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“You must go to a lot of parties.”
“I talk to a lot of people,” he admitted. “I was probably in overload.” He held up both hands at the displeasure in her blue-gray eyes. “I’m not making excuses. I’m apologizing. And I’m wondering if you’d like to go to dinner with me, so I can make it up to you.” He smiled at her, because no one had ever turned him down when he turned on the full Anderson charm, complete with this smile.
Joy softened right in front of him, but Scott refused to be smug about it. Jeff, his brother, did that, and it wasn’t a good look on a man. Women didn’t like it, at least. He tucked his hands in his pockets and rocked back onto his heels. “I can wait until you decide,” he said.
She tucked her short hair behind her ear. “I’m seeing someone already.”
No!Scott cried in his head. The word very nearly came out of his mouth. He had somewhat poor impulse control, which was why he’d walked right up to this woman and helped her with that errant swimming suit strap. That thing would haunt him forever, he was sure of it.
“Who?” he managed to ask.
Joy backed up a step. “I don’t think that’s your business, Scott.” She started to turn, and he really didn’t want his time with her to end.
He couldn’t reach out and grab her, so he simply watched as she crossed the wide porch and opened the front door. She turned back to him and said, “I accept your apology. I hope you have a good evening.”
“You too,” he said. “And hey, if it doesn’t work out with you and…whoever, you can text me. I’d love to go out with you.” He very nearly bit his tongue, because he hadn’t meant to say that.
Joy smiled, though, so maybe she liked his bluntness and his inability to control his mouth.She won’t for long, he told himself. Most women didn’t, and Scott had learned how to manage his business fairly well without too much of a filter.
Relationships, on the other hand… He was quite hopeless at those.
For Joy, he thought he could try harder than he had in the past, and when she said, “I’ll keep that in mind, Mister Anderson. Good night.” She stepped into the house and closed the door, and all the air rushed out of his lungs.
He turned away from the door, his smile covering his face and extending for a while beyond it. “Well, that wasn’t so bad.” It wasn’t good, but Scott had stopped aiming for good. “Not so bad,” was his goal now, and seeing as how he had the woman’s number now, perhaps he could slide into her text messages and woo her away from this other boyfriend.
* * *
Scott openedthe door to The Mad Mango, the annoying bell Oliver kept on it singing with the movement. There hadn’t been many cars in the parking lot, and the number of people inside matched.
Oliver Blackhurst looked up from behind the counter, his face breaking into a smile when he saw Scott. “Hey, buddy,” he said. He tossed the rag and came out from behind the counter. “You want your check.”
“That,” Scott said. “And I need the Bridge Over Troubled Water. It’shotout there.”
Oliver twisted back to the woman still behind the counter. “Bridge,” he called. “I’ve got to run into the office.” He gestured for Scott to go with him.
“You’ve got enough help this summer at least,” Scott said.
“Yeah,” Oliver said. “Took a learning curve, but I learned to hire in April. Let the high school kids work afternoons, because then they all want as many hours as they can get.” He grinned at Scott. “You?”
“Always short-staffed,” he said. His mood darkened. “I just lost Ralph too. His wife got a job in Miami, and they moved last week.”
Oliver stopped just inside the office and plucked something from a magnet board there. “Here you go. Thanks for making this place look like someone takes care of it.”
“Someone does take care of it.” Scott tucked the check into his back pocket. “Is your cousin still looking for a job?”
“You don’t want Leo.” Oliver shook his head. “I tried, trust me. He’smycousin, andIfired him.” He grinned at Scott. “Have you checked the community board?”
“Yes.” Scott sighed. “It’s fine. I’ll figure something out.” They went back out into the shop. Only one couple remained at a table, and Scott moved over to the counter. His smoothie wasn’t quite ready yet, and he leaned against the counter where the cash register waited.
He pulled out his wallet as Oliver rung him up. “Harry’s back from his honeymoon. Are you going to his barbecue tonight?” He acted like he didn’t care, but if Oliver wasn’t there, Scott probably wouldn’t go.
He liked hanging out with Grant, Harrison, Oliver, Blake, and whoever else Harrison would invite. Sometimes his brother came. Sometimes Grant or Blake would have their kids with them. But Grant and Harrison had wives now, and while Scott wasn’t upset about that, he certainly didn’t want to listen to them talk about how he needed a girlfriend.
He got enough of that from his mother, and his sister. Sometimes his secretary even tried to set him up with her sister, her friend down the street, or someone she chatted with at the grocery store for five minutes.
Scott really didn’t want to deal with that tonight, even if Harrison could grill a mean hamburger.
“I should be going, yeah,” Oliver said. “You?” He took the twenty Scott gave him and started to make change.
