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RILEY
The anticipation of meeting so many important people in Daniel’s life has me thinking about how and when to get my family together to meet him.
My sister already knows about Daniel and hates the idea of us being together but I’m sure, as soon as she meets him, she’ll see how amazing he is—how perfect we are for each other. My dad, on the other hand… I have no idea how he will react. He’ll most likely be polite to his face. But when he gets me alone, it will go one of two ways. He’ll either yell at me and tell me how stupid it is for me to date someone closer tohisage than mine. Or he’ll say nothing at all. Have zero emotional response. I decide to keep my fingers crossed for the latter as I walk into Daniel’s shop from the back stairs.
“Riley.” Daniel comes around the front counter. Without hesitation, he takes me in his arms and kisses me. He’s not come across as the kind of guy in favor of public displays of affection but I’m glad he is. I’ll take all the affection I can get since we have so few opportunities to show it. “Nell’s grabbing lunch since she won’t get a chance after I leave. She should be back any minute though. How did shopping go?”
“Fine. I went for surf and turf. They had some jumbo shrimp I couldn’t say no to. Did Julia ever call back?” He called her this morning but she didn’t answer. Left a great message thanks to my coaching.
“She sent a text.”
“But they are coming over.”
“Yeah. Though, you might want to wear warm clothes to shield yourself against her ice-cold shoulder.”
He didn’t say much about me in the message he left her. But enough for Julia to know her dad wants her to meet someone and that Leslie is not only welcome but encouraged to come with her.
Before I can assure Daniel everything will be okay, the bell rings over the door. I peek around Daniel blocking my view of the door to see a gorgeous woman, early thirties, with long, dark hair loosely braided over her shoulder walk in.
“Hey, Daniel.”
“Nell. Perfect timing. Riley, this is my store manager, Nell. Nell, this is my girlfriend, Riley.”
Nell freezes when Daniel steps aside and slides his arm around my waist.
I swallow the lump in my throat. That’s the first time he’s called me his girlfriend. And though it’s music to my ears, it doesn’t seem to sit so well with Nell as she sizes me up with a judgmental sweep of her eyes from head to toes and back again.
“It’s nice to finally meet you,” I say holding out my right hand bracing myself for Nell’s lecture about how insane it is for Daniel and me to be together. But Nell surprises me, taking my hand with a smile. “Thank you, Riley.”
“What for?” I ask.
“Getting him out of the studio and off my back for a few hours so I can get some work done.”
“So youhavebeen slacking off,” Daniel says, obviously teasing.
“No,” Nell argues in the same playful tone. “I’ve just been too busy doing all your little fetch quests, I can’t get the stuff done you hired me to do.”
“Excuses, excuses.” Daniel clicks his tongue but follows it up with a wink and a smile.
It seems they do have a good working relationship. One I’d kill for. Maybe if my boss or any of my coworkers were fun to work with I wouldn’t be so miserable with the insane hours. If I actually enjoyed being there ten hours or more every day.
But not today. Today is just for Daniel and it will be the opposite of miserable.
“Are you ready to go?” Daniel asks me.
I nod, still trying to push work out of my head. Not let it get in the way of our time together.
“We’ll have to have lunch sometime, Riley,” Nell says as I follow Daniel, hand in hand to the door.
“I’d like that.” If I can ever find the time.
∞∞∞
DANIEL
“That went better than I expected,” Riley says while I hold the door for her.
“I told you not to worry.” But I won’t tell her how worried I was when Nell took a little too long to shake Riley’s hand. I thought my heart might find its way up my throat.
