“Girl, let’s spruce you up for tonight.”
Felicity rolled her eyes and shook her head.
She stepped aside and let Rebecca come in, then shut the door and followed her back to her bedroom. When she was there, Rebecca had her sit on the bed as she took a step back and looked her up and down.
“What kind a date is this? Fancy? Causal, or you have no damn idea?”
Felicity grimaced. “Let’s go with the latter.”
For the next twenty minutes, Felicity let Rebecca primp and prep her. This was not something she’d ever done … worried about how she looked before a date.
Sure, she’d been on a couple in the past, but Felicity had never gotten close with anyone. She’d never wanted to get close.
But then there was something about Hawk. He conjured something up in her, made her feel alive even though they hardly knew each other. And she felt crazy for it.
She knew that it was most likely just a sexual thing for him. He was attractive and successful. She was plain and had been called homely. Not to mention he was in shape, toned, and she was … not. Surely this was really just a dinner for him, maybe him thinking he’d get a piece of ass afterward?
No way would he want something more with a girl like her. She could only imagine the type of woman he went after.
“Earth to Felicity,” Rebecca said and she realized by the expression on her friend’s face that what she’d been thinking about had been pretty loud and clear.
“What?”
“Are you okay?”
She nodded. “Just nervous.” She sat on the bed and Rebecca sat beside her and grabbed her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
“Hey, if you don’t want this you don’t have to go. If you want me to cancel for you, I’ll be more than happy to.”
Felicity shook her head and smiled. “No, that’s the problem. I actually want to do this and that’s what scares me the most.”
Rebecca gave her a confused looked, and then her eyes widened and realization crossed her face. “Oh. So you like, want to do this with Hawk? Like this isn’t just an obligatory thank-you date?”
Felicity shook her head. There was no point in lying to Rebecca.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Felicity shrugged. “Is that really wrong?”
Rebecca snorted. “I would’ve thought you were blind if you didn’t have a thing for Hawk.” They both started laughing.
“So you don’t think this is the stupidest mistake of my life, that I’m not opening myself up to heartbreak?”
Rebecca gave her a smile that was part sympathy and part uncertainty. “Listen, I don’t know how things will play out, and neither do you unless you go out there and experience them. But if you really like Hawk, then I say go for it. Who cares if we’re considered competitors? Who cares about any of that? You only live once and this life is so short.”
Rebecca had a way of making things seem so much better. She could take someone down from an emotional ledge with a few perfectly spoken words.
“Just jump in and be honest. Worst that can happen is he’s not on that same page with you. And it’s better to know that in the beginning than further down the road, you know what I mean?”
Felicity nodded. Yeah, she knew exactly what Rebecca meant. And that’s the part that scared her the most … that if she let herself really fall for Hawk, if she opened up her heart, he would end up breaking it.
5
“It’s not like you to be nervous, son.”
Hawk looked at his father, who leaned against the doorframe of his office. With the parade coming up, they had kept the café open longer than usual. There were more tourists in the area, which is why he always made sure to participate. This was in his blood, and if his mother was still alive, she’d be all over it. It was a way to keep her memory alive for his father as well.
“I’m fine.”
“I see you’re not disputing you’re nervous.”
“When you went on your first date with Mom, how did you feel?”
“I was so scared I had to keep going to the bathroom.”
Hawk burst out laughing.
“It’s not a joke. It turned out I’d gotten food poisoning from one of those food trucks. It didn’t spoil the night one bit. In fact, I think your mother fell in love with me because of it.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “We went to see a movie together. It was one in a drive thru. Old fashioned like, and I had a bag, and she kept rubbing my back, but no matter how rotten I felt, I was determined to see the date through, and that’s exactly what I did. Every single date after that was perfect.”
“Are you offering to give me food poisoning?” he asked, smiling.