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6
CHRIS STOOD IN her sister’s bedroom, windows wide open—wide open in mid-October!—catching the soft flow of a Pacific breeze. She was getting ready for her date tonight with Gus, back home after his...surfer thing. He hadn’t exactly called it a date, just asked if she wanted to “hang out,” but the chemistry between them was so blazing and out of control, he couldn’t have meant anything else.
She was giddy—she couldn’t help it. This kind of crazy lust at first sight was what Eva did, not her. Sensible, cautious Chris always carefully weighed pros and cons before she moved forward. Hired to work the register at Fine Grind, she’d moved up, learning the business until the owners made noises about selling and she’d stepped in. Even then, there had been meetings, business plans and a thorough investigation of the pros and cons. Eva, looking for a house on the Central Coast, had stumbled over a run-down tourist shop near bankruptcy and snatched it up. Untried location, entirely new business. Chris never had sex on the first date, never gave in to impulse buys and always refused the second piece of cake. When she was little, for fan clubs and birthday parties, she’d draw up extensive plans and organizational charts. Eva lived most of her life on impulse.
The strange thing? Both approaches had brought the twin sisters to pretty much the same place. Both were owners of shops that were doing well but could do better. Both had survived a string of relationships that hadn’t worked out—Chris’s started slower and lasted longer, but the end result was the same.
So maybe the method didn’t matter in the big picture of success.
Or maybe she was trying hard to justify wanting to jump Gus’s bones before he even opened his mouth tonight.
The day had taken forever. Few customers had come in. She’d had a lot of time to think about Slow Pour. The location was great, but...she wondered about the store itself, which seemed so much like other shops in the area. She couldn’t help thinking about trying a few changes. Decluttering the space, focusing on fewer items for sale. Trading some of the laid-back central California vibe for a more trendy-chic energy. Maybe people would respond to something a little different?
Chris would check with Eva before she made any changes, of course, though she wouldn’t do that until her ideas had coalesced and she had a more concrete idea of what changes to suggest. She’d call Eva soon anyway to find out how her plans to catch Ames—Ames, of all people!—were going. But not right now, even though a chat would kill off the last fifteen minutes until Gus picked her up. She didn’t want to hear from her sister what a loser Gus was. Not right before she’d be seeing him.
A frisson of excitement went through her. She flopped onto Eva’s bed, landing in the middle of her assortment of fish-shaped pillows. Where would Gus take her tonight? A romantic restaurant for an intimate dinner? Then out dancing? Finishing with a drink by candlelight and a stunning view of the ocean? Then maybe...back here? His place? Only if it felt right.
Giggling, she flung herself up to sitting, then bounced off the bed, smoothing her top. She’d worked hard to pick an outfit that would fit in anywhere. Royal-blue linen shorts and a close-fitting sleeveless white tunic that hit her figure in all the right places without being obvious. Simple jewelry—earrings with lapis lazuli stones to match her shorts, necklace a glittering zigzag snake with blue eyes and a thin bracelet in plain gold. On her feet, heeled blue sandals with straps crisscrossing up her ankle.
On the radio, one of her favorite Fall Out Boy songs blared, “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race.”
She looked great, she felt great. This would be a good night. And if going crazy didn’t appeal, nothing said she had to. But she was ready. Too many nights spent here being mellow, taking walks, exercising.... She was used to having too many choices of activity, not too few.
Her doorbell rang. She grabbed a tiny white purse and slung its gold chain strap over her shoulder, hurrying to the front door, where she took a moment to make sure she looked relaxed and as if she went out with incredible hunks every night.
Sure she did.
Okay, go. She opened the door, big smile in place.
