A Wedding Worth Waiting For (7 page)

“Lucky for you, I've got enough Rocky Road for the two of us.”

* * *

Sam unpacked the last of her groceries, still not sure how she'd ended up inviting Dani back to her apartment. Or rather why she'd gone along when Dani had invited herself over. Her new friend had argued that since Sam had groceries that needed to be put away, and Dani had nothing planned other than a dessert binge, it just made sense for her to tag along back to Sam's place.

Which was why there were now two bowls of Rocky Road on the table instead of the single peanut butter and jelly sandwich she'd planned for herself. Not that she had wanted to say no, but she was struck by the feeling that she'd never really had a choice in the matter. Dani Post was a force of nature; Sam could only imagine what it must be like to face her down in a courtroom.

“If you don't get over here soon, your ice cream is going to melt.”

Sam grabbed the bowl and leaned against the counter, savoring her first bite of the creamy sweetness. “I actually kind of like it when it gets all soft. When I was a kid, I called it ice-cream soup.”

Dani made a face in mock horror. “Ugh, my sister did that, too. I never understood it—the whole point of ice cream is that it's cold. But in the spirit of new friendship I'm willing to overlook what is obviously a serious character flaw.”

“In the spirit of new friendship, or because you want more details about my dinner with Dylan?”

“Trust me, I already got the details from Dylan. And what he didn't tell me, my mother and half the town will fill me in on. What I want to know is, what are you going to do now?”

Sam swallowed hard, the cold treat making a lump in her throat. “What do you mean? I told Dylan I need to focus on my career right now, and that's exactly what I'm going to do.”

Dani nodded. “Right, but from what I understand, your biggest problem there is forging the kind of connections that will bring in leads. And that kind of social networking isn't something you can force.”

“Well, I'm going to have to figure out a way to speed up the process. If I can't show my boss that I'm earning the trust of the citizens, I'm going to end up riding a desk somewhere with more paperwork than people.” Just like her father. The difference was that he hadn't been forced into it, he'd just given up—on the job and on life in general. She knew it was his way of dealing with grief, but she still couldn't understand it. Not when she was one of the people he'd given up on.

“And that doesn't leave room for dating Dylan, huh?”

“Afraid not.” No matter how hot he was.

“What about just a fling then?” She waggled her eyebrows. “Maybe just to ease the tension, if you know what I mean?”

She felt her cheeks heat. “I'm not really the fling type.”

“Serious relationship kind of girl, huh? Is there a guy nursing a broken heart up north somewhere?”

As if. “No, no old boyfriend. Like I said, my career is my focus.”

Dani's gazed locked on her, the lawyer mode clearly in play. “Wait, no recent old boyfriend, or no old boyfriends at all?”

Damn. Ducking her head, she put more effort into washing their bowls than was strictly necessary. “I had a few dates here and there.” Bad ones. “But no real relationships, no. I was too busy studying, and then I was at the academy. And anyway, Cheesy is more than enough responsibility right now, aren't you, boy?”

The big orange cat, stretched out in a beam of sunshine on the kitchen floor, twitched an ear and went back to grooming himself.

“Hey, I get it. Law school wasn't exactly relationship friendly. But at some point you have to take a risk and put yourself out there, you know?”

“Risk” was so not her favorite word. “Maybe. But now isn't the time.” Not when she had so much else on the line. She couldn't chance losing her job
and
her heart.

Dani didn't look convinced, but at least she was perceptive enough to know when to back off. “All right, then let's figure out how to save your job, and then we'll worry about your love life.” Reaching into her oversize handbag, she whipped out a yellow legal pad and a pen. “Let's start by making a list of people you used to know, people that would remember you, and go from there.”

One hour and several cups of coffee later, Sam was ready to declare defeat. She'd remembered more people than she'd expected, but most of them had moved off the island. She planned to contact the few that remained, but most of them were from her father's generation and may have less than favorable memories, considering his abrupt withdrawal from Paradise society after her mother's death. Sally at the restaurant had been understanding, but there were sure to be at least some hard feelings about the way he'd left things.

On the bright side, she was starting with a mostly clean slate, other than those few. But that also meant she'd need even more time to make inroads, time she didn't have.

