“Yup,” I said. “Have to go home and change before.”
“Unless you plan on taking her to chop down trees, I would hope so,” Everett said and laughed. “That said, who is it?”
“Yeah, who is it?” Lauren asked from the doorway. I could see down the hallway a bit to where the playpen sat out in the living room. Little Carson was happily dozing in the center of it.
“Do you listen to all my conversations?” I asked cheekily.
“The ones I can overhear, yeah,” Lauren laughed. “Come on, who is it? Is it Rebecca? It’s Rebecca, isn’t it?”
“Rebecca? Dina’s Rebecca?” Everett asked.
“Yes,” I said. “But it’s just a dinner date. Nothing serious. Don’t go making a big deal out of it.” While technically that was said to both, I thought both of them knew I was aiming that at Lauren.
“Wow,” Everett said. “Rebecca, wow.”
Lauren had already squealed a bit and turned to leave the room, and as she did, Everett shut the door behind her, then turned to me.
“You said wow like you thought something was off,” I said. “What is it?”
“Nothing’s off, per se,” he said. “Just surprising, that’s all.”
“What’s so surprising about it? She’s single. I’m single.”
“You’re also almost as old as me,” Everett said. “And she’s, what, twenty-five?”
“And?”
“Nothing,” Everett said, raising his palms in defense. “As long as you’re good with it, that’s all that matters.”
“Can I be honest?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“I know I’m too old for her,” I said, sighing. “I know it. Like in the back of my mind, I know this is just a silly date, and we’ll go out and nothing will come of it, right?”
“Okay,” Everett said noncommittally.
“So, what’s the harm?” I asked. “I’m going to act like a gentleman, I’m pretty sure she has a crush on me, and I find her incredibly interesting, fun, and attractive. Why feel bad about that?”
“I mean, you’re right. You have nothing to feel bad about. You said she has a crush on you?”
“Yeah. I think. She gets all flushed when she talks to me, or I look at her. When I asked her out, she was so shocked she could barely move.”
“Well, that’s either a really good thing or a really bad thing,” Everett said. “But you know what? I’m going to say good thing. Because you deserve this.”
“I do?” I asked, surprised by the sudden turnaround.
“Yeah, man,” Everett said. “It’s been for flipping ever since you went out with a woman, and frankly, I deserve to have the house to myself for a night. A night of peace and quiet where I can sit around and watch movies in my underwear with the volume turned up sounds amazing.”
“You do that anyway. I’ve seen it.”
“Yeah, but I get to do it without your judgy bullshit,” he laughed. “Come on, dude, you’re fine. You are a little older than her, but she’s not a teenager either. This should be cool for you.”
“I just hope I remember how to date,” I said. “It’s been a bit.”
“Just go home and shower and don’t wear too much cologne,” Everett said. “Everything else will take care of itself. If she digs you, then she digs you as you normally are, so don’t try to be anything other than that.” He paused for a second and then grinned. “Maybe a smidge better than that.”
“Dickhead,” I muttered, laughing as I sat back in the chair. ““Seriously, though, if you feel like you’re heading back our way, just shoot me a text. I can make myself very scarce if need be.”
“Oh, I don’t think it will be anything like that. Just a simple dinner and maybe a stroll. Nothing too exciting.”
I believed every word of what I was saying.
I just didn’t mention how much I was secretly hoping for more.
10
REBECCA
The first thing I woke up to Wednesday morning was a text from Gus telling me he really needed me to come in that night and Thursday evening after working at the diner. He had a ton of appointments, and some of the pieces the clients wanted were huge and complex, meaning he was going to need my help managing the other clients, dealing with the administrative stuff, and keeping the shop cleaned up.
I wasn’t looking forward to that when I first read the message. I also wasn’t going to turn down the opportunity, of course. Packing those long hours into a couple of days meant earning more money I could tuck away into my savings account and more experience to get closer to Gus thinking I was ready to apprentice under him. It just meant I was going to be running nonstop for days.
That was before Deacon asked me out. Once I had the promise of that date on Friday to look forward to, I was happy for the stuffed schedule. If I was constantly on the run and had a million things to do filling up my mind, it would keep me occupied, and I wouldn’t just get lost in thinking about the date.