Page 18 of Silver Linings
ten
. . .
Silver
Are you ready to get down and dirty tonight?
Hot Handyman
***
Silver
The bookstore. Why, what were you thinking?
Hot Handyman
So we aren’t fighting crime in the subway tunnels with the Ninja Turtles? Bummer.
Silver
That’s after we start on the bookstore. If I don’t get this place fixed, I’ll be living in the subway tunnels.
Hot Handyman
Can’t have that. You and Raphael would level Grand Central. 6PM okay?
Silver
I don’t know. Raphael’s kinda cute…
Hot Handyman
Goodbye.
Silver
See you tonight!
“What’s got you smiling like that?”
I look up from my phone and see Holly staring at me from behind a table of stacked bestsellers, a knowing smirk on her freckled face.
I didn’t even realize I had been grinning down at my phone like a maniac.
I couldn’t seem to help it. But whatever this emotion roiling around in my gut is, I need to lock it down.
I still can’t get a read on him. One second, he’s avoiding me, and the next, he’s offering to help me renovate my store.
It’s confusing, and this is starting to feel like it’s breaching territory I’ve worked my whole life to avoid.
Still, I can’t deny that there is a persistent pull, tugging me closer even as I try to pull away.
“In the state of Missouri, it’s illegal to worry a squirrel.” I smile sweetly. We both know I’m lying.
“Liar.”
“It’s true! You can look it up.”
“You know that’s not what I’m asking.” She levels me with a don’t bullshit me glare. I don’t respond and start to sort through a stack of books I’m prepping for a local author to come in and sign when she decides she isn’t going to let it go. “Hendrix was really nice. Jae, too.”
I take a long pull from the iced coffee I picked up from Respect the Drip before coming in today. “Mhmm.” I bob my head neutrally at her statement, neither confirming nor denying how I feel. That’s my strategy. Another sip of delicious cold brew.
“From where I was sitting, he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off you.”
I sputter a little, taken aback. What is she talking about? He barely looked at me the entire night, and he certainly didn’t speak to me.
He talked to everyone else, though.
“Oh, well…you know—a sparkly top makes it hard to not grab attention,” I reply, brushing off her earlier words.
“Interesting.”
“What?” I’m getting flustered now.
“It’s just peculiar that you would be so nonchalant about this, considering you couldn’t stop staring at him too.”
“Did you know it’s also illegal to wrestle a bear in Missouri?”
Deflect. Deflect. Deflect.
“Silver James, what is wrong with you?” Holly throws up her arms in exasperation. “A few weeks ago, you were being dramatic and calling this man the one that got away , and now, you’re acting like there isn’t something between you two. Explain yourself.”
“There is nothing between us.” She settles her hands on her hips, cocking her head to the side while waiting for me to elaborate.
“Look, he’s hot. Really, really hot. But anytime I’ve tried to flirt with him, he doesn’t seem into it.
Sometimes, I think we might be having a moment, but then the next, he’s being stoic again.
I can’t get a read on him. Most guys are pretty direct about what they want from me, but he’s all over the place, and it’s messing with my head. ”
She takes that all in and marinates over what I said.
“He also doesn’t seem like the casual hook-up type,” I add.
No, Hendrix definitely doesn’t seem like a casual kind of guy at all from what I’ve gathered about him.
I’m confident he would be singularly focused on whoever he was with.
He would give her all his focused attention.
He would listen to her when she speaks— not because he has to, but because he genuinely cares what she has to say.
He would be kind and compassionate and?—
“And that’s all you want?” There’s a challenge in her tone.
“Obviously.” I turn away, suddenly uncomfortable with the attention she’s giving me in conjunction with the mental gymnastics my brain is doing conjuring up Hendrix as a boyfriend.
I have to change the subject.
“So, the sign up for our first book club is live, and already, a couple spots are filled. We should have a great turnout for the first meeting in a few weeks.”
She and I both know I’m changing the conversation, but she doesn’t push me on it. Holly has always been good at knowing when to challenge me and when to leave me to my thoughts.
“So posting about it in local coffee shops has been working?” Holly shifts around some books in our non-fiction section.
“It would seem sending Carmen around to the neighborhood cafés armed with fliers and the spirit of a honey badger will do the trick.”
“She’s really going to go places,” Holly says fondly as I chuckle in agreement.