Getting up, she stretched and headed to the kitchen. “Want more coffee? Or a sandwich or something?”

“No, I've got to get going. I've got a case to prep for tomorrow.” Looking at the paper in front of her, Dani sighed. “I know you were hoping for better news, but you'll make it work. I'll introduce you to some of my friends, and we'll go from there. Or you could change your mind, and go out with Dylan.”

“How on earth would that help?”

“Hello, you saw how the cashiers acted when they thought you were his girlfriend. You were practically a celebrity. You'd be on everyone's radar, and people would be clamoring to get to know you.” When Sam turned back to her, she quickly added, “But of course you shouldn't go out with him under false pretenses. I was just thinking out loud. Forget I said anything.”

Sam nodded, but her stomach was churning, and not just from all the sugar and caffeine. Given unlimited time, she could and would make things work in Paradise. But if she was going to establish herself here in the few weeks before the Outdoor Days Festival she needed to think outside the box. And she needed to do it quickly.

Chapter Seven

D
ylan shoved a hand through his hair as he pored over the numbers in front of him. Some months, balancing the budget was a quick and easy chore, but it looked like this wasn't going to be one of them. The spreadsheet on his screen was showing an alarming amount of red, and after an hour of wrestling with numbers he was starting to think he was going to need magic, not math, to make things work. Partly because, unlike a normal business, there was no way to predict how many animals they might treat in a given time period, or what care they'd need. Add in the expense of the roof repair and he was almost ready to pack it in and move back to Boston.

Almost. But no Boston firm could offer him the kind of experiences he'd had here. He just needed a break and some coffee. Then somehow he'd get the numbers to work—he always did.

He was just filling his cup when he heard the front door open behind him. Assuming it was one of the volunteers, he called out a greeting while stirring some sugar into the hopelessly bitter brew. “Morning.”

“Good morning to you, too.” Sam? Abandoning his drink, he spun around. “Hey, what are you doing here? Did you come by to see the fawn?”

She hesitated for a brief moment, then nodded. “Yes. How's he doing?”

“Really well. I checked on him this morning when I came in and he nearly knocked me over looking for his bottle. He definitely has his strength back.”

“I'm so glad.” Her tone was sincere, but there was still an aura of tension around her. Did she think he'd overstated things to protect her?

“Want to go see him?” Maybe she'd relax once she saw for herself that the orphan was on the road to recovery.

“Yes, please. I'd like that—if it's not too much trouble, I mean.”

“Not at all. I was taking a break anyway.” He gestured to his cooling coffee. “Would you like a cup?”

“No, thanks, I had some on the way here.”

“Smart choice. This stuff's terrible, but trust me when I say the budget doesn't allow for better.” He glared at the computer screen, still displaying its crimson figures.

She followed his gaze and grimaced. “I don't know much about accounting, but that can't be good.”

“I know a whole lot about accounting, and I can assure you that it's worse than not good. But hey, that's what I signed up for.”

“Bad coffee and impossible budgets?”

“More or less. But you forgot the manual labor and occasional animal poop.”

“And yet you're still here.”

He shrugged. “What can I say, I'm a glutton for punishment. But maybe not the best person to be giving you career advice, come to think of it.”

“Please. You're doing something that you love, and where you can use your skills to make a difference. That's something to be proud of.”

Again, he was blown away by how well she understood him, maybe more than he understood himself. “Thanks, I needed to hear that today. Now, let's go see that fawn.”

He led her back through the treatment area to the enclosures. He'd moved the fawn to a larger one, where he had access to a fenced outdoor area. Spotting the baby deer before Dylan did, Sam half jogged the last few yards. “Look! He's eating!”

“He sure is. I've been bringing in trimmings from the bushes on my property to supplement his feed, and he can't get enough. He probably doesn't really need much in the way of bottles anymore, but the vet wants to keep him on them twice a day for a bit longer, just to put some extra weight on him before he's released.”

Sam rested her forehead against the wire fencing of the cage, watching the fawn delicately strip the leaves off a branch with his long tongue. “Is there anything I can do to help with him?”

“Nah, he'll be fine. Unless you have lots of acorns on your property? If you do, you could bring him some of those. We've got the local school collecting them as treats for some of our animals, but we can always use a few more.”

