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“Hey. Something wrong?”
She sat up straighter. “Umm. No.” She glanced at her phone, but just a number appeared. “Who is this?”
“Sorry. It’s Adler.”
Her breath caught in her chest. She was speechless. What did he want? Her hands started sweating.
“I haven’t seen you in a while . . . anyway, we need to discuss the set up for the fundraiser.”
She finally breathed. That’s all this was about. “I was just planning things and working through everything.”
His deep laughter filled the line. “Look at that. Great minds think alike.”
She put her phone on speaker, and they spent the next thirty minutes talking about the tents, one for food and one for the auction. They decided on the size for the stage they needed for the auction, and an area for the silent auction items.
“This sounds great,” Adler said, paper rustling through the phone. “I know this sounds a bit strange, but I’d like to draw up some blueprints of each tent and show them to you, then do a dry run with the tents and tables. Make sure you’ll like them. There’s just over a month, so now’s the time to get it down, and small changes can take place the week before. What do you say I work on this and meet you for dinner . . . say . . . Tomorrow?”
Dinner tomorrow. Seriously? She stared at the phone and shook her head. “Is dinner necessary? We can just meet to look at the blueprints. We don’t need to have dinner.”
“It was just a suggestion. Fine. Where do you want to meet?”
She paused for a moment and thought about what he’d looked like at the club—his tight jeans and T-shirt fitting perfectly—then she remembered the sweet side she saw when they ate at the picnic tables outside the boutique and knew that spending time alone with him at the ranch wouldn’t be a good idea. She was becoming interested. Her jealousy at the club was proof.
One thing she realized from her dates with William was that she needed to be picky about who she went out with. Everyone was possible daddy material, and she needed to make sure that her choices in men would be the right ones for Skylar. She breathed a heavy sigh. She’d need to go to the ranch for the dry run, but this meeting could be anywhere, and she would have Skylar tomorrow since the boutique was closed for the Fourth of July holiday. “I don’t work tomorrow. We’re closed for the fourth. Why don’t you just come here? My stepmother will be in and out, but we can be comfortable and spread out on the kitchen table.” Did she just invite him to her house, knowingthey would probably be here alone most of the time? Of course, there was Skylar, so they wouldn’t be totally alone.
She heard him clear his throat and shook her head.
“I forgot what the date was.” he answered. “Would nine-thirty in the morning work?”
She chuckled. First it was dinner. Now it was morning. He was hoping for a date. “Perfect. Sky should be napping.”
“Great. See you then.” There was a click, and the line went dead.
Leila puffed out a breath and tossed her phone on the cushion. “Adler, Adler.” She shook her head as she pictured him.
Her phone rang again, making her jump. She answered it.
“Hey. It’s not too late, is it?” asked Elizabeth.
“Oh, no. I just got off the phone with Adler.”
“Adler, huh? What did you two talk about?”
Leila laughed at the questioning tone in Elizabeth’s voice. “Nothing exciting. We were just working on the tents for the fundraiser, and he’s going to get some floorplans together and we’re going to go over them tomorrow morning.”
“Good. I wanted to invite you to go to the parade and carnival with all of us. It starts around two thirty. It’s always a lot of fun. The parade goes through downtown, then we’ll head to the carnival after, eat a lot of junk food, ride a lot of rides, spend too much money, and watch the fireworks at dark.”
A parade, carnival, and fireworks sounded awesome. “Sounds great. I guess I’ll just meet you at the parade.”
“Yep. I’ll let you know exactly where in the morning. See you tomorrow.”
Chapter 13
Adler was on his way to Leila’s early the next morning. He had her address in his GPS and realized he would be going near the square, so he decided to stop at the bakery and pick up some cinnamon rolls. As usual, it smelled amazing when he walked in. Desiree was busy this morning, as was the square. It was the 4th of July. Adler had thought most stores would be closed, but it seemed that there were a lot of people still going to work.
“Well, look who stopped in.” Desiree wiped the counter of crumbs as the last customers left. It was now just Adler and Desiree. “What brings you by? It’s been a while.” She looked amazing with her hair up in a loose bun and a T-shirt with Main Street Bakery on the front, tied on the side, showing off a little of her fit and tight abs.
“On my way to Leila’s for a meeting about the fundraiser and thought I’d pick us up some cinnamon rolls.” There were three left. “I might as well take all three.” The bell chimed as morepeople came in. “Why is it so crowded this morning? I figured everything would be closed.”
