Veer (Clayton Falls) (9 page)

“Other things?”

I took a sip from my water. “Yes, personal matters.”

“Like a bad breakup?”

Was he even serious? “No, not a bad breakup.”

“So
,
is there someone back home then?”

“Is this really relevant?” I asked.

“Relevant?” Matt smiled. “Yes, it’s relevant to learning more about you.”

“I just don’t see what my relationship status has to do with working
as
your law clerk.”

He laughed, and then Ronny leaned in to me. “Sorry about him
. H
e has no manners.”

I decided to
play the one card I had
. “If I had someone back home, would I be going out for coffee with Ronny?”

Ronny grinned. “Good point.”

M
att stiffened. “Oh, I forgot about that
.”

T
hat
shut him up
. Thankfully our meals came right then, and they were both too busy eating to bother with me.

I ate my salad
and excused myself as soon as it seemed appropriate. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to go check on my car.” I pulled out my wa
llet, ready to leave some cash.

“I’ve got it, don’t worry,” Ronny said quickly.

“No, she works for me, I’ve got it.”

“Let’s just make this easy.” I dropped a ten on the table and looked to Ronny to let him know I wanted out. He moved out swiftly.

I nodded to Matt. “I’ll see you back in the office. If it takes longer than expected, I’ll make up the time later on.”

“I’m sure you will,” he mumbled under his breath.
I hoped
he didn’t actually mean what he was implying.

The garage was closed when I got there. Evidently, it closed from 12-1 every day for lunch. It would have been nice of one of the guys to have told me that, but then again
,
I was glad to have the excuse to get away. Matt was totally weirding me out, and I hoped Ronny wasn’t expecting anything more than coffee. I don’t know why, but I kind of assumed these small town men would be less intense than the ones in the city
.
I was dead wrong. I
felt
in over my head.
I took a short walk around the square and then reluctantly returned to the office.

I quietly walked past Matt’s office where he was on the phone. I buried myself in the research and finished typing up a memo of my findings around
five thirty
. I wasn’t really sure how long I was supposed to stay. I was being paid a set salary, so we hadn’
t discussed
working hours
. At
six
, I decided I couldn’t stall any longer. I printed out the memo.

I knocked on Matt’s door for the third time that day. “Hey, I emailed you this too, but
here’s
a hard copy.
”

“Great. Are you headed out then?”

“If that’s okay…”

He smiled. “It’s fine. But do you need a ride? You mentioned your car was at the garage.”

“I have Molly’s car, but thanks.”

“See you tomorrow.”

“Have a nice night, bye.” I grabbed my stuff and headed out. I wondered if I had been imagining everything. Matt was
fairly
normal at the end of the day. Either way, I was beyond excited to get home and relax.

Chapter Nine

Becca

Matt toned things down a little
over
the next few days, but he still had me on edge.
I spent most of my time buried in legal research. I appreciated the job, but it definitely wasn’t the most thrilling
I’d ever had
.
I wasn’t too excited when Ronny called to set up our coffee date for Thursday, but I’d said yes
,
so I needed to go.

Ronny
wasn’t there yet when
I walked into Marney’s
Café
. It was a cozy little place with a
comfortable
feel.
I went right up
to the counter to order something to drink. An older woman came to wait on me, and I knew it had to be Gail. Molly had told me all about her.

“Hi there, you must be Molly’s friend.”
Gail
smiled warmly.
She
wore her
long
,
silvery gray hair
pulled back in a low ponytail.

“Hi
,
Gail
. I
t’s great to meet you. I’m Becca.”

“How are you enjoying your stay so far?”

“It
’
s
been interesting.”

“Care to talk about it?”
Gail straightened a pile of flyers on the counter. I saw they were about some festival.

“I would, but I’m actually meeting someone here.”
There was just something about the petite woman that made me want to spill out my life story.

“Who?”

“Ronny…” I realized I didn’t even know his last name.

“
Oh.
Be careful with that one. He’s a good boy, but he can be intense.”

“Thanks for the heads up.”

“Can I at least get you something?”

“Yes. A large coffee would be perfect.”

“Coming right up.”

I started to pull out my wallet when Ronny arrived at the counter. “I’ve got it.”

“Oh… okay
,
thanks.”

He ordered himself a coffee as well
. Gail handed us our cups, and I added in some skim milk and Splenda. Ronny waited for me without adding anything to his cup. As soon as I finished
,
I followed him over to a table by a window.

“Hey, I’m glad you could make it. I was beginning to think this wasn’t going to happen.”

