“Let me lock up my office,” Dad says. I turn to Eli as he shoves his hands into his pockets, his eyes meeting mine for a moment before he looksaway.
“I almost forgot.” He smiles as he backs up toward the door, rubbing his hands together and making those ripped forearms of his ripple. “Stay righthere.”
With my eyes glued on him as he goes to the parking lot I almost don’t notice when a big, gruff guy approaches the door. He whips it open and marches in like he owns the place. I frown. He’s the “let me talk to a guy in the back”guy.
“Hello sir,” I chirp as he comes up to me with his condescending attitude and permanent scowl. I walk around to the other side of the counter. “You got here just in time. We were about to close. How can I help youtoday?”
He lumbers over to the counter with all his phony bravado energy and he huffs and puffs like he’s personally doing me some huge pain in the ass favor by simply being in mypresence.
“Yeah, the guy I talked to last time tried to rent me some piece of shit power washer, I need to talk to someone who knows what they’re talkingabout.”
He huffs out an exasperated breath. Ismile.
He checks his watch. I resist the urge to tell him yet again that he just got here by the skin of histeeth.
Dad says I don’t have to be nice to — his words — “fucking pricks.” I know I don’thaveto be nice, but…Icanbe nice. What good does it do to match these people with their stank attitudes? It’s just like Ghandi said, an eye for an eye makes the whole worldblind.
My eyes flicker over to the door as Eli walks through. My heart flutters and my belly melts when I see that he’s carrying red roses and a huge box ofchocolates.
“No,” I say, “no. Those arenotforme.”
The other guy’s face goes white as a sheet as beads of sweat start to plump over his brow. He looks at the candy. He looks at Eli. He looks at the flowers. He looks at me. He puts his hands in the air and starts to back awayslowly.
“Hey, you okay, man?” Eli ask as he takes a step closer, repelling the guy evenmore.
“Yeah, I’m good. I…I’m sorry dude. I didn’tknow.”
He whips around and bolts for the door, grasping at the frame, grabbing the handle, almost tripping over the cinderblock and nearly taking a rack of trucker hats along with him. In the bustle of him leaving he knocked into the display of car air fresheners shaped like the silhouettes of nudewomen.
Could he have thought that Eli and I are…together? Why else would he have brought me flowers and candy on Valentine’s Day? The invigorating idea flashes through my mind and makes a chill run up myspine.
“I think you just scared away my favorite customer,” I laugh as I point a pencil toward the door, playing itcool.
Eli puts his elbows on the counter and gets closer with his eyes locked on mine, making me gasp as he inchesforward.
“I’m your new favorite customer,” he says with his deep, sexy voice. He lets out a breath and takes a rose from the bouquet and hands it to me. “Happy Valentine’sDay.”
I twirl it against my nose and smile at the sweet scent, a giddy feeling pulsing through me as Eli keeps his dark green eyes onmine.
“Happy Valentine’sDay.”
“Do you want to get out of here with me? See the house I’m workingon?”
“You go ahead,” I say. “I’m just going to close up and I’ll be theresoon.”
“Your dad has the address.” He puts his thick, muscular hand on the counter. “I’ll bewaiting.”
When he turns to leave I let out a breath and collapse into my chair. He gives me a friendly wave once he’s outside, and I can feel his gaze lingering, an overpowering presence that’s still with me even as he drivesaway.
3
Eli
“Okay,the pool is going to be right here. It’s going to be state of the art, with jacuzzi jets and an attached hot tub and — oh!…” My architectural assistant Kim walks to the edge of the property where the dirt meets the sand and spreads her arms wide, sticking out her chest as she bats her eyelashes at me over her shoulder. “It’s going to be an infinity pool so you’re going to feel like you’re right in the Atlantic Ocean from the privacy of your own pool deck. No prying eyes. Totalprivacy.”
I take in the incredible view of the ocean. This is where I was born and raised and where I met Larry, in college. Then I got married so young when I didn’t know what the hell I was doing and I got divorced just six months later because we were two different people who had no reason to be together. We thought that having fun together meant that we’d be a good match. I realized quickly that that’s not the way itworks.
After my divorce, I was lost. I thought I’d done everything right up until that point. I’d graduated from a good college, I’d made my parents proud, hell, I had a gorgeous wife that looked great on my arm. It wasperfect.