Six Rules: Book Two in the SIX Series (2 page)

          
I picked up the piece of paper.

          
In case you change your mind, I’ll be at Eastwick’s Pub
at seven.

          
“What is wrong with this guy?” I said under my breath. I
crinkled up the note and climbed into my van. If I wanted to go out with
Greyson, I would have made plans when he first asked me. The note just seemed
desperate. Sure, he was a handsome guy, but he annoyed me today. Granted,
Dillon annoyed me today too, but that was a whole different story.

          
I drove from the art gallery back to the bakery, trying to
push thoughts of Greyson out of my mind. The last thing I needed was another
guy in my life nagging me about how much time I spent at work. A guy as
handsome as Greyson probably needed a lot of attention, and I just didn’t have
the time.

Chapter 2

          
As soon as I
returned to the bakery, I cleaned everything up and headed upstairs to my
apartment. It was so convenient living above the bakery. My grandparents had
given the building to me when they passed. It was a small storefront with two
apartments upstairs. I was so grateful to live and work there. Ever since my
friends convinced me to follow my passion and open up my own bakery into an
actual business, things had been going quite well. My best friend Addie helped
me out full-time, which was a blessing since business had been booming all
summer. We constantly stayed busy, baking, decorating, and coming up with new
desserts to expand our menu.

          
Once I was back inside my apartment, I took a shower and
quickly towel-dried my short dark hair. I debated whether or not to grow it out
over the summer, but considering how much time I spent at work, I decided on
keeping it short. It just seemed less time consuming that way.

          
I opted for a simple black dress to wear to the art
gallery. I was only going to stop by for a few minutes just to check on my
desserts and make sure everything was running smoothly. I didn’t want something
too casual where I would stand out in the sophisticated crowd. Conversely, I
didn’t want to appear too overdressed when I otherwise didn’t have a good
excuse to be out.

          
My mind briefly thought of Greyson, wondering if he would
be stopping by the venue tonight as well. Not that it mattered, since I was
completely uninterested. Besides, he was supposed to be at Eastwick’s Pub
tonight, according to his note anyway. Who does that? I definitely wasn’t
interested in a guy bossy enough to tell me when and where I was going for a
date I hadn’t even agreed to.

          
I shook those thoughts out of my head and slipped on some
tall heels and bright jewelry. I put a few waves in my hair just to give it a
little texture and dabbed on a little perfume. I wondered for a moment if
Dillon would come back to my apartment tonight. I mean, he didn’t
really
dump
me this morning just because I had to work, right? Although he did tell me I
was unlovable, which was a little harsh to say if someone didn’t really mean
it.

          
I checked my phone just to see if Dillon had called, but
the screen was blank. I debated calling him for a moment, but what would I say?
I was extremely busy trying to get the bakery up and running, so maybe he was
right. Maybe I didn’t have time for a relationship.

          
I picked up my small clutch purse and took one last look
in the mirror.
Good enough for a ten minute appearance.

          
I drove my black Honda over to the art gallery with my
window rolled down to take in the warm August air. Most places were hot in
August, but here in Mountain Ridge, Nevada, the elevation kept things much
cooler. The town was nestled in the trees near the California border, right
next to Lake Tahoe. The summer weather was absolutely beautiful, although the
winters were a bit harsh.

          
I pulled down the back alley behind the art gallery and
parked, relieved not to see any other cars in the back. Hopefully I was the
only vendor stopping by right now. The last thing I needed was to run into
Greyson. He would probably think I was all dressed up tonight to meet him out
later for a date with him, which obviously wasn’t true.

          
I slipped in the back door, happy to see Michelle in the
back of the room as soon as I walked in.

          
“Mallory, hi! I’m so glad you stopped by. Everything is
going off without a hitch. The food tonight is amazing, and your desserts… Oh
my goodness, people absolutely love them,” Michelle said beaming. She wore a
tight black pencil skirt and a crisp white top, looking as stunning and
sophisticated as I would have expected.

          
“Good, I’m glad everything is running so smoothly,” I
responded, politely shaking my head at a server holding out a tray of
champagne. “I just came to check on things. Just to make sure there were no
catastrophes with the table or anything.”

          
“Oh, you need to try this,” Michelle said eagerly,
grabbing a small napkin with what appeared to be some type of bruschetta.
“Luca’s is superb. All of their food is delicious. I don’t even care if I can’t
peel off this tight skirt by the end of the night from all these carbs, it will
be
so
worth it.” She smiled, motioning for me to try a bite.

          
She was right, it was tangy and salty all at once. It
definitely had a unique flavor. “So has Greyson stopped by tonight?” I asked,
trying to sound nonchalant.
Why would I care what Greyson was up to?
I
wasn’t sure why I even brought him up.

          
“Actually, he just left a few minutes ago. I tried to get
him to stay, trust me. He had on a trendy suit without a tie. Dressy but yet
kind of cool, if that makes sense. I would have much preferred to stare at him
all night rather than these old balding rich guys,” she said smirking. “I mean,
look around this place. I’m sure some of them are single, but they all look
like someone’s dad, right?”

          
I laughed quietly and finished the bruschetta, nodding in
agreement.

          
“Unfortunately Greyson said he had to go, he had somewhere
to be tonight,” Michelle said shrugging.

          
Oh great, what if he actually thinks I’m showing up at
the pub tonight? Surely this guy can’t be that delusional, right?
          
“Well, I have plans too,” I
responded. “Some wine, maybe a bath. I have a bunch of magazine reading to
catch up on too, so I’d better get out of here. Sounds like a wild Saturday
night for me, right?” I smirked. I really was exhausted after spending so much
time this week preparing for this event. “If everything is going well, I’ll
head out.”

