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“Hey, bud. You good? You look like you’ve seen the Holy Grail.” Randy gave him an easy smile and put down the wooden plank he had been carrying. Stepping up beside Daniel, he cast his gaze in the same direction, and his smile widened. “Oh, I see now.”
Daniel immediately broke his stare and looked over at Randy with a withering expression. “Don’t even start with me, Randy. We’ve been over this.”
“Fine, fine,” Randy said, shrugging. “Well, we can always talk aboutmylove life. I had a simply spectacular night with Olivia Livingston last night, and I—”
With a frustrated grunt, Daniel turned back to the display, pounding at an exposed nail with the hammer. There was a part of him that was imagining it was Randy. He felt an intense irritation at how he talked about his conquests. That wasn’t how he viewed Tessa.
“Gee, you seem a bit worked out. Tessa hasreallydone a number on your cold, dead heart, hasn’t she?”
“Seriously, Randy. Give it a rest,” Daniel said, turning back around and letting the hammer drop to his side.
Randy held up his hands in defense, “Hey, all I’m saying is that you seem pretty smitten to me. What’s the hold-up? The whole town is talking about the two of you making moony faces at each other. Just go for it.”
“She’s just… she’s an anomaly,” Daniel said in frustration.
“She’s not a calculus problem, bud. She’s a perfectly fine woman who, in my humble opinion, seems just as interested,” Randy threw his arm around Daniel’s shoulder and leaned against him. “Anomaly or not, you can’t deny you’ve got it bad.”
Daniel let his eyes wander back over to Tessa. She was making a flower arrangement now with fake flowers from the town’s craft store. She laughed softly as Patty told her a story in her usual, animated way. It would be so easy to just give in to these feelings. But letting his heart lead him would likely just get him in trouble. Look where it had got his mother with his father. Even before her death, her relationship with Arthur Whittaker had been tense at the best of times.
But Tessa isn’t your father. Not even close.He knew it was true. There was a light to her spirit that Arthur had never truly possessed, to his knowledge. However, it was difficult to shed that baggage and view this thing between them as anything more than a pathway to eventual misery.
He hadn’t meant to become this jaded, but life had not always been kind to him. He had seen the ugly side of relationships—the loud arguments, the silent aftermath—and it was hard to shake those memories.
“Hey, Daniel, you in there, man?” Randy was snapping his fingers in front of Daniel’s face, a curious expression on his face. “Where did you just go? Please tell me you were imagining asking Tessa out. Because if you don’t, I might consider it.”
Daniel couldn’t hold back the growl that erupted from him. “Don’t you dare.”
“Oh, so youareinterested.”
Gripping the hammer tight in his fist, Daniel rolled his shoulders, “I never said I wasn’t. I just—I am not exactly experienced in healthy relationships. Never really had it modeled for me, either.”
Randy scratched at his head awkwardly, “Aw, man. You can’t let that stop you from giving this achance. No one is saying you have to marry the girl. But you don’t need to live like a monk, man. It’s okay to have romantic interest for the pretty new woman in town.”
Daniel swallowed thickly and ran his hand through his hair nervously.When was the last time a woman actually made menervous? He wracked his brain and figured it had to be at some point during high school. But that was the thing about Tessa. She brought out a lighter side of him, a side of him he thought he had left behind.
He wasfallingfor her. Head-over-heels falling for her. The realization was so sudden and jarring that Daniel almost stumbled where he stood. Somehow, this chaotic woman with a terrible infatuation with vampire novels had found a way into his heart.
“I—maybe you’re right, Randy.”
“I am?” Randy blinked. “Uh, I mean, of course I am Daniel! You should really listen to me more often.”
“Don’t push it,” Daniel said with a low, soft chuckle. “But I don’t know. I don’t want to justaskher. I want to do something special. She deserves that, I think.” He didn’t know where this would lead, but he wanted to start it out on the right foot.
Randy blew out a stream of air and picked up a ladder nearby. “I can’t say I have any ideas for that. I’m a bit more ‘fly by the seat of my pants,’ really. But let me know what you come up with, Romeo. I need to get this over to the ladies by the stage.” He gave Daniel a quick, two-finger salute and walked backward for a few steps before turning back toward the stage.
Daniel stood there for a while, his current task completely forgotten. Instead, he was wracking his brain for something—anything—that would be worthy of asking Tessa out on a date. He didn’t want to overdo it, but he wanted it to be something a bit more personal than just coming out and asking.
She loves her pets. She loves books. She loves Twilight.Nothing was jumping out at him at first, but then it struck him. It was simple but sweet enough that he knew Tessa would appreciate the gesture. With a glance back at the square, his eyes fell upon Tessa once again.
Now, she was talking to Martha, who was likely on her lunch break, a basket of sandwiches under her arms. Laughter glittered in Tessa’s eyes as she threw back her head in a fit of giggles. Martha looked just as delighted as she reached out to pat her arm affectionately. She really was something special.
He knew that he had little to no experience with functional relationships. His track record was just a string of bad dates and unanswered phone calls. But he wanted to try. For her. Maybe it would go horribly wrong, but it seemed worth the risk, even if it terrified him.
“Hey, uh, Patty?”
Patty, who had wandered by with a basket of fake flowers, stopped in her tracks, turning toward him. “Yes, dear?”
“I need to head out early, okay? I, uh, I have something I need to do.” As she nodded, he broke out into a jog toward Between the Pages. It would be locked up as Martha was on break, but he reached for his pocket as he drew near. It was just a quick pick-up. He would be in and out.
