AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ll think about it,” I finally told Colin with a gentle smile. “That’s the best I can do right now.”
I noticed that Colin’s expression changed to one of disappointment. It seemed like he really was interested in me and I liked him a lot, even if it was just as a friend. I hated seeing him frown. I wanted to reassure him.
“I promise, I’ll really, really think about it,” I added and touched his hand.
Colin only nodded in response before turning away and carrying on working on pricing up the cans. It didn’t take long, we had finished almost all of them, but we carried on chatting in an upbeat way, even if it was a little more awkward than before.
As we were finally leaving the back room, I turned to Colin. “I’m pretty sure that pricing gun saw more action this morning than I’ve seen in the last five years!” I joked, attempting to lighten the mood.
Colin laughed whole-heartedly and put his hand on my shoulder, smiling down at me. “You really are something, Rylee Bratton,” he whispered and I couldn’t help but smile back for a moment.
My smile was wiped away in an instant, however, when I looked up to see the person that seemed to be haunting me lately: Spencer. This time, however, Spencer looked pissed.
7
Spencer
It had been just another Thursday morning for me up until I spotted Rylee in the grocery store with another man’s hand on her. I had been out for a jog in the morning before showering and deciding to see if Rylee might be working today. In spite of her reluctance to get involved with me again, I still found myself longing to see her. I wanted to look at her face and find a way to get through to her. I had to. I wasn’t going to lose her—not again.
But when I arrived at the store, I never expected to see her with another man. Jealousy overwhelmed me and I felt my whole body tense. I really, really did not like the idea of Rylee being with another man. Admittedly, they were clearly co-workers who were wearing similar uniforms and name tags, but still, I didn’t like the way the brown-haired stranger was looking down at her and smiling. I wanted to walk right over there and slap his hand right off her shoulder, but I knew I was just being dramatic. I couldn’t do that to her. If I did, she’d probably be humiliated and never speak to me again.
It hurt, however, to see her smiling back at him. Since I’d arrived back in Halston, Rylee hadn’t smiled at me, not even once. I wanted so badly to be the one to make her face light up like that and seeing someone else capable of doing it made jealousy bubble up inside me. I did my best to try and quell it, but it was overwhelming me.
Trying to be sensible, I maintained my best poker face and approached her. “Rylee! It’s so good to see you. How are you doing?” I said in a way that seemed far too lively to be honest.
Rylee frowned over at me and drew her eyebrows together. “Spencer? What are you doing here?” she questioned.
“Oh, your mother asked me to pick you up and take you out to dinner with us tonight,” I explained with a pointed smile at the man stood next to her. “And who might this be? A colleague?”
“I’m Colin, I’m technically Rylee’s boss,” the brown-haired man said by means of introduction. “Speaking of which, I need to go check something on aisle three. It was nice to meet you, Spencer.” He disappeared into a crowd of shoppers and I stopped paying attention to him, instead turning my gaze back to Rylee who still looked as beautiful as ever even while wearing her bottle green work uniform.
“So, are you okay to go for dinner with us this evening?” I asked, prompting her to response.
“I don’t get it. Mom didn’t mention anything about going out for dinner tonight,” she told me with a perplexed look on her face. “Why didn’t she tell me about it herself?”
“It was meant to be a surprise!” I said with a smile, quickly thinking of an excuse to explain it. “Of course, we needed someone to come pick you up. Unless you want to walk all the way to the restaurant?”
Rylee took a deep breath and gave me a half-hearted smile. “No, of course not,” she answered with a shake of her head.
“Great!” I replied, feeling pleased that my plan was working. “What time does your shift end then? I’ll come and collect you.”
“Seven,” she told me.
“Wonderful. I’ll meet you out in the parking lot at seven then. I’m looking forward to it.” I shot her a wink before turning and walking out of the store and feeling more resolute than ever that I needed to find some way to convince Rylee that we belonged together.
