DEAN
Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch
Jackie Anne:Did you see that truck that hit the stop sign on the square? That driver was YUMMY!
Comments:
Mollie Wilson:Um, Jacks, he’s Cain’s age.
Jackie Anne:I can look! I think Grace agrees. She talked to him right after.
Dale Garrett:I’m straight as a needle, but saw him yesterday. WHEW! I didn’t know they made them like that anymore!
Kerry Winsor:He’s practically a baby! What is wrong with you all!
Kerry Winsor:Wait, is he the guy with the cowboy hat??? THAT GUY?
Wren Hackett:He’s my electrician and he’s not gonna date any of you! Why are you all talking about him and not the wreck?
Jackie Anne:It’s been a while for me, okay? I can look if I want!!!
I was craving cherry limeade,and it had everything to do with Grace’s unreal outfit this morning.
It had been a long time since I was this excited to flirt with a woman, but I’d been good for a few days. It was time to ruin that.
“Are you daydreaming again?” Wren asked in the middle of her lecture. I hadn’t been listening.
“Who, me? Of course not. I never daydream during important conversations.”
“You’re a terrible liar.” She crossed her arms. “Is this thing you have with Grace gonna be a problem?”
Wren wasnothappy with me, and I didn’t blame her. I’d been here two weeks and gotten distracted by Grace Day over a dozen times. Wren had told me not to talk to her, and I had kept that promise up until this morning.
This wasn’t normal for me. Sure, I had flings on jobs, but they never took away from what I was trying to get done.
“Is a beautiful woman ever a problem?”
“Normally, no. But you’re acting weird about her. Weirder than usual.”
The difference was that I was stuck in a small town again. I’d come here as a favor to Wren, but I hated these kinds of places. Grace had been the only thing making it tolerable. And to find out she was even more fun to talk to?
Yeah, this was going to be a problem.
I’d dealt with attraction. A lot. But there was something aboutthisattraction. I needed her. And being told no only made me want her more.
“Technically, she talked to me first ... after I wrecked my truck staring at her.”
“And you used that as an opportunity to flirt?”
“What? Am I supposed to just be rude?”
Wren considered it. “No, but flirting isn’t a good option. Seriously, I asked Mollie, who asked Jade?—”
“I don’t know who any of those people are.”
“Yet you figured out Grace’s name pretty quickly.” Wren rolled her eyes. “The point is, Jade is close to Grace, and is pretty sure that Grace wouldnotbe into a one-night stand. It’s been a bit, but she always does things the usual way. Dating, and then sex. I don’t think this would work. She would get attached.”
Attachment was the bane of my existence. I’d managed not to have that issue ever since high school, ever since Julie. I had Mom. And then I had work. It was fine.