Page 6 of Always Be Mine
But there wasn’t anyone in the plaza watching him, waiting to jump out and yell, “Gotcha!”
His phone rang sharply, and when he saw his eldest sister’s face on the screen, he laughed. “I knew it.” He answered the call, still chuckling. “What did you have to do to get her to do that?”
“Get who to do what?”
“The girl. And the cat. She?—”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Charli cut him off. “Craig, you’re late. We’re all waiting for you.”
“Shit.” He glanced at his wrist and saw the time. “The meeting.”
“Yes. The meeting.”
“I’m sorry.” He started to walk. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
He ended the call and started to jog through the plaza toward the parking lot. He’d think about the woman and the random kiss later. When he had time.
But that was the problem.
There was never enough time. Not for anything.
Had she seriously just done that?
The cat still in her arms, Lucy leaned up against the door and squeezed her eyes shut in an effort to pull herself together.
She’d just kissed a random stranger. Worse. A really cute random stranger who had just helped her.
Could she get anymore awkward?
Obviously, it was all Mandi’s fault. Still, she should apologize to the man.
She released a breath and was about to open the door to do just that when she heard a cell phone ring, followed by the stranger’s voice.
“I knew it. What did you have to do to get her to do that?”
Mortified, Lucy once again squeezed her eyes shut. She was only making a bad situation worse by eavesdropping, but she couldn’t force her legs to move.
“The girl. And the cat. She?—”
There was a pause, followed by, “Shit. The meeting.” And then the sound of boots as he walked away, her opportunity gone.
“Well, that’s one way to make an entrance in town.”
Garfield mewled his agreement, and they headed up the tiny staircase into her new temporary home.
The apartment was small but cozy. The furnishings were pretty basic, but it was clean and had everything she’d need for the next few weeks.
Hopefully, that would be long enough to figure out what she wanted to do next. If not, she’d deal with that when the time came.
After a few more trips to her car, this time without Garfield, Lucy got everything inside. There’d been no sign of the cute guy as she’d unloaded her car, and she couldn’t decide whether that was a good thing or not.
It hadn’t taken her long to unpack, and with the rest of the day stretching in front of her, she wasn’t sure what to do with herself. She hadn’t thought much beyond getting out of Vancouver, and she definitely hadn’t thought about what she might do once she got wherever it was that she was going.
She had some savings, but not much. Her salary as a restaurant manager didn’t stretch very far once she’d taken care of her rent and bills. She was going to need a job of some sort if she planned to stay away longer than two weeks.
Her gaze traveled out the window to the plaza below her. She’d noticed a Help Wanted sign in the window of the ice cream shop on one of her many trips to the car.
She was a bit overqualified to scoop ice cream, but a job was a job. With nothing else to do, she pulled her laptop out and settled into the overstuffed chair by the window to update her résumé.
