Love Me: The Complete Series (5 page)

“If he hasn’t already.”

Badeep deep.

Her cell signaled a message and Abby realized she hadn’t bothered to look at it since the night before. “Shit, I forgot to get back to the random text guy.”

“Wow, Abby. Your life is turning into one big story after another.” She glanced at the text message on Abby’s screen.

Okay, at least in this one thing she had to be honest and decent. Maybe she hadn’t started out that way, but she could fix it. Let him know she wasn’t who he thought. She clicked in a response.

There. Whoever it was would realize the mistake and stop texting.

Badeep deep.

The running chick? Her stomach fell. Oh God, it
was
him?

Wait. Not possible. Because he—

Caroline sucked in a gasp from her place looking over Abby’s shoulder. “Holy shit, Abby! You’re the running chick, right? You know what that means?”

Her hand shook and she dropped the phone on the counter and paced the floor. The answer was clear. “What?”

“Carter is—”

“The guy whose girlfriend dumped him for the ticket idea. Only, it obviously wasn’t anything to do with the tickets. It was his
best friend.
And he’s texting me. He thinks I’m his friend, the creep. Holy shit. He thinks I’m Jackson. Could this get any screwier?”

“Not likely—unless it was on television. How in the world did he get the two of you mixed up?”

“He said he had to replace his phone. That’s all I know … maybe he transposed a number or something. Tell me, what do I do?” The door clanked open then shut.
He’ll never forgive me for lying to him.

A few seconds later it opened again. And again. In fact, they had a steady flow of customers for a couple of hours. Most of them were curiosity-seekers checking out the new business. Caroline and Abby worked solidly until lunch. When Abby’s stomach growled, she checked the clock. “Caroline, why don’t you get some lunch first. I’ll cover until you get back.” The stream of people walking by outside had picked up due to the noon rush.

“Maybe I should stay for another hour.”

Abby waved her away. “No, go ahead. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay. I’ll be right back, though.” Caroline pulled her purse from under the counter then pointed at Abby’s phone. “You should answer him, you know. He’s probably wondering why you haven’t.”

“And say what exactly? That I’m just as deceitful as the lying, cheating woman that dumped him?”

“I wouldn’t exactly say
that
but you’ll think of something.”

Abby didn’t have to think of a response to text because less than ten minutes after Caroline left for lunch, there was Carter. Coming in the door of her shop.

“Hey. Thought I’d stop by and see how the first day went.”

Damn, he had a great smile. Great eyes too. In fact, pretty much great everything. Which made her nervous.

Badeep deep.

Her phone danced on the counter and she glanced at the message.

She whisked the phone away before he could see the other messages and dropped it in her purse.

“Good. Uh, it’s going good. We’ve had a fairly steady flow of traffic. Lots of people just coming in to window shop, though. It’ll pick up once people know about us.”

“You should advertise.”

“We do. Are. What do you think?” She twisted the vase of a big creation she was working on, hopeful he’d forget to ask about the one she’d delivered first thing this morning.

He frowned. “I’m not the best person to ask. Flowers aren’t my thing, remember? Well, tell me.”

So much for forgetting.

“What?” She busied herself, adding more carnations, then reached for the ribbon. It needed a bigger bow. More color. She turned to look at the stash behind. Only he grabbed her wrist from her hip and pulled her around.

“Your delivery. What happened with your delivery?”

“Which one?” She gulped. Maybe he’d think there were more than one and—

“Mine, of course. Come on, spill.”

“Oh, well…” She
really
didn’t want to do it. She couldn’t. No, someone else had to drop that bomb on him. Not her. It had been bad enough making Amanda cry. “She wasn’t there.”

He dropped her wrist and stepped back. “Oh. That sucks. So much for a reaction.”

“I know. Sorry. That wasn’t really how I thought it would go.” Of course, neither was the real thing.

He walked around the store, touching and smelling. He picked up a couple of things and evaluated her work. “I like your store. You have a way with color and I like that you have a lot of plants and not just flowers. Plants last. It’s nice. You’ll do great.”

“You think?” Her words came out in a squeak. Heat warmed her face and she cleared her throat.

“I know so.” There were about three minutes of awkward silence before a customer walked in and Carter waved and headed toward the exit. “Gotta get back to work.”

He stopped when the people entering detoured toward a row of shelves on the side of the store. He strode back and leaned over the counter. He whispered, his voice low and full of warmth, “I had fun last night. Your blind date was an idiot.”

