AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes,” Gretchen said as professionally as she could. “Those are Jon’s creation. He has them over there, on demo, today.” She nodded toward the other half of the store, where Jon had a small group of people around him.
Mostly women, but Gretchen wasn’t going to tease Jon about his charm. If it brought in customers—male or female—and his candy was delicious, Gretchen didn’t care why the people came.
Travis turned and said, “Thanks” over his shoulder as he walked away.
Will leaned against the candy counter, his eyes on his brother’s back. “He has a real sweet tooth.”
“Mm. But you don’t.”
The cowboy looked at her, his teal eyes blazing and bright. “I did, once,” he said. “Got right addicted to sugar, and I had to make some serious adjustments when the doctor told me I had pre-diabetes.”
Gretchen’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to tease you.”
Will grinned at her. “Sure you did.” He looked back over to his brother, who held up a small package of grasshoppers and then a big one. “He’s going to kill me one day.” Will chuckled and pushed away from the counter. “Real good to see you, Gretchen.”
He took a step away and then another one, and Gretchen couldn’t believe he was going to go. Just like that? They hadn’t made plans for their date. He didn’t even have her number, as far as she knew.
“Will,” she blurted, and he turned back to her.
Travis came up behind him. “The big one or the small? What do you think for dessert tonight?”
“I’m not going to eat any,” Will said, his expression darkening. “I don’t care.”
“You’re the one who wanted to stop here,” Travis said, his voice as black as Will’s usually bright eyes. “Did you not get her number?” He looked over to Gretchen, and she wasn’t standing behind a steel wall, but a chest-high case made of glass.
“Travis,” Will hissed out of the corner of his mouth.
Gretchen reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear. “He didn’t get my number,” she said, deciding to lean into the humiliation. It came often enough that she might as well. “Because he didn’t ask.”
“You were supposed to ask,” Travis said. “Hurry up. We have to get back before Lee figures out we’re gone.” He bustled off toward the register, and Will watched him for a breath of time.
“Better get the big one,” he called. “To appease Lee.” He turned back to Gretchen, his smile timid and a bit trembly on his lips. “I wanted to text you last night about our, uh, date.” He cleared his throat. “But I don’t have your number, so…”
“So…can I have your number, Gretchen?” she asked, flirting with him. He didn’t seem to get that she was, and she could admit she’d never been great at letting a man know she was interested in him.
“Yes,” he said with a chuckle. “I’d love to have your number, Gretchen.”
Only if you say my name like that again, she thought, but thankfully she didn’t have to go into full-blow mortification mode as she didn’t say it out loud. Instead, she read off her number, and Will put it in his phone. Their eyes met again, and the world did that thing where it stopped.
At least until Travis said, “Stop staring at her like that. It’s creepy. And we have to go.” He nudged Will, and the trance broke.
Air rushed into Gretchen’s lungs, and she dropped her chin, sure her face was a flaming red ball of fire.
“I swear, Trav,” Will bit out. “You’re the worst brother ever.” He started for the door without saying goodbye. Yesterday, as he’d left her father’s house, their goodbye had been stilted and strange, but it was better than not getting one at all.
“I’m the worst brother?” Travis called after him. “I droveyouhere to get your girlfriend’s number, becauseyourback hurts. How am I the worst bro—?” The door closed behind them as they exited the shop, and Gretchen could only blink into the silence left in their wake.
“Girlfriend?” Gretchen asked only herself, and the refrigeration unit that kept the candy from melting in the Texas heat kicked on as her answer.
* * *
That evening,Gretchen paced in her house, Elvis watching her from the top of the couch. “I’m just going to tell him when he texts that I can’t go,” she said, looking at the gray tabby cat for approval. “Whatever night he suggests, I’ll be busy.”
She’d been thinking about Will for hours—nothing new—but this time, her thoughts had taken her down a more dangerous path. She didn’t know the man. He didn’t say goodbye to her. She wasn’t even sure they’d get along for longer than ten minutes.
Every interaction she had with him seemed to get interrupted or ruined somehow, from her father and aunt overhearing him as he asked her out, to a strange half-hug goodbye while she still wore muddy gloves, to him storming out of the shop while his brother continued to spill secrets.
“Meow,” Elvis said, and Gretchen went into the kitchen. She worked in a frenzy to get the cat fed, chopping up last night’s leftover salmon and mixing it with some wet cat food and some dry kibble.
