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Her eyes fasten intently on mine. A small smile rides her lips.
“No?”
I shake my head. Some emotion seems to stick in my craw and it makes swallowing difficult.
“No. I want things to be honest and simple between us.”
Sav arches a brow. “Really?”
“Yes.”
She reaches out and plucks a speck of lint from my collar. Her eyes gauge me. She’s measuring me, somehow. Against what metric, I’m not sure.
“Honest and simple sounds pretty good to me.”
“That should be the basis for all business relationships.”
I’m not expecting the look of hurt that passes over her face.
“Is that what we have? A business relationship?”
I don’t quite understand where I went wrong. “Well… yeah.”
She sighs, extracts her hand from mine, and scoops up Dex’s backpack.
“I have to go make sure that Dex isn’t burning the house down. I’ll be in the office tomorrow morning.”
Something in my chest feels tight.
“Okay.” I step around her and open the front door. Catching her gaze as she steps through the doorway, I offer her a smile. “See you tomorrow, then.”
Sav gives me a soft smile. “Okay. Bye, Cole.”
It’s weird how the sound of my name on her lips makes my stomach flip-flop. She shoulders the door closed behind herself. I head back to my car, a frown on my face.
More than anything, I wish that Sav hadn’t closed the door. I stuff my hands in my pockets, feeling empty inside. I head to my car, thinking of an alternate reality where Sav let me in, instead of keeping me out in the icy cold.
21
Savannah
I sip my pint of cider and nervously scan the crowd at Savage Pizza. The area where I’m seated is desolate. Luckily, the kitchen and dining room are separated by a clear glass wall, and the big pizza oven is constantly going. I have something interesting to watch as the kitchen staff stretches dough on pans and adds the toppings for each pie. The bell over the door rings every minute or so as someone enters or exits.
I picked this table because it faces the door. When my date walks through it, I will spot him right away.
I take another gulp of sweet cider and try to keep myself calm. I check Cupid’s Arrow on my phone and look at Daniel’s profile again.
His photos show me exactly what I want in a buff, blond guy. The first photo is of him posing shirtless with a huge surfboard on his back. Then there is a picture of him sautéing a pan of something; this makes me think he is a chef.
But it’s the last photo that really gets me.
In it, he’s sitting on the beach, strumming a guitar. His eyes are closed as he sings and the wind blows his hair gently.
He is, in a word, perfection.
“Savannah?”
I look up and find Daniel standing right before me. I missed him walking in, somehow! He’s wearing an ocean blue fleece vest, khaki shorts, and a pair of flip-flops. I startle and flip my phone over.