“Acorns, got it.” She watched for another minute, then turned to him, her hands shoved in her pockets, posture stiff. “Before I go, there was something else I wanted to talk to you about.”

Instinct told him this was more than a question of paperwork or protocol, but he kept his voice casual, not wanting to spook her before she got around to explaining her real reasons for coming. “Sure, what's up?”

“Well, after we had dinner the other night, it seems people started to talk. About us.”

Crap, was that what she was upset about? “Listen, I'm sorry about that. I didn't think about how it would look—”

“No, it's fine. It's just that, well, somehow word got around that I'm your...” She scuffed one well-worn hiking boot in the dirt. “Well, people think I'm your girlfriend.” She blushed, her cheeks turning a faint pink. “Or something.”

“Ah. Well, I can try to put the word out that we're just friends, but it may take a few days for the gossip to die down. People always prefer an interesting bit of make-believe over the truth.”

“Actually, I'd rather you didn't.”

“No?” Her cheeks were still rosy, but she'd summoned up the same strength he'd seen on her in the field the other day. Whatever it was she wanted, she seemed determined to get it.

She shook her head, brown waves of hair shimmering in the sunlight. “My goal all along has been to meet people, and as stupid as it sounds, dating you would have people interested in getting to know me.”

Where was she going with this? “Do you really think so? I mean, I know there was some gossip going around, but—”

“I was practically interrogated by two cashiers at the grocery store yesterday. I'm sure. Just being seen with you has made me a person of interest. And Dani seemed pretty sure that wasn't an isolated event.”

Dani. He should have known she figured into this. “So what are you suggesting, exactly? You aren't really suggesting we date just to help your job, are you?” Part of him, mostly the area below the belt, welcomed the idea. But there was no way he could justify taking advantage of her in that way, even if she was serious. He had to have misunderstood.

“Actually, that's exactly what I'm suggesting.”

* * *

Sam watched Dylan's eyes go wide and instantly realized her mistake. “Not for real, of course.”

“Of course.” His voice sounded a bit strangled, and Sam mentally kicked herself for screwing this up so badly. She'd planned out everything she was going to say last night, but as soon as she'd seen him she'd forgotten every word of it. And she never choked, not on a test in school, not on the firing range, not in the field. But she had today. She'd prattled on about the darned deer, and then she'd made it sound like she was willing to—well, she wasn't sure exactly what she'd made it sound like she was willing to do. Either way, she needed to get her foot out of her mouth and clarify things before she ended up looking any more pathetic.

“What I meant to say was, I'd like to make a proposition.” His eyebrows shot up and she rolled her eyes. “Maybe proposition is the wrong word. An arrangement, a purely platonic arrangement.”

“One that involves us dating?”

“Yes and no. One that gives the
appearance
of us dating. Basically, I would need you to go out with me a few times. Just enough to get people talking. Then instead of me trying to work my way into the community, the community will come to me.”

“I can kind of see how that would work. Maybe. But what do I get out of this...arrangement?”

Darn it. She'd spent half the night trying to figure that part out, and she still didn't have an answer. “Acorns?” He'd said the animals needed those.

He tipped his head, as if considering.

“And I'll volunteer here at the wildlife center. I can clean cages, do laundry, help with fund-raising, whatever you need.”

“So you're willing to work here, on top of the job you already have, and all I have to do is agree to date you?”

“Pretend to date me.” She needed to make that part very clear or this was never going to work. Assuming it had any chance of working at all. “And yes, that's the deal.”

“Okay.”

“Really?” Could it be that easy?

“Sure, why not? We go out a few times, have some fun and I get another volunteer.”

“Right, and it's just for a few weeks, until the Outdoor Days Festival. Then we can go our separate ways. As friends, of course.”

“Right, as friends.” He started back up the gravel path to the main building. “You're welcome to stay here with the fawn if you want, but I've got to get back to work.”

She followed behind, trying not to notice how well his jeans fit. She couldn't afford to be distracted by anything right now, not even a cute butt. “Ah, yes, the budget. Anything I can do to help?”

