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“I really have to go, Tyler. I’m sorry.”

“Saturday night. Seven o’clock. You and me, wherever you want to eat.”

“Tyler, I have to go.”

“Say yes and I won’t incessantly call you back,” I said, grinning.

“You really can be a pain in the ass sometimes.”

“Some things never change.”

“Saturday at seven it is. Now I have to go. Bye.”

“Can’t wait. I’ve really missed you, Ana.”

“Yeah, you too. Bye, Tyler!”

She hung up the phone and I leaned back in the seat of my car and closed my eyes. She’d been pretty dismissive, and I didn’t like that, either. I didn’t know what to think. Ana was all over the place. It was as if I was getting to know an entirely different person. I mean, I had known things would be different than eight years ago if I ran into her coming home, but this was a ballgame I hadn’t prepared for.

I slid my hands down my face and groaned. On the one hand, I had a date with her. A date that would require further communication in order to set up. So she was guaranteed to take my call unless she decided to blow me off. On the other hand, there was a chance she would cancel altogether. There was a chance she had agreed just to get me off the phone and would send me a text message to cancel.

Damn it. Why did things have to be so complicated?

Ana

“I know you are new to the store and were anxious to work here, but you can’t give out my business number to total strangers. That’s a business line only, for emergencies and whoever is working behind the register that day.”

“I’m sorry, Miss Price, but he said it was an emergency.”

“What?” I asked.

“The man who came in. He said he was a lawyer and that he needed to speak with you because it was urgent.”

“He what?”

“I can show you his business card.”

“I would like to see that, please.”

The young woman I had hired a little while back reached down into the drawer and pulled out a small rectangular card. I flipped it over and shook my head as the name Tyler Browning popped into my vision. Anger filled my bones. Not at the young girl. She had done what she’d needed to do. If someone had come up to me spouting off that they were a lawyer looking for the owner, I would’ve given them the fast track to getting in touch with them as well.

What pissed me off was that Tyler had thought he could waltz into my store and pull his career out of his back pocket to get to me.

I took the card and stuck it in my back pocket before I walked into the stockroom. I pulled out my phone and called Tyler back, ready to confirm our date for Saturday. It would give me the perfect opportunity to confront him about all this. If he thought he could manipulate whatever game he was playing into his favor, he had another thing coming.

“Well hello there, gorgeous.”

“Hey, Tyler. I know things were pretty short yesterday on the phone, but I wanted to call and confirm for Saturday,” I said.

“Sounds wonderful. Where would you like to go? Is seven o’clock still all right?”

“Could we make it six again? That’s a much better time.”

“Works for me. Gives me more time with you anyway. Do you have a place in mind you want to venture to this time?”

“I picked last time, so you pick this time,” I said.

“Ah, the old switching-off plan. All right. There’s this new place that’s opened up. It’s a sushi joint called Roll’d Up.”

“I haven’t heard of it.”

“The grand opening is Friday, but I figure there will be a massive rush then. I could get us a couple chairs for Saturday?” he asked.

“That sounds great. I love sushi. Do they have sake there?”

“Warm or cold?”

“Warm, of course,” I said.

“Then I’ll get us a nice table with some warm sake waiting for us. Do you want me to pick you up this time?”

“Nope. I’ll meet you there.”

“That your whole ‘independent woman’ thing?”

“Not at all. That’s my whole ‘if things go wrong I have a way to get out’ thing.”

“Oh, you wound me, Ana.”

“I do what I can,” I said, grinning.

“Then I’ll see you Saturday at six o’clock at a new place called Roll’d Up. If it doesn’t pop up on your GPS or whatever you use to get around, it’s on the other side of the main drag that runs straight through L.A.—about two blocks down from the Taco Hut.”

“Ah, the good old Taco Hut. Got it.” I decided to milk the moment, schmooze him up a little before I got onto him for the way he was forcing himself back into my world. “I can’t wait to see you,” I said.