His tone wasn’t bragging, just filled with the confidence of someone who knew he was good at his job. She’d had that confidence, too, up until recently. “I’ll give you a call tomorrow once I hear from Brielle.”
“Sounds good. Oh, wait.” He scrambled out of the truck and to the passenger side. Then he opened the door. This time he held out his hand to help her out of the truck.
A warm sensation flowed through her as she slipped her hand into his. His palm was tough, calloused, and strong. She didn’t need help getting out of the truck, but now that she knew he liked helping, she allowed him to. “Thank you,” she said. Her foot hit the ground, and he let go of her hand.
He stepped back, and she slung her purse over her shoulder. Tonight had been nice. In fact, the whole time she’d spent with him was great, despite Brielle’s interruption, and it was her fault she’d let the woman get to her. Again.
“See you later,” he said.
His manners, combined with his buttery southern drawl, made her think that if he’d been wearing a cowboy hat, he would have tipped it at her. “I’ll be in touch,” she said and walked to her car. As she got inside, she glanced over her shoulder and saw him backing out of the parking space. She sighed.
Wait. Why was she sighing? Not over Rusty, that was for sure. She was tired, overworked, and unnerved by Brielle. Oh, and she had to call her mother now. All those things would make anyone let out a heavy-laden sigh.
But that wasn’t the way she’d sighed. And the more she thought about Rusty, the more the warm feeling she’d experienced touching his hand spread to the rest of her.
She drove home, still thinking about Rusty—or more accurately, thinking about how he’d made her feel. As soon as she walked inside the house, her phone rang.
Couldn’t she have a few moments to savor whatever this was she was savoring? Of course not. Grabbing her cell, she barely looked at the screen as she answered it, knowing it had to be Madge again. “Hello?” she snapped.
“Harper? Are you, like, okay?”
“Oh, sorry, Cammi.” She cringed, regretting that she’d snapped at the head of the ALS gala volunteer committee. “I, uh, thought you were someone else.”
“I know it’s weird for me to call you in the evening. Can you talk for a minute?”
“Sure.” She slipped off her shoes and walked over to the living room. She really didn’t want to deal with Cammi right now, but she didn’t want to be rude and put her off. “What’s up?”
“Well, I don’t mean to sound, you know, mean. But we’ve noticed you’ve missed the last three planning meetings for the ALS gala.”
Harper cringed again. The gala had slipped her mind. “I know, and I’m sorry. I promise I’ll be there for the next one. I’ve been so busy.”
“Tell me about it. Like, I can barely keep my head above water right now. You wouldn’t believe how crazy my schedule has been. Brooksy and I haven’t had any time alone lately.”
Harper rolled her eyes, picturing Cammi running her fingers through a lock of her straight brown hair as she complained about being busy as if she had an actual job. Her husband, Brooks, was a partner in his dad’s firm in Hot Springs and made an obnoxious amount of money.
Cammi kept talking. “But we have our yearly trip to Aspen next month, so we’ll get our, you know, alone time.”
Harper put her feet up on the coffee table. “Are you staying at his parents’ condo?”
“No. We bought one last year when we were there. Like I said to Brooksy, we might as well have our own. It’s right next door to that actor who’s in all those, like, superhero movies.”
That narrowed it down to more than a dozen. “That’s awesome, Cammi. I’m sure you and Brooksy, er, Brooks, will enjoy your time there.”
“We always do. Anyway, I need to talk to you about, you know, the bachelor auction.”
She sat up. “We’re doing one this year?”
“Uh, yeah? We decided on it, like, meeting before last. Since then, we found all the bachelors. But one of them dropped out. Could you find a replacement?”
“Um...” When was she going to find time to do that?
“All of us on the committee figured you’d want to pitch in somehow.”
Harper didn’t miss the edge in Cammi’s breezy tone. And Cammi was right, she hadn’t been as involved in the ALS gala as she’d been in the past. “Sure. I’m happy to find someone.”
“Awesome!” Cammi said. “Can you let us know, like, asap when you find him? We want to advertise who’s in the auction.”
“Of course. I’ll get right on that.”