          
Michelle pouted. “Thanks for leaving me with all the dads.
It should be a wild Saturday night for me as well. I’ll call you next week to
discuss the other events we have coming up. After the success of tonight, I’m
sure we’ll be booking you and Luca’s for our events for the rest of the year.”

          
I smiled and thanked her, and then made my way out the
back door. I was quite pleased everything went so well. This kind of repeated
business was exactly what my bakery needed since it was still a little slow
during the week when I didn’t have big event orders. I so badly wanted to call Addie
to tell her the good news but I knew I shouldn’t bother her while she was on
vacation, blissfully in love in her whimsical romantic relationship.

          
I got in my car, finally realizing in that moment that I
looked awfully cute to only be out in public for less than fifteen minutes.
Maybe I should go out tonight after all, at least for some dinner and maybe a
few drinks.
  

          
I dialed my friend Megan first. She was always up for a
night out.

          
“Hey Megan, what’s up? What are you doing tonight?” I
asked casually.

          
“Going out with Alex,” she replied dreamily.

          
“Who is Alex? You have a date tonight?” I added, a little
surprised. I just saw Megan yesterday afternoon and she never mentioned him to
me.

          
“I met him last night, Mal. He is so hot. I’m on my way
out now to meet him at Harrigan’s Brewhouse and then we’re going to some beach
party. I think he’s perfect,” Megan said breathily.

          
“You haven’t even known him for twenty-four hours yet! You
think that about every guy, and then you’re over them in a week,” I said
mockingly. Megan wasn’t exactly a relationship type of girl.

          
“I know Mal, but who cares. One of these days it will be the
right guy, so I may as well give everyone a shot,” she said cheerfully.

          
“Okay Meg, if that’s what you want to call all of this
serial dating. Just be careful tonight. Call me if you need an escape plan,
alright?” I asked sincerely.

          
“Sure thing. Thanks Mal,” Megan replied, hanging up the
phone.

          
I quickly dialed Steve, then my other guy friend Johnny.
They both had plans as well, so apparently I wouldn’t be going out tonight
after all.

          
Greyson crossed my mind for a moment. Would he really just
be sitting at Eastwick’s Pub waiting for me? Perhaps he was actually meeting a
large group of friends there and wouldn’t even notice if I never showed up. I
did
have to pass by there on my way back home. It wasn’t exactly on the same route
I took to get to the gallery, but technically it was between my present
location and my apartment.

          
I turned down a side street, making my way towards
Eastwick’s Pub. I had no intention of going in, but for some reason I couldn’t
get the thought out of my mind that perhaps Greyson was just sitting there at a
table, waiting for me. I at least wondered if I would be able to see anything
through the restaurant windows if I just did a quick drive-by.

          
A few minutes later, I turned onto Third Street, slowly
making the drive down past Eastwick’s. I certainly didn’t see a Luca’s van
parked nearby, but he probably wouldn’t be driving his work vehicle tonight
anyway. I guess that didn’t make much sense.

          
Just as I approached the pub, I slowed down a bit, hoping
to get a glimpse inside the large restaurant windows that faced the street. I
could make out men and women inside, but certainly not well enough through the
glass to actually recognize anyone. I slowed down a little bit for traffic,
still trying to peer inside. It definitely looked like there were a lot of
people in there, but...

          
Crunch.

          
“Damn,” I muttered, focusing back on the road. I had just
rear ended the car in front of me. The silver Mazda Miata in front of my car
pulled off to the side of the road, so I followed suit and parked right behind
him. A man in his sixties stepped out of his vehicle and walked around the back
to assess the damage. He then walked up to my driver’s window.
Please don’t
expect me to get out of the car.
What if Greyson was inside the pub? What
if he could see me right now? He would probably think I was on my way to met
him, which I certainly wasn’t. This was mortifying.

          
“I’m so sorry sir,” I said sincerely as I rolled down my
window. “Look, I am having a really terrible day. Can I just give you…” I rummaged
through my wallet, “two hundred and eighty bucks? That’s all I have on me. Do
you think that will cover it?” My eyes pleaded with him to just take the money
and let me drive away.

          
“Are you okay? You aren’t hurt or anything?” the man asked
politely.

          
“Just my pride,” I muttered with embarrassment. “I’m just
on my way home and I clearly wasn’t paying attention. I am so sorry. Do you
think this will cover it?” I asked again, holding the cash out to him.

          
“Oh dear, no, that’s too much. It looks like it just
busted my taillight. My nephew owns a shop. He can probably take care of this
for eighty or ninety bucks,” he said, shaking his head. “You keep some of that
to fix up your bumper,” he said, patting me on the hand.

          
“Sir, really, I feel awful. Just take this in case it
costs more, that way we don’t have to deal with insurance and all that. It’s
really been a long, bad day for me. I just need to get home,” I said
pathetically.

          
The gentleman took less than half of the bills out of my
hand and smiled. “I really hope your day gets better, dear. Just promise me
you’ll watch where you’re going so you’ll get home safely,” he said, still
smiling.

          
I assured him I would, happy this was much less of an
ordeal that it could have been. I apologized again and then rolled up my
window. I hastily drove back to my apartment. I was pissed off at Dillon for
leaving me this morning. Pissed off at Greyson for annoying me and expecting me
to meet him out for a date I never agreed to. Pissed off that I was all dressed
up and had nowhere to go. I pulled into the back of my apartment building and
huffed up the metal steps to my door.