Page 30 of The Ruse of Romancing

Mason

I couldn’t stop myself from whistling as I parked my car and headed to the bakery.

I’d spent the morning getting Dani’s internet fixed and squeezing in a home workout.

After all the progress I’d made with Dani yesterday, I was in a great mood.

I was biding my time before I texted her, not wanting to come across as too eager, but also wanting to let her know I’d had a wonderful time the day before.

That’s what friends did, right? Though a part of me felt like we’d skipped right past the friend stage into some undefined territory I wasn’t quite sure how to navigate.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had so much fun exploring local haunts.

It had probably been with Rebecca.

I pushed the thought away. I didn’t think about Rebecca. She was a mistake from my first summer in Oregon, nothing more. I’d learned my lesson and moved on. She had no place ruining my perfect day.

Deciding I needed coffee and one of Joane’s sandwiches, I headed to the bakery.

Just as I was about to open the door, a familiar figure caught my eye, and I froze.

Dani sat in one corner of the restaurant, typing away furiously on a laptop.

I stopped to appreciate her expression of complete focus, her eyebrows pinched together slightly and her lips moving as if she was mouthing the words to herself as she wrote.

Shaking myself out of my surprise, I quickly ducked behind the building before she could spot me. I couldn’t risk someone from town, particularly Joane or Spencer, blowing my cover and revealing I was not, in fact, Allen. Especially not now when things were going so well.

Considering my options, I hurried away, hoping Dani wouldn’t spot me as I crossed back in front of the bakery window to the bookstore.

I’d come to town to show Spencer the concepts for his commission anyway.

I’d arrived with time to spare, intending to grab an early lunch at the bakery before our meeting, but it looked like food would have to wait.

I couldn’t risk Dani finding out the truth, not yet at least. I needed more time to gain her trust and then I’d tell her my real name. Probably.

At the bookstore, it took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dim light as the chime for the door rang.

“Welcome to Seabreeze Reads! How can I help—” Spencer broke off as he caught sight of me. “You’re early. Or did I mix up the time?”

Spencer glanced down at his watch, his lips pursed in confusion as he muttered something to himself about forgetfulness and schedules.

“I’m early.” I rushed to reassure him. “The line at the bakery was too long,” a white lie I hoped Joane would forgive me for, “so I thought I’d come over and see if you could meet now.”

Spencer studied me for a moment before shrugging and waving me back to his office.

“We can meet now. I just might have to step away if there are any customers. My employee isn’t here yet to man the cash register.”

“That’s fine,” I said, following him to the office and settling into one of the desk chairs he kept in the small space.

As I sat back, I couldn’t help remembering the last time I’d been in this room.

And while I was happy to spend time with my best friend, I kind of wished I was in this room with Dani again talking about the publishing world or her latest project or her love of cheese.

Really anything if it meant I got to be with her again.

“What have you got for me?” Spencer’s question pulled me from my thoughts, and I quickly pulled out my tablet, tapping on the screen to open the trio of sketches I’d created with the bookstore’s children section in mind.

“You talked about wanting to bring the magic of reading to life, so I wanted to do something fun but also bold.” I’d been playing with the idea after our meeting on Sunday, but after spending the day with Dani yesterday, the sketches had taken on new life, quickly becoming one of my favorite projects to date.

Spencer nodded thoughtfully, making the occasional comment as I talked him through each sketch and my vision for the pieces he’d commissioned. As I finished, Spencer settled back into his chair, his hands behind his head, a pensive expression on his face.

“You hate it, don’t you?” I asked, my stomach sinking. I’d been so excited about the concept, I hadn’t even stopped to think through alternatives if Spencer wasn’t a fan.

“No, no.” Spencer sat up quickly, waving his hands in a placating gesture. “I love it. I think it’ll be perfect for the children’s area. It’s just, something seems different about you today and I can’t quite put my finger on what.”

“What do you mean?” My forehead scrunched in confusion as I waited for his response.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re acting like you’ve met someone.

Almost like when you first met R—” He broke off and gave me a sheepish smile.

“I’m reading too much into things. You’re probably just jazzed about a fantastic idea, which you should be!

I’m going to have moms asking me where I got my artwork and looking to buy prints to hang on their kids’ bedroom walls at home. ”

I knew what Spencer was thinking and whose name he’d been about to say. But a woman had nothing to do with my mood. I was making strides in my career and loving life on the Oregon coast. That was all there was to it.

“I’d be happy to sell copies here in the store like we do with the other prints, if you think people would be interested,” I said, taking the easy out Spencer offered. “We could probably make a series of bookmarks with these prints too.”

My mind reeled with the possibilities.

“Bookmarks would be amazing!”

Spencer continued to ramble as I half listened to him talking about pricing and contracts.

My thoughts were stuck on what Spencer had said earlier.

I’d only met Dani two days ago. Was that really enough time for my behavior to change?

And if so, should I be worried about her ability to get under my skin so quickly?

Deciding I needed a more powerful distraction than children’s art prints and bookmarks, I turned the conversation to something guaranteed to take a large amount of brain power: Spencer’s love life.

“Have you given any more thought to my offer to help with your dating prospects?” It hadn’t really been much of an offer, but there was no time like the present to show up as a better, more supportive friend.

Spencer blinked at me owlishly for a moment, trying to track my change of topic, his glasses sliding slightly down his nose.

“No,” he said slowly, watching me like I was a few colors short of a full crayon box as he pushed his frames back up.

“I’m looking for something more serious than you typically go for.

Besides, you said you wouldn’t help me win Danielle Baldwin and she’s the only woman who’s truly caught my attention lately. ”

“What about Maisie?” I asked, thinking of the tattooed thrift store owner next door who was an expert at ruffling Spencer’s feathers.

