Page 3 of Approved (The Dapper Duck #1)

Chapter three

WEST

When Tyler walked out the door, I understood why.

He had remembered who I was; it hurt him, and I deserved it.

When my team members used to corner him, call him names, and push him, I wouldn’t do anything.

I would stand in the background and do my best to ignore it.

I should have stopped it because that would have been the right thing to do, but I was afraid to get involved.

What if they found out about me?

At the very least, I owed Tyler an apology for what happened all those years ago.

Since I knew the name of his business, it would be easy to find him, and for now, I was going to ignore the other reasons I wanted to see him again.

The day we spent together was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.

My past may destroy the opportunity for a repeat of that, but I could step up and be the person I wasn’t years ago.

Forgiving myself for my inaction would be hard, but possible because I was fifteen, regardless of my age, though I was still responsible for what I did—or in this case, what I didn’t do.

When I returned to the bar, I looked at all the couples and singles.

“Stupid holiday,” I said under my breath.

Once I locked up for the night, I headed out and got into the van.

On the seat were the forms signed during the deliveries and Tyler’s other paperwork when we started the day.

I smiled, now I had an excuse to go to his shop, and my heart beat an extra time.

It was time to show this cutie that I had become a better person.

When I woke up the following day, I planned to convince Tyler that I was sorry about the past and that maybe I could convince him to let me take him on a proper date.

At 11:00 a.

m.

, I walked into my friend’s cookie shop.

“What a delight to see you, Mr. Parker, and it’s before noon.” I laughed, walked around the counter, and hugged him.

“Bryson you glorious son of a bitch how are you?” I had known him for years and knew he would help me make a good impression on Tyler.

“There’s a guy I want to apologize to for being a twat to when I was in high school. I would also like him to let me take him on a date.”

“That’s an awful lot of pressure on my cookies.”

“I have a lot of confidence in your confections.” I gave him a toothy grin.

He laughed.

“Well, let’s see how we can improve your chances of both things.” He grabbed a box and started to line it with multicolored tissue paper.

“Tell me what you know about this guy.”

“He’s cute, in fact adorable, owns a flower shop, and is really funny.” He hummed to himself while I watched as he thoughtfully grabbed individual cookies from his display cases, all of which looked delicious—I hope Tyler likes cookies.

If he didn’t, I might have to rethink dating him because that’s a crime against nature.

Bryson got a rainbow ribbon, wrapped it around the box, and fashioned a fancy bow.

It looked beautiful.

I would be impressed if someone brought it to me as an apology gift.

“You are a lifesaver. Come by the bar this week, we’ll find someone to keep you company for the evening.”

He grinned at me.

“I might just do that.”

In the car, I carefully set the box on the seat next to me and entered the address for Flower Power into my GPS.

My hands were sweaty, and I felt nervous.

It had been a long time since I cared enough to be anxious about talking to a guy.

I had never admitted how much I liked Tyler in high school.

I would watch for him in the halls, never drawing attention to myself, wishing I had the guts to talk to him, but that wouldn’t happen because I was deep in the closet.

I didn’t actually know if he was into guys, but in my fantasies he was into me, and my horny teenage self had no shame.

We had three classes together, and in all of them, I made sure I sat behind him, even though I never really spoke to him then.

I was chicken, but I was drawn to him, and now that the universe had brought him back into my life, grown-up West planned to handle my attraction to him completely differently.

My heart pounded when I pulled up in front of his shop.

I tried to act normal as I entered Flower Power with the fancy box in my hands.

Customers were in line, so I stood out of the way until Tyler was free.

When he saw me, I couldn't miss that he smiled at me before he scowled—I chose to focus on the former, not the latter.

He continued to help his customers, but he would look over at me, and I smiled each time. The last person left, and we stared at each other.

“I’m surprised to see you, West. Did you need something?” He tried to be annoyed with me, but he betrayed himself with a little smirk. My feet refused to move for some reason, which was a problem. “Is that box for me?” His eyes lit up a little, which was a good sign.

My ability to speak was also absent. This wasn’t the impression I wanted to make. Right now, I felt like I was a fourteen-year-old in front of his first crush, which ironically was how this all started. Without any fanfare, I pushed the box at him. He laughed a little. “Box. Yours.” At least they were words, even if I sounded stupid.

“Thank you. You helped me, shouldn’t I be the one giving the gifts?” I blinked at him. What was he talking about? I was the one who didn’t step up and protect him. Then I remembered that I had spent the day with him yesterday, and smiled.

