“We’ll make sure you get home. I’ll text you when we figure out what time we’ll be there.”
Once she was off the phone, Wren glanced at the time and winced. Fifteen minutes wasn’t very long, so she finished her protein bar and decided to take the coffee back to the desk with her.
“Oh, good, you’re back,” Kelli said, standing up as soon as she saw Wren. “I’m the worst at the desk, but I don’t think I screwed anything up while you were gone.”
“It was only fifteen minutes.”
“Yeah, but I’m really bad at it.”
A quick glance didn’t show anything amiss, so Wren sat and took a sip of her coffee. The phones would slow down, she guessed, since people would know it was too late in the day to get a last-second appointment.
“Oh, Wren, I forgot.” Kelli waved her next client over to the sink and then walked back to the desk. “While you were on break, some guy called and asked for you. He didn’t leave a message, though.”
Wren froze, her mind spinning. “He didn’t leave his name?”
“Nope. Just said he’d try again another time.” She started to walk away, but then turned with a big grin on her face. “Maybe it was some dude working up the nerve to ask you out for Valentine’s Day and he chickened out.”
“Maybe.” Wren forced herself to smile and then turned her attention to the appointment book.
The writing blurred, but she wasn’t really reading it anyway. She just needed a moment.
Grant would have called her cell. So would Gavin or Carter. Even Mr. Belostotsky. She couldn’t think of another man who would need to call her who wouldn’t have her cell number.
It can’t be him.
She couldn’t see any way that Ben would be in Virginia, where he belonged, and know she was working at this salon. No, she wasn’t using a fake name, but she also kept her footprint as faint as possible. Unless he hired a professional investigator, he probably wouldn’t find her. And he didn’t have that kind of money, as far as she knew. Especially after being incarcerated.
Maybe it had to do with the apartment burning, she told herself. She couldn’t remember if she’d listed the salon on what had passed for a rental agreement. She’d already been told her unit had been fully engulfed and there was literally nothing left, but maybe she needed to sign something that said she officially no longer lived in the nonexistent apartment.
Not knowing who had called left her unsettled for the remainder of the busy day, but the paperwork theory at least let her focus on the phone and the clients, and then the drive home.
By the time Gavin’s truck rolled up Patty’s driveway and Cait ran in to get her and speak to her mom for a minute, Wren had talked herself out of thinking it could be Ben. And she was more than ready to relax with whatever cocktail Lydia had concocted and enjoy herself.
* * *
Grant tried to stay away. He’d gotten the text invite to Kincaid’s from Gavin and declined. The only person he wanted to celebrate romance with was Wren and that was messy.
They’d had dinner together. They’d kissed. Maybe they were dating? He didn’t want to see anybody else and he was confident she didn’t, either, but he wasn’t sure that officially made them a couple.
And he didn’t know if he was ready for that step, anyway. As much as he couldn’t resist having her in his life again, he also couldn’t forget the sound of her tear-choked voice telling him they were done and she didn’t want to see him again. They were supposed to be getting to know each other. Taking time.
But in the end, he couldn’t stay away and he walked into Kincaid’s about an hour after Gavin said he’d be getting there. It wasn’t packed, since it wasn’t exactly a Valentine’s Day destination, but there were enough regulars to make a small crowd.
He forced himself to go straight to the bar without looking around, because he didn’t want to look as if he was searching for Wren. It was dumb, he knew, but he was struggling to maintain a clear head and some distance between them while he sorted through his emotions.
“You want one?” Lydia asked him, holding up a very red cocktail garnished with cherries in a fancy glass. There was something around the rim that looked like red-tinted sugar, but he wasn’t sure.
“I’ll take a beer.” He was pretty sure if he drank one of those cocktails, he’d be pissing pink tomorrow.
After she handed him a frosted mug filled with normal-colored beer, he took a sip and looked around. It didn’t take him long to spot Wren. She was with Gavin and Cait, laughing at something Aidan was saying.
God, he’d missed her. It had been a week and a half since he’d carried her out of her apartment and he felt as if he was just coming to grips with all that had happened.
Like the kiss. And the fact she was here separately because he hadn’t invited her out on Valentine’s Day.
There was a time he’d had game. He and Gavin had had no trouble with the ladies, but then Gavin and Cait had crossed paths. And he’d met Wren. His game was shot to hell.
She glanced his way and when she saw him, her face lit up. As always, the way she looked at him made the doubts disappear. Wren was his. He just had to let go of the shit that had gone down between them and let her back in.