I’ve never met anyone more fearless than Carmen. Those honey badger tendencies will come in handy when she’s kicking opposing counsel’s ass as an attorney.
“Do you mind just unpacking those boxes?” I point at the shipment of new stationery we received this morning in the corner of the store. “I have to call the web designer because they’re dragging their feet, but I need those boxes cleared for the contractor coming tonight.”
“It’s so cute when you boss me around.” Holly winks before walking towards the boxes.
“How many times do I have to tell you? I’m saving myself for your wife.”
Apprehension settles over me like a fog when I think about Hendrix coming to the store tonight. Something about him offering to help me feels different. He doesn’t have to do this, and honestly, he shouldn’t want to, considering he seems inclined to avoid me half the time.
Unless you ask Holly, who thinks he’s got a thing for me. She’s wrong. I can always get a read on a man, but Hendrix is a closed book. Sometimes, he’s relaxed and seems content, but then he almost realizes he’s let his guard down and throws up his walls again. It’s confusing.
I need to put it out of my mind before he gets here, focus on organizing our plan of attack on this reno. There is so much to do, and I’m a little nervous that once he arrives, he’s going to look around, see how much work he blindly agreed to, and hightail it out of here.
I’m paying some supply invoices when the door opens, and in walks Hendrix…early. As in, early enough that Holly is still here and I haven’t told her who my newfound contractor is, just that Phil no longer has the job. Which is going to make it seem like I was hiding it—which I wasn’t. I wasn’t.
“You’re early,” I say through clenched teeth. Very astute observation, Silver.
“What a friendly welcome,” he deadpans and then signals to the tray of coffees in his hands. “I was off already and just decided to head over. I thought it would take me longer to walk here.”
Holly, as if summoned by his voice and any chance to say I told you so, pops out from behind one of the standalone shelves with a downright delighted smile gracing her face.
“What are you doing here?” From her tone, Holly knows exactly why, but she wants one of us to admit it out loud.
“Coming in here is like a warm hug.” Sarcasm drips from his mouth. “I’m here to help with the renovations. I was a little early and stopped to grab coffee for everyone. I thought we might need it.”
Holly whips her head in my direction but addresses Hendrix. “You’re the new contractor?”
He scratches the back of his neck, clear confusion written across his handsome face. “Yes?”
“Interesting…” She draws the last syllable out.
“Holly, can I talk to you in the back?”
“About what?” She is enjoying this far too much.
“The migration pattern of monarch butterflies.” I grit my teeth, glaring at her with a look so harrowing, I hope it conveys, come to the back now before I karate chop you in the throat.
“Sounds fascinating.” She turns a beaming smile towards Hendrix. “We’ll be right back. Make yourself at home.”
I roll my eyes, turning to walk toward the stockroom—if you can even call it that, since it’s a glorified broom closet. Close on my heels, Holly follows me into the room and immediately starts a rapid-fire interrogation.
“Oh my God. Why didn’t you tell me about this? Did you ask him to help? Is he even qualified for this beyond his sumptuous biceps? You’re totally going to fall in love. This is basically kindling for a Hallmark rom-com!”
“Are you done?” I huff while leaning against a rickety metal shelving unit housing a lot of our stock. She nods, clearly eager for me to answer her questions.
“Okay one, I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d react like this .
Two, he offered to help after overhearing my conversation with the original contractor.
Three, yes, he is qualified, and no, I will not be commenting on his sumptuous biceps and give you more ammo against me.
And four, and most importantly,” I make sure I have her full attention for this next part, “do you really think I would ever be in a story appropriate enough to air on the Hallmark Channel?”
“You’re TV-MA for sure. So what’s the deal then?
He’s just helping you out of the kindness of his brooding heart?
” She leans towards the doorway to spy him walking around the store, one hand holding the tray of coffees and the other holding a book reading the synopsis on the back. It is infuriatingly sexy.
“The deal is, he helps me fix the store, and I help him build his portfolio for the business he’s wanting to start here,” she’s staring at me skeptically, so I quickly tack on, “and I’m paying him.”
“In blow jobs?”
“Well, if I thought he’d be into it…” I murmur.
“What was that?” She asks.
“Are you planning on staying now?” It wouldn’t be surprising if she decided to extend her shift to “help” just to be nosy and rile me up.
“As much as I want to witness what is no doubt going to be a painfully awkward night, I promised Sera I would help her with planning her course.”