Page 77 of She's Like the Wind

“It was my pleasure.” He regarded me with intense consideration. “May I do it again?”

My breath caught in my throat. “Ah….”

The tables have turned!

I’d been the one aching and yearning for him, while he’d been afraid of commitment. Now he was bringing me food and stringing together apologies in every small, kind gesture, while I was the one who was scared.

The door opened right then and I turned to see Kadisha come in. “Hey, boss lady.”

“Hey.” I gave her a tentative smile.

“Kadisha,” Gage greeted her, and she responded with a venomous glare.

She was dressed in her usual outfit: big earrings, bigger energy, and a Tulane hoodie.

She was smart as hell. Sharp-tongued. Loyal to a fault.

“What’re you doing here?” she demanded.

“Kadisha,” I cautioned, and settled behind the register. I turned to Gage. “Thank you for lunch.”

“You’re welcome. How about dinner?” he asked.

“You think buying her food is gonna fix things?” Kadisha was obviously not listening to my clear warning to shut the hell up.

“Hey, go inside and open the boxes we just got,” I instructed her.

Kadisha gave Gage another death stare. “She’s seeing someone else. You know that, don’t you?”

I shook my head. “Alright?—”

“She’s a beautiful woman, I wouldn’t expect anything else.” Gage wasn’t backing down either, but he was at least being pleasant.

“She can’t have dinner with you tonight, thank you very much,” Kadisha gritted out. “She has a date,” she threw over her shoulder as she stomped to the storeroom in the back.

Silence.

Gage’s expression filled with despair, justenough to break my heart. His eyes dropped for half a second, then lifted again—steady, but different now.

“You seeing him?”

I wanted to be petty and askhim who? Instead, I gave a noncommittal shrug. I didn’t have a date with Jonah, and in fact, Iwasn’tdating him, but it was none of Gage’s business, now was it?

“He’s not a bad guy,” he added.

Color me surprised!

“You don’t mean that?” I blurted out.

“No, I don’t,” he admitted wryly. “The guy is an asshole, and you need to stay far, far away from him.”

Then he kissed my cheek, saidgoodbye, and left.

Kadisha slithered back out. “Wow! Did you see that?”

“I’m not dating anyone,” I complained.

She crossed her arms, unapologetic. “I know, but I wanted to needle him. And…he did look like a kicked puppy, which gave me all the warm fuzzies.”