Page 24 of No Rings Attached
“Hey. There’s not a single person in this company that hasn’t sung your praises to me about working with you. They know why you have this position, and it’s not because you’re with me. Okay?”
“Okay. You’re right.” She shook her head. “You’re right. I was just freaking out. Holding hands is fine and I know we’ll have to show some PDA for people to believe we’re really together.”
I gave in to my desire to rub my thumb along her chin. “Nothing to be sorry about. You had a valid concern. I’m glad you felt comfortable enough to share it with me.” I let go, feeling the loss of her already. “Is there anything you could think of that’s off the table? I don’t want to ever make you feel uncomfortable again.”
“I don’t think so,” she paused, and then shook her head. “Although, I am ready to see the town you love so much.” She tentatively stuck her hand in mine, and I closed my fingers gently around hers.
“Anything in particular you’d like to visit first?”
She grinned. “How about your favorite spots?”
“There are probably more places that are my favorite versus the ones that are not,” I admitted. I loved my town.
“Well, let’s get started, then.” She flashed a devastating smile and it took every ounce of self-control for me not to whoop in victory.
We set an easy pace down the sidewalk and turned onto Main Street. Ellie’s steps slowed as we passed the first business, The Ruby River Mercantile. She peeked into the general store’s large front window, currently decorated with a hand-drawn scene depicting our local apple orchard and a flyer for our upcoming Ruby Night.
“Who drew this? It’s so realistic.” Ellie whispered, her fingertips tracing the lines of the tree in the air over the glass.
I stopped to admire it with her. “One of our high school seniors, Mia Thompson, is an amazing artist. She works part-time at the store. She was one of those kids that was drawing life-like pictures for everyone in kindergarten.” I waved to the manager, Mary Thompson, Mia’s grandmother, who was at the register just inside the window. She’d worked for the store for as long as I could remember, and even though she was a manager now she stepped in wherever she was needed, including the checkout counter.
As we passed by the bank, my third grade teacher stepped out the door. She was impeccably dressed as always with her short gray bob held back with a headband, crisply pressed slacks, and a sweater combo underneath her open coat. The small pup in her arms was dressed in the doggie version of Ringo Starr’s Sgt. Pepper outfit. Its pink satin military-style jacket was adorned with blue rope and gold details, including fringed epaulettes and shiny buttons.
“Drew Kingsley. How lovely to see you. How have you been?” Her brown eyes flicked over to Ellie before settling back on me.
“Great, Mrs. Knapp. And you?”
“Can’t complain. I have the grandbabies coming to visit this weekend.” Her eyes sparkled with delight. “And who do we have here?”
I threw my arm around Ellie’s shoulder. “This is my girlfriend, Ellie. Ellie, this is my favorite teacher, Mrs. Knapp.”
Ellie’s eyes grew wide and I wasn’t sure if it was because of that tidbit of gossip or the overly dressed pooch. And just like that, she and I did our part in activating the Ruby River gossip mill. Mrs. Knapp was a sweet woman, but she couldn’t keep a secret to save her life. “Well, now. How lovely. I’ll just have to tell my Victoria you’re off the market now,” she teased.
I gave her a faint smile. Victoria was five years older than me. But that wasn’t the reason we’d never dated. She was nice enough, and we’d chat anytime we ran into each other when she was home visiting her mother, but there wasn’t a spark of any kind for either of us.
“Well, I should get going. I forgot Ringo’s hat for his costume at home. The theme this week is our favorite musician and you know I had to dress him like his namesake.”
“Good luck!” I said knowingly as she smiled and thanked me. With a wave, she said goodbye and turned toward the parking lot.
“Theme for what?” Ellie asked.
Her blue gaze drew me in. This was supposed to be fake, but I couldn’t help but want to wrap my arm around her so that everyone we passed knew she was mine.
“Drew?”
I’d forgotten what she’d even asked. “What?”
Her nose scrunched up. “Ringo. Themed costumes?”
I blinked a few times. Right. “Our new mayor, Everly, is big into fostering town togetherness. She took suggestions, and one group wanted regular get togethers for dog owners. At their first meetup, Billy Johnson and Janie Locke got into a fight about who had the cutest dog, so Glamma had to get involved.”
“Oh, no.” Ellie turned her head, her cheek now resting on my chest as she stifled her laughter. “And what did Glamma do?”
“She said the only way to handle it was to have a dog fashion show and let the other owners vote for the winner. Well, that snowballed and everyone wanted to participate. So every week, anyone can dress up their dog, walk them around the town green, and a small group of judges vote on the winner.”
“And what do they win?”
I chuckled. “Bragging rights.”
