Page 10 of Just a Number (Magnolia Row #2)

MICAH

“H ey, Nana!” I call as I enter the store. It’s hotter in here than it is outside. If Hell was an antique store, this would be it.

“I’m in here!” she calls from the office. I can barely hear her above the box fan she has directed at her face. Every paper on her desk is weighed down to keep it from blowing away.

“We have to get a new air conditioner,” I say. “I can’t live like this anymore.” I go behind the desk and take out a rubber band to pull my hair back.

“Are you going to tell me who you went to lunch with?” she asks.

“A friend.”

She eyes me and cocks and eyebrow. “A girl friend?”

I sigh. “No.”

She leans back in her chair, takes off her reading glasses, and taps them on her mouth. “Don’t tell me that boy in Montgomery finally decided to put forth a little effort and come see you for a change.”

“No.”

“I didn’t think so.” She places her glasses on the desk, waiting for me to elaborate.

I stare back at her. She’s not going to let this go.

“You know the architect who came in yesterday?” Her face lights up like a Christmas tree. “I had lunch with him.”

“Oh, Micah! I’m so excited for you! He looks like he stepped right out of a magazine.”

“I am aware.” I try to be as curt as possible and not let her know I basically floated to work on a cloud.

“When did he ask you out? I didn’t hear him ask when he was in the store.”

“You were in the office half the time.”

“Honey, you know I was eavesdropping.”

I sigh and give her a look. “I saw him at Cattywampus last night. He asked me then.”

“I thought you were in Montgomery last night.”

“That didn’t work out.”

“Of course it didn’t.”

“Nana,” I say, warning her I don’t want to talk about it.

“So you broke up with Garrett and now you’re with Rhodes?” she asks. I don’t like how my life sounds like a soap opera coming out of her mouth.

“No, it was one lunch. That’s it. No big deal.”

“When are you going out again?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t ask me. He didn’t kiss me. He didn’t get my phone number. It was probably a waste of time.” I cross my arms and cock my head to one side.

“Don’t say that, sugar. You never know. Some men don’t know how to navigate these things.”

“He’s way too good for me.”

“Oh, hush up. No one is too good for you.”

“He is. You saw him. He’s tall and lean and handsome. I’m a fat frumpy mess.”

“You are not. If you keep talking like that, I’ll put salt in your tea.”

I roll my eyes. “He did say he wants the fountain. Are you willing to part with it?”

“If I get a good price for it, I will. It would be nice to see it back in the hotel.”

“From what he says, the owner has deep pockets and is a little nuts.”

“Nothing wrong with that, sugar. We’re all a little crazy.”

I check Nana’s pill case and it looks like she did take her meds. I take a sip of her tea and confirm yes, she did use artificial sweetener for once. She shakes her head at me. I know she hates me treating her like a child, but I can’t trust her to take care of herself.

“Oh!” she says, putting her glasses back on and flipping open her calendar. “I got a call from Julian George. You know that big farmhouse on the highway between here and Monroeville? It’s set way back off the road and has the white fence that’s falling down.”

“Yes, vaguely.”

“The owners finally died, and Julian’s handling the sale of the house for their kids. They’re having a huge estate sale in a few weeks and he’s giving us first dibs.”

“Awesome! How soon can we go?”

“He said the kids want to come get pictures and sentimental stuff first, but he’s going to let me know.”

This is refreshing. The store has been looking a little empty since we decorated Kendall’s house. Maybe we’ll have some new stuff to show Rhodes next time he comes.

I check myself. This is bad. This is very, very bad. I don’t need to be thinking about Rhodes. I have Garrett.

I look at my phone and suddenly realize I haven’t heard from—nor thought about hearing from—Garrett today until this very moment.

Huh. That’s a change.

I go out to the floor with my duster, straighten up a few things, and help a customer looking for a lamp. Once the day is done, I take Nana home as usual and hide in my room, trying not to think about Rhodes.

Of course, the group text I have with Kendall, Patsy, and Sistine starts blowing up.

