AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I spent the next week at work practically floating. I kept reminding myself not to get my hopes up, that this thing was just starting between the two of us, so it was too soon to know how it would go, but our day on Sunday had been perfect. And that kiss…damn, that was hot. I couldn’t wait until our date on Saturday so we could do it again.
I was at work Thursday morning when I got another text from him. He sent me one every morning just to say hello and every night to ask how my day had been, so you would think I would be used to it by now, but I wasn’t. Instead, I still got a little thrill every time I checked my phone and saw his name.
Nash: Hey, baby boy. I have to go to Sweet Springs today. Do you want me to grab you anything at the bookstore?
I chuckled. Like I didn’t still have a stack of books I’d gotten when we went the Sunday before.
Me: No, I’m good. But thanks for asking.
Nash: You’re welcome. Do you have lunch, or should I drop off some lo mein?
Me: Lo mein, please!!
Nash: I have to get back to the ranch, so I can’t stay, but I’ll drop it off at the front desk for you.
Sure enough, an hour later, Monica called me from up front to let me know I had food up there, but I didn’t make it before he’d left. I still had no idea where we were going on our date, and I was hoping to steal a kiss and get him to tell me when he dropped the food off, but I’d been with a patient.
This was my second missed opportunity to find out. I’d hoped to get it out of him on Wednesday when I went out to the ranch to hang out with Nolan, but unfortunately, Nash and Don had to go over near Llano to pick up a horse. This was the second time in as many weeks that they’d had to make a long-distance trip to get one. Nolan said he and Cruz were working on a solution for how they were going to handle that, but for now, bringing the horses to a safe space was the most important thing.
Finally, when he sent me a good morning text on Friday, I told him at the very least he had to let me know what kind of place we were going to so I would know what to wear. The last thing I wanted to do was show up in club attire to go to a nice restaurant or to show up dressed to go somewhere nice when he was taking me to a barbecue joint. I honestly didn’t care where we went. I was excited to just be going somewhere with him, but darnit, he had to help me out here. He replied back with casual but nice. I didn’t want to push him any further. But I had no idea what that meant. So, when it came time to get ready, I did the only thing I knew to do. I called my dad.
“Hey, kiddo, what’s up?” he answered.
“I need your advice.”
“Okay, everything all right?” Always the pessimist, I swear. I knew better. I should’ve started the conversation by telling him everything was okay.
“Yes, everything’s fine. I just have a date, and I don’t know what to wear.”
He paused for a minute, probably to hide how excited he was I was finally going out on a date. He said, “Okay, where are you going?”
“That’s just it. He won’t tell me. He wants it to be a surprise.”
“Aww, I like this guy already. Who is he?”
“His name is Nash. He works on one of the local ranches here. I told him I needed to know what to wear, and he said nice but casual. I don’t know what that means.”
“Okay, I can see your problem. You don’t know where you’re going, but I assume you know this guy. So what do you think he means by that?”
Wasn’t that just like him? I swear this was his thing. Back when I was in school and went to him with a question, he would always try to lead me to find the answer for myself. Why couldn’t he just tell me what to wear?
“Is Pops there?” I asked.
He chuckled. “No, your pops isn’t here. He’s at work tonight, and don’t go calling him at the station. You got this, kiddo. Now tell me what you know about him.”
“Well, he’s from Vesper.”
“So he’s not from some small little town. He’s from a city.”
“Right, and he drives a really nice truck.”
“So he has a little bit of money. And he’s asked you out, which means we know he has good taste.”
I rolled my eyes but didn’t say anything. Both my dads were convinced I was a great catch.
“Okay.” And as always, he was right. I did have this. I’d just needed to sort it out for myself. “So probably not somewhere super fancy or he wouldn’t have said casual, but not a dump because, like you said, he has taste.”
“See, there you go. So what are you going to wear?”