He looked back with a smirk. “You're already providing free labor, so I'd say that's helping. And don't worry, we'll make some money at the festival, selling prints of the animals here. Dani's sister, Mollie, is an incredible photographer and always donates her work for the cause. That should bring in some cash to get us through the winter. Until then I'll just have to be creative.”

“Well, I'm sure you'll manage.” He seemed so confident in everything he did; she couldn't imagine living life just trusting that everything would work out. She always had to have everything planned out to the last detail, and even then she still worried. Right now, she was mostly concerned that she'd just bitten off more than she could chew. Would people really believe that a guy like Dylan was involved with a girl like her?

Shoving down the old insecurities, she trailed him into the office and sat on the edge of the desk. Now that he'd agreed to the plan, she wasn't quite sure how to pull this charade off. “So, about the whole dating thing... I was thinking we should start right away.”

He leaned back in his chair. “Fine by me. How about dinner tonight at Mary's Diner, say seven o'clock? It's trivia night, so there should be a good crowd.”

Her heart thumped. She'd been thinking in a few days, not a few hours. And the mention of a crowd certainly didn't calm her nerves. But in for a penny, in for a pound. It wasn't like she had any other viable options at this point. “Sounds great. I'll meet you there.”

“If you want it to really look like a date, I should pick you up.”

“Oh, right. Okay.”

He pushed a piece of paper and a pen across the desk to her. “Write down your phone number and address, and I'll be there a little before seven.”

She quickly scribbled down the information, then passed it to him. He ripped off a section and wrote his own number down, then handed it over. “If you need to contact me before then, that's my cell. I pretty much always have it with me.”

“Thanks.” She stood, wondering if he found this whole situation anywhere near as awkward as she did. Probably not. He was already starting to focus on the work in front of him. “I'll see you tonight then. And thanks again for doing this.”

“It's no big deal.”

Maybe not to him, but it was to her. Proving herself to her boss was the biggest thing in her life right now. Once she knew she was staying in Paradise long term, then maybe she and her father could figure out some way to mend their rocky relationship. But that wasn't going to happen if she was demoted, or worse, fired. Her only chance to impress him was to show him that she was a success.

Failure wasn't an option.

* * *

For once Dylan was glad he was the only person stuck in the office on a Sunday. Because right now he needed some alone time to figure out what on earth he had just agreed to do.

When Sam had come looking for him, he'd started to hope she'd changed her mind about going out with him. And in the end, he'd been right. But a fake relationship? This wasn't some daytime soap opera; it was real life. And in real life people didn't have romances of convenience, or whatever the term was.

The very idea was crazy. And yet he'd said yes. And not because he needed another volunteer or her acorns. But because there was no way he was going to turn down a chance to spend more time with her.

Pathetic, but true. If she wouldn't date him for real, he'd take what he could get. Which right now meant dinner and a trivia competition with the one woman on the island who made his palms sweat and his pulse pound.

Not the worst agreement, when you looked at it that way.

Feeling a bit better, he set the alarm on his phone for six and dove back into his work.

Hours later, he had finished with the current budget crisis and started the process of applying for a new grant. He was on the third page of what seemed like a never-ending application when his phone buzzed, alerting him to the time. He'd worked straight through lunch, a bad habit, but thanks to the alarm he'd have time for a quick shower before picking Sam up. He'd started using one in college after he got so hyperfocused cramming for a test that he'd actually missed the exam he was studying for.

As he was shutting down the computer, the evening volunteer staff began to show up for the nightly feeding. “Hey, boss. You leaving?” Trish, one of the regulars, signed in on the volunteer sheet.

“Yeah, I've got dinner plans. A date, actually.” Might as well start feeding the rumor mill now. “Sam Finley, the wildlife officer that just moved back to town? I'm taking her to trivia night.”

Trish stopped writing to stare. “You've got a date? You never date.” She blushed. “Not that you couldn't if you wanted to.”

“Well, tonight I want to, and I'd better run if I'm going to be on time.” Waving, he headed for the door. “Have a good night, and make sure you lock up.”

The trip to his place only took a few minutes in the nonexistent Paradise traffic, leaving him just enough time to shower, shave and change before heading to Sam's place. Her apartment was on the other side of town, but nothing was very far on such a small island and he made it to her door a full ten minutes before seven.