Sistine and Kendall fill Patsy in on my “big date,” then they pester me until I finally respond that I don’t want to talk about it.

Patsy vows not to miss the next girls’ night, though I know this is a tall order since she has five small boys at home.

Nana and I bake chicken and asparagus and eat dinner while watching Hallmark movies. She doesn’t say anything else about Rhodes, thankfully.

After we eat, I make sure she takes her meds before I return to my room, where I put on some music (Kacey Musgraves, of course), and make the mistake of going down an online rabbit hole to stalk Rhodes.

I find the website for his architecture firm, which includes an oh-so-sexy photo of him in front of a Victorian home.

His arms are crossed and his body somehow looks even taller than in person.

The blue tie he’s wearing makes his eyes pop, and he has a serious but approachable expression on his face.

I can’t believe this guy ever asked me out. He’s big-city, hyper-educated, smoldering-sexy professional man. I’m small-town, live-with-my-nana, awkward chubby girl. No wonder he didn’t ask for my number.

I move to social media. I find his professional sites, which have a few photos of historic homes he’s worked on.

His personal profiles are scant at best, though I did find his ex-wife in an old photo with a link to her profile.

While it was set to private, I could see a profile picture of her with their son.

He looks young in the picture, but I can definitely see the resemblance between him and Rhodes.

He has the same dark hair and bright eyes, though the shape of his face is more like his mom’s.

The ex-wife is beautiful, of course. She’s short and toned, like she spends a lot of time at the gym.

I do not.

This leaves me even more confused. I look nothing like this woman. Maybe he doesn’t have a type?

I need to stop obsessing. It’s becoming unhealthy.

* * *

A week goes by, and of course I don’t hear anything from Rhodes, though Garrett texts a few times to let me know he’s thinking about me.

On Saturday night, I meet up with Sistine, Kendall, and Patsy for drinks at Cattywampus.

“I have one hour,” says Patsy when she sits down, her bleach-blonde hair bouncing over her bare shoulders. “Garion is helping his brother dig a pit to roast a hog and Mama can only watch the kids until seven. So, Micah, spit it out. What happened with Mr. Sexy Architect Man?”

I roll my eyes and look at the other two, who give me doe eyes as they drink their beer. I go through the whole spiel about how we met, running into him here at the brewery, and lunch the next day.

“He sounds like a dream!” says Patsy.

“You should see him,” says Sistine.

“Is he hotter than Kendall’s movie star man?”

Kendall rolls her eyes.

“Comparable,” answers Sistine. “Seriously. He’s gorgeous.”

“Well, he’s gotta be better than Garrett the Douchebag. I heard he stood you up the other night after you’d already driven all the way to Montgomery.”

Again, I give Sistine and Kendall the stink eye. “He was busy.”

“Oh he’s always f-ing busy. Busy thinking he can string you along while he does whatever and whomever he wants up there, while you sit around waiting for him down here.”

“I’m done talking about Garrett.”

“Just be done with Garrett,” says Sistine. “Then we won’t have to talk about him.”

“Y’all are making me feel like crap right now,” I say. “Besides, Garrett has actually texted me this week. Rhodes has not. He didn’t even get my number. Didn’t kiss me. Nothing. I know he wants the fountain from the store, so I assume I’ll see him again, but I’m pretty sure it ends there.”

Kendall holds my hand across the table. “We didn’t mean to make you feel like crap,” she says.

Patsy touches my back. “Yeah, sweetie. We want you to be happy, and Garrett does not make you happy.”

“Even if things don’t work out with Rhodes,” says Sistine, “we want you to know you deserve a guy in that league. You’re beautiful, and?—"

“Y’all, please stop. I’m done with this conversation. Let me live my life.”

We all get quiet and finish our beer. The rest of the night, we gossip about Kendall’s ex-husband, the drunk girl at the bar, and Patsy’s brother’s baby mama drama.

At the end of the night, I go home, check on Nana, and listen to music while I fall asleep. I try thinking about Garrett, but find my mind wandering to Rhodes time and time again.