Taking a couple of deep breaths, I found my voice. “No. I know why you left so suddenly yesterday, and I wanted to apologize.” He cocked his head at me.

“Apologize?”

“Tyler, I should have stepped up for you when those guys were bullying you. I was afraid they would find out about me if I did.” There I said it, and I was still standing.

“Oh. I agree you should have. It took me a lot of therapy to get past what happened to me in high school.” He looked down, clearly thinking about that time. “It doesn’t matter now, though.” He gave me a closed-mouth smile. I wasn’t sure how to process what he said. “Can I open this?”

“Please do. My friend said maybe it would make you hate me less.” Oh, good. Now I am saying anything that comes to mind. “I thought maybe I could take you on a date.” I slapped my hand over my mouth. What is wrong with me? “Ignore me. Please.”

I wanted to ask him out, but I planned to work up to it, not just blurt it out. A girl with pink hair walked in carrying two coffee cups. “Jaime, this is West from yesterday.”

She looked at me hard. “Shit Tyler he is hot, I can understand now.”

I looked at Tyler and raised an eyebrow. “Understand what?” Why couldn’t I stop myself from talking?

Tyler surged forward and grabbed my elbow. “Let’s go talk privately.” He picked up his coffee from where Jamie had left it and guided me into the back of the store, where there was a small break room. After he sat down, he opened the box of cookies. “Well, these are fancy.” He took one out and took a bite. “Woah. That’s good.”

“I’m glad you like it. I handed him the folder with the paperwork from yesterday. You left these in the van.”

“Oh. Thanks for bringing those over, I forgot they were there.”

Earl flew into the room and landed on the desk. He walked over to the box of cookies, turned his head, looked at Tyler, then looked at the cookies again. “No, Earl, those are for me.” He raised his wings and then stomped his feet. “I said no, Earl.” He leaned down and started to nudge the box with his head. “If you push those off, you will be grounded, and I won’t take you to the park tomorrow.” He stopped.

“I didn’t realize they would understand sentences like that. It’s cool.”

He broke off a piece of the cookie and held it up. Earl moved to where he could reach the treat. “Earl amazes me every day, I am so lucky to have him. I’m not sure if all dragons are like him, but he clearly understands me when I talk to him.” Tyler leaned in and kissed the dragon’s head, then he held up the folder. “Thanks again for bringing these and for the cookies.” When I looked up, he and Earl were looking at me, both had frosting on their face.

“You’re welcome. Tyler, I’m truly sorry about the past. I am not that person anymore. I stand up for anybody who isn’t treated fairly and no longer hide my authentic self.”

His eyes got glassy. “Wow. That is really nice of you to say, West. I appreciate that you are being accountable for your choices.” He took another bite of the cookie. “Your help yesterday was great and saved me a lot of money. Based on that alone, I can tell you are a different person.”

“Good. Good.” We sat there, and things got more awkward.

“Well, I’d better get back to work. Thanks again, West.” He stood up.

“Would you consider going on a date with me?” He had ignored me the first time I asked. Apparently, I didn’t know how to take a hint.

“I don’t know. We might have too much water under the bridge to overcome.” I certainly didn’t agree with him, but I respected him enough not to push right now.

“How about we trade numbers and you can think about it?”

He grinned. “Yeah. Okay, I like that idea.”

There was an entire victory party going on in my chest, my hand shook a little as I handed him my phone, and he added his number. I immediately sent him a smiley face so he had my number too. “I guess I should go.” I wanted to stay, but I had no reason to do so. Before it got more awkward, I started to head toward the front door.

“Hey, West?” I turned around. “I forgive you for the high school thing, we were kids. We were all trying to get through it the best we could.”

My heart felt lighter when he said he forgave me. I had been fascinated by him in high school, and after yesterday, I knew the curiosity was still intense. Even though he hadn’t agreed to go out with me, yet, at least he hadn’t said no.

Jamie smiled at me. “Bye, West. Hope to see you again.”

“I guarantee it, Jamie. You have a good day.”

I felt much better than I had when I walked in, but I still needed him to see I was a completely different person than I was in high school. In my car, I looked through the window of the storefront. Jamie was talking animatedly, and Tyler glanced my way, then turned away quickly. I could tell by how they held their heads together that they were close friends, which was something I needed to keep in mind.

It was time to get some work done, but I knew Tyler would occupy a lot of space in my thoughts. I reminded myself that he hadn’t said no. Now I had to figure out how to charm him into letting me take him out. How hard could that be?