“Yeah, it’s
just been a busy week—getting used to the new job
and everything.” I wrapped my hands around my cup.

“I can imagine. You seemed pretty frazzled the other day at lunch.”

“Yeah, I just really want my car back.” I forced a laugh.

“
Things are slow here
.”

“I know
. I
t just takes a little getting used to.”

“So tell me about yourself.”

“What do you want to know?”
I took a sip
of
hot coffee.

“Everything,” he said flirtatiously.

“There isn’t too much to tell.”

“What does a beautiful law student in Boston do for fun?”

“Oh, well
,
if it’s baseball season
,
I’m usually watching, otherwise I swim and
go to
a lot of movies.” God
,
I sounded so boring.

“Do you go out a lot? Things have to be more exciting
in the city
.”
He moved his leg under the table and it brushed against mine.

“Not so much anymore now that Molly moved.”

“Oh, okay. That’s cool.”

We sat awkwardly until I remembered to ask him what he was into.
Sports, Nascar
,
and hanging out at the beach seemed to round him out.
After forcing conversation for an hour
,
I was ready to leave.

“
W
ould you maybe want to come hang out at my place for a bit? Have a drink or something?”

Was he serious? “Oh, thanks for the offer
,
but I’m going to head home. Thanks for the coffee though.”

“Oh okay, maybe next time.”

“Yeah…” I got up and tossed my empty cup in the garbage.

“Hey, I’ll walk you out.
”

We stopped in front of
Molly’s
car
,
and I awkwardly waved before getting in. That
had to be the worst d
ate ever.
I pulled m
y phone out before
starting the car
,
and I had six text messages waiting for me.

***

Jake almost gave me a heart attack even though I knew he would be there.
Stretched out on a lounge chair by the pool, he grinned when I jumped a mile high.

“Geez
,
kid, you scare easily.”

“You can’t call me
‘
kid
.’
I’m older than you.”

“By only a couple of months.”

I sat down on a chair next to him. “The same logic still applies. You can’t call me
‘
kid.
’
”

“How about, geez you scare easily
,
old timer.”

I smiled. “Let’s stick with
‘
kid.
’
”

“I thought you’d see things my way.”

“
B
y the
number
of texts you sent me,
I take it she wasn’t
‘
Ms. Right?
’
”
We’d planned on meeting up after our respective coffee dates to dish. Jake was really something else.

“If by
‘
Ms. Right
’
you mean a
total
bitch, then sure.”

“What’d she do?”

“
She y
elled at a mom because her baby was c
rying. The poor woman was just i
n line to buy something
. I
t’s not like she was sitting there with a wailing baby.”

“That’s really sweet.”

“What?
My psycho date yelling at her was sweet
?
”

“No! You caring about that is sweet.”

“If you say so. But I’m just getting started.”

“This I have to hear.” I leaned back in the chair, enjoying the slightly cooler air of the evening.

“So then
,
in the middle of a boring conversation about her friends, she starts dissing a couple sitting across f
rom us—making fun of what they were
wearing.”

“Wow, she really i
s a winner.”

“Needless to say, there won’t be a second date.”

“Haha, I wonder if she’ll be surprised when you don’t call.”

“She won’t be.”

“How do you know?
”
I turn
ed
to look at him.

“She asked if I wanted to come home with her, and I said no.”

“What? On the first date, the girl asked you that?”

“Some modern women take the initiative.”

“Just to be shot down.”

“I have standards.”

“That’s very un-male of you.”

“You really don’t have a high opinion of men do you?” He looked at me seriously for the first time.

I shrugged. “Not worse than
most
wome
n.”

“If you s
ay so… anyway
,
how was your date?
”

“Better than yours.”

He chuckled. “Not that it would be hard.”

“Ronny’s nice obviously, but we ran out of things to talk about pretty quickly. That and he kept staring at my breasts.”

“Can you really blame the guy?”

“Jake!”

“Sorry, couldn’t resist. So how’d you let him down?”

“Oh, that’s where it gets interesting.”

“Is it?”

“I got propositioned tonight too.”

“Propositioned? I love the way you talk. So he asked you to go home with him?”

“Uh huh, but he went more with the
‘
it’s been really fun, do you want to come over for a drink
?
’
method.”

“Ah, the classic
drinks
attempt.”
He swiped a People magazine off the ground
.
I figured Mrs. Mathews must have left it out. After a quick glance at the cover, Jake replaced it back where he
’d
found it.

“Yeah, he looked crestfallen when it didn’t work.
He said maybe next time
.
”