also, you need to tell me how embarrassing I can be to get you out of your date.” This counted as fun, right? Lisa would be so proud of me.
Foster was amused. “Sounds like you’ve done this before. Okay, if I don’t need rescuing I call youGreg,but if I do, then I call youCraig. And I don’t care what you do to get me out of it, if that’s what you’re asking. Be as embarrassing as you want. Make a spectacle, whatever it takes. If Aunt Charlotte hears about it at church, it’s only what she deserves.”