“Maisie?” He sputtered, appalled. “What on earth would make you think I was interested in Maisie? That woman exists to get on my nerves and to steal my parking spots.”

While the strip mall where both the thrift store and bookstore were located had a decent-sized parking lot, Spencer and Maisie were constantly feuding over what they termed the “best” parking stalls, with both of them claiming the other’s customers hogged the prime parking.

If they’d asked me, I’d point out that the cars most often in those spots looked an awful lot like the vehicles that belonged to the Gossip Gang who liked to frequent Ed’s Barbershop.

Up until now, I’d kept my nose out of the argument, content to sit back and watch them clash.

“Okay, so not Maisie, but surely there’s got to be someone else besides Danielle Baldwin. She was giving some pretty strong uninterested signals the other day.” That and if I could lead Spencer away from Dani, I’d definitely feel less guilty over what I was doing.

Not that I was pursuing her for romantic purposes, but still. I had to remind myself of my own intentions since the handholding from yesterday and my constant thoughts of her had muddied the water.

Spencer shrugged, leaning back in his chair and propping his feet up on the desk.

“No one’s caught my interest. But who knows, maybe a tourist will wander in and—”

As if on cue, the chime above the door rang, indicating Spencer had a customer. Taking his feet off the desk, he stood and started walking to the front of the shop.

“Give me just a second to see who this is and if they need help.”

“Take your time,” I called. Pulling out my phone, I glanced at the time. It was late enough in the day that I could probably text Dani without seeming too eager right? I was going to wait until tomorrow, but all this thinking about her had me wanting to type out a message.

I could hear Spencer greeting his customer. When she responded, I froze with my finger poised above my phone screen to type.

It was Dani. Dani was in the store, and I was currently sitting in Spencer’s office with the door wide open for anyone to glance in and see me.

Looking around, I considered my options.

I could try to escape the bookstore without Dani noticing, which seemed like the most dramatic option.

Or I could close the office door and hope Dani would leave quickly.

Seeing as I hadn’t said goodbye to Spencer, this seemed like my best option.

Just as I was reaching for the doorknob to close the office door, Spencer’s words registered.

“I can’t believe you haven’t chatted with Mason about his art. You guys are next door neighbors. How is that even possible?”

“After our few exchanges, trust me, it’s no surprise his career hasn’t come up.” This came from Dani and my heart gave a small twinge at her dry tone of voice. Hopefully, she felt differently about Allen.

I still gagged a little bit thinking about that name, but desperate times had called for desperate measures.

“Well, he’s in my office right now. He just showed me an incredible batch of prints he’s working on for the store, and maybe he can tell you more about that print you were admiring.”

Spencer was bringing Dani back to the office to meet me.

Hiding was no longer an option. Moving quickly, I dropped down to all fours and crawled as fast as I could from the office to behind the cash register.

I didn’t know why I was crawling but apparently I didn’t make the best decisions when I was panicking as evidenced by the choice of “Allen” for my fake identity.

Peeking around the corner, I made sure the coast was clear before pushing to my feet and bolting around one of the bookshelves as their voices drew closer. James Bond, I was not, but I could dodge and hide when needed.

Ducking around one more bookshelf, I sank to the floor in an effort to stay even more out of sight, my heart pounding in my chest.

“That’s odd. He was just here.” I heard Spencer say, his voice carrying through the quiet shop. “Maybe he stepped away and will be right back.”

Silently cursing Spencer and his persistence, I pulled out my phone and quickly typed out a text to Spencer.

I needed them to move away from the office if I was going to get out of the bookstore without being spotted.

While there was a back door near the office, it was alarmed, and I really didn’t need to draw added attention my way.

Mason:

Grandparents needed help with a small emergency. Sorry to duck out early!

Hopefully, Spencer would be satisfied with that lame excuse and send Dani on her way. A short moment later I heard a chime on Spencer’s phone.

“Looks like he had to help his grandparents with something.”

“Well, that’s too bad,” Dani said, though her voice sounded anything but disappointed.

“You know, I’m glad you stopped by, Dani. I’ve been wanting to,” Spencer’s voice cracked, and he cleared it, making his next words come out even deeper, “to ask you something.”

“Oh?” Dani didn’t sound excited about Spencer’s pending question, and I couldn’t really blame her. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to guess what was about to happen next. I only felt a little bit bad about witnessing it.

Though maybe I could save Spencer some of the impending pain.

Thinking quickly, I pulled up a text message to Dani and typed:

Allen:

I had a great time yesterday. Can’t wait to see you tomorrow! Would it be okay if I picked you up?

I’d navigate any anxieties about Dani connecting Allen’s car with Mason later. Maybe I could borrow a car from one of my buddies or just make sure she never saw Mason’s car when she was at the duplex.

Dani’s phone chimed and Spencer stopped his rambling build up to a question that would only end in pain.

“Sorry, Spencer. I need to respond to this. It’s my date for tomorrow solidifying plans.”

“Oh, uh, date? I didn’t know you were,” Spencer’s voice cracked again, “seeing anyone.”

“It’s a recent thing. I don’t know if you’d technically say we’re ‘seeing’ each other, but I’m interested in seeing where things go.”

I silently pumped a fist in the air, congratulating myself on saving Spencer from a seriously painful interaction.

There was no way he’d continue his line of questioning now, not if he had any self-respect.

Now if he could just finish helping Dani with her reason for coming to the store, I could make my getaway while they were both distracted.

Their voices faded until I could no longer make out what they were saying.

Assuming the coast was clear, I pushed to my feet and sneaked around the shelves, making sure no one was in sight as I rounded each corner.

Finally, I reached the front door and made my exit, only cursing the chime above the door a little bit as it signaled my escape.

I just hoped Dani and Spencer were too busy talking to notice.