AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Del narrowed her eyes. “You stalked him online, didn’t you?”
“Maybe.”
An exasperated sigh escaped her. “Then we might as well address the elephant in the room. Out with it—what’d you find?”
“That’s just it—I haven’t found anything.” Mia threw her hands up. “Nothing at all.”
“So?”
“What do you mean, ‘so’? Don’t you find it odd—a techie with zero online presence?”
“Not everyone loves to sit around posting their favorite memes on Facebook, you know. If you look me up, do you find an online presence?”
“But you’re not a supposed computer whiz. Do you even have any proof that he does what he said he did?”
“No,” she said, hating to admit it. “But the way he talked, he sure sounded like he knew an awful lot about it.”
“What if he’s just saying those things to impress you?” Mia shook her head. “I don’t want to see you get hurt again, sweetheart.”
“Great, because that makes two of us.”
Her grin wasn’t reciprocated. She watched Mia gather her things, unsettled that her sister was taking this so seriously. Was there more to her research than she’d shared?
“Please promise me you’ll be cautious.”
“I will.”
“I mean it, Delaney. You are far more important to me than the bookstore. If you get the slightest hint that this guy is a phony or bad news, you tell me, and we’ll find someone else to help us.”
“Fine.”
Mia hugged her good-bye then left through the side door, her words still rattling around Del’s brain. Mia was correct: they really didn’t know much about Isaac. But Del wasn’t one to judge a person by their social media presence, either. Too much of that was contrived, people painting the best pictures of themselves. It wasn’t real. And though, no, she didn’t know everything there was to know about Isaac Manning, what she had seen of him so far was that he was a hard-working man who cared deeply for his dog and others. That he was funny, handsome, and a heck of a kisser were just added bonuses. Besides, they needed a web person, and who was she to turn away the one who’d just fallen into their laps?
Mia just worried too much, was all. A cheating ex would do that to a person. And while, yes, Del had been burned before, she didn’t plan on letting her heart get anywhere near a flame to let that happen again. They were just having fun. Heck, it was one kiss!
No, in her mind, the bigger concern of the night was the slim window of time they had to pull together this talent show.
Six measly weeks?
Del tucked Mia’s warning into the back of her mind and grabbed her cell. Surely, nine o’clock wasn’t too late to text the man poised to help save them all. She sent him a quick message.
We need to talk.
*
Isaac woke beforethe sun Monday morning, disoriented and absolutely roasting. Eyes open, he found himself in his recliner instead of his bed, Louie sprawled across his chest. All the drama from the night before must have caught up with them both.
On a groan, he eased the bulldog furnace off him and rose to grab a cooling drink of water before migrating to bed where they both belonged. Rehydrated but still groggy, he gathered his cell phone from the kitchen counter and shuffled toward his bedroom.
It was 4:00 a.m., and he’d missed a text from Del.
We need to talk.
Crap.Apparently, he wasn’t the only one having second thoughts about that kiss. Worse yet, she’d sent it last night after he must have collapsed in the recliner from both physical and emotional exhaustion. Would she think the worst since he hadn’t responded?
He sent a quick text back, thanking her again for her help last night and confessing he’d fallen asleep early, and hit send. Reading what he’d sent, he shook his head—he’d forgotten to answer her message. Isaac dragged a hand down the side of his face. Maybe he should have waited to text when he was more awake. He sent another text, agreeing they should talk about this and to call anytime. Then he set his alarm and crawled into bed, hoping to get a few more hours of sleep before officially starting his day.
His phone chimed. Man, he was out of it, forgetting to silence his phone. Isaac knew better, since he got email notifications all hours of the day. On a sigh, he reached over to silence it and found a response from Del:
