“On it.”
Rebecca hung up the phone, and a minute later, Taryn sent the number. In response, Rebecca sent Taryn a completely naked picture of…Knight the dog.
Taryn responded with Bitch.
Rebecca laughed. Nope, Knight’s a boy.
Shut up, Beatrice.
Smooches, Mildred.
Rebecca tossed her phone to the side, feeling ten times lighter than she had a few minutes earlier. Action. That was what had always kept her on track. A problem comes up. Take action and fix it.
She tucked the police photos in her bag, scribbled down the number from Taryn and made a note to call, and then buzzed Marian to send in her first appointment of the day.
There. Done. Her dome with Wes would stay intact.
chapter
TWENTY
Wes spread the documents he’d been working on all morning across his desk. Permission slips. Rules. Possible business plans. His mind was plugged in and wired, all the possibilities making his blood pump.
This was
going to happen. A restaurant.
Sure, it wasn’t going to be in the way he’d originally envisioned all those years ago. This wouldn’t be some fancy joint that would get a write-up in Food & Wine magazine or earn him special snowflake status in the culinary world, but he’d get to enjoy the process of creating a business out of nothing and teaching his students how to do the same. That was something. Maybe everything. He pulled a few more sheets from the printer and laid them on top of one of the stacks.
“Not too much preplanning,” he muttered to himself as he sorted things. “The kids need to take ownership in this project with me, make decisions as a team. But after the reveal, maybe we could do a brainstorming session first and then timelines and…”
A light tap on his door had him shutting his mouth and looking up. Rebecca was leaning against the doorjamb, red hair in a curling ponytail and a teasing smile on her face. “Talking to your imaginary friends?”
The sight of her had him inhaling a deep, satisfied breath. She’d made it. And damn, was he going to get that rush of desire every time he saw her now? He’d been attracted to her from the start, but this was different. Now that he knew what lay beneath those clothes, what her lips tasted like, what she sounded like when she lost control, he couldn’t keep his blood from heating and his body from moving toward her like a magnet to steel.
He’d been disappointed with their call earlier when she’d clammed up on him and lied about what had happened during her speech. He didn’t know exactly what had gone down at the brunch, but he knew it wasn’t because she’d skipped breakfast. She’d been somewhere else when he’d reached her onstage. Eyes wide and scared but not seeing what was in front of her. Haunted. He didn’t have to guess by what. But she didn’t want to talk about it with him yet.
As much as that had stung, he wasn’t going to push. Rebecca had been through things that made his childhood look like a trip to Disneyland. He had no idea how she’d managed to get up on that stage to talk about the shooting in the first place. His high school years had been marked with memories of skipping school, bad grades, and then eventually his uncle’s well-placed foot in his ass to get him back on track. Rebecca’s past was filled with trauma and violence and losses that Wes couldn’t fathom.
He didn’t blame her for not wanting to talk about it. They’d only agreed to have a good time together, to be casual friends. He wasn’t her boyfriend or confidant. He was a distraction, as she’d said.
So if she wanted a distraction, he would happily distract the hell out of her.
He stepped around the desk and smiled. “My imaginary friends always think my ideas are brilliant.” He tucked his hands in his pockets to keep from touching her since the kids would be flooding the hallway any minute. “I’m glad you could make it. I might’ve exploded if I couldn’t tell the group today.”
“Crisis averted.” She lifted a plastic bag she’d been carrying and held it out to him. “I looked for one of those giant ribbons so we could wrap it around Adele for the kids, but apparently giant bus-size ribbons are not readily available. So I figured this was the next best thing.”
Wes took the bag and peeked in. A pile of bright-yellow bandannas was stacked neatly inside.
“I figured we could use them to blindfold the kids when we bring them outside, and then they could use them to keep their hair back while cooking. That seems to be your preferred method.”
He looked up and grinned. “That’s a great idea. And people will definitely be able to see us coming.”
She plucked one out and waved it in front of him. “You’re Team School Bus. Of course they’re yellow.”
“We are Team School Bus. You’re not getting out of wearing one of these. But thank you.” He leaned in for a quick kiss without thinking about it. “I love them.”
She looked down. “Wes, I—”