That was sweet. She grinned.
And
he was essentially calling himself an idiot without knowing. “Your friend was too, apparently. And whoever your ex-girlfriend is, she’s a complete moron.” He had no idea just how much.

“Are you running tonight?”

She shrugged. “It depends on whether I get out of here on time or not. If we close as scheduled, I will. Why?”

“Maybe I’ll see you at the park.”

“Maybe.”

“Thanks for helping me out. I’m sure that delivery will make Amanda have more than a few regrets. Wish I could have seen it.”

He waved and left.

• • •

Caroline was ticked off when she found out she’d missed Carter. “I want to meet this guy next time he comes in. Why didn’t you tie him to the counter or something? Guys dig that kind of thing.” She flung some red grosgrain at Abby and sulked. “This ribbon will work fine. If he comes back, use it. At least then I’ll know who we’re dealing with.”

“We?
We’re
not dealing with anyone—I am. And I’m flat out lying. He thinks I’m someone else.”

“I doubt that.”

“Need I remind you about his text messages?”

“That doesn’t count. Text messages aren’t personal. Showing up here today. That was personal. He made an effort. He came by to see you.”

“He came by to find out what the ex-girlfriend said when I delivered the dump-me flowers.” Abby wasn’t foolish enough to think he wanted anything more than a little info on the delivery. Sure, he’d tried to kiss her before but that was just the result of mojito madness. What kind of regrets was he hoping Amanda would have? Regrets about letting him go? Or about cheating on him? Was he hoping she’d want to make up? Abby hoped not. He hadn’t seemed too upset about the breakup at the restaurant. The opposite, in fact. He’d seemed totally—interested.
In me.

“Did you tell him?”

“Of course not! I’m not that cruel.”

“Be honest. Do you think he’d want her back if she was second guessing herself? If she felt guilty about it and she was just trying to get attention or something?”

“I don’t know. Would you want to date someone who played head games? I wouldn’t. Caroline, it’s none of my business. If he wants her back, he’ll go get her. Now, come on. We have work to do. Stop gossiping. Get busy.”

Still, she was not getting involved with someone rolling off a breakup. Very bad idea. She glanced at the pile of inventory waiting to be unboxed and stacked in the back room for use. Abby snapped her fingers twice. “Time’s a-wastin’.” Her mother would have laughed to hear her use the favorite catch phrase. God, she really
was
more like her mom than she wanted.

Caroline snickered. “That’s right, it is, old woman.”

Her mom had referred the comment to her choice of entrepreneurship rather than keeping the nice corporate job in the family business. That job was conveniently populated with lots of young, sophisticated single guys. Guys that “are already making their way in the world and ready to settle down. After all, her clock has a lifeline—and time’s a-wastin’.”

Abby shot a glance skyward and cursed. “At least I have my priorities straight.”

“You sure do. You ditched the fancy corporate job with huge benefits to tie on a hefty debt starting your own business. Now you hang out with crazy people like me. Meet random guys through text messages and chat sites then avoid all the ones your friends and mom try to set you up with.”

“Maybe you both should just butt out. I don’t want a man right now. I need to focus.”

“Yeah, well, sometimes focus is improved by expanding your interests. I wasn’t talking about a permanent man—just a man. Any man would probably do you good at the moment and who knows, it might even fine-tune that focus a bit.”

Abby hitched a brow and turned her lips to a frown. “Seriously? This coming from the girl who’s sick of the revolving door of men she’s been hanging around?”

“Okay. Okay. Do as I say, not as I do.” Caroline grabbed a box opener and slit the first box open. “Speaking of wasted time, you should call your mom. She probably misses talking to you.”

“Yeah, I’ll get right on that.” Her voice dripped sarcasm because they both knew she wouldn’t. Abby had taken enough advice and criticism from her parents for the business start-up. She had no desire to call and get another dose anytime soon.

She’d finally and effectively squelched the questions. Caroline didn’t mention Carter or her family the rest of the day. Of course, that didn’t stop Abby from thinking about them or, actually, Carter, for hours.

She skipped her evening run so she wouldn’t have to face him. She’d catch up later. Or maybe she’d start running in the morning. By nine she’d bathed, had slipped into an old T-shirt and sweatpants, and was camped in front of the television awaiting the news report.

With her laptop balanced on her crossed legs, Abby decided to log into the Justchat site and take a glance. How pathetic was she to text and chat more than she actually
talked
with men? She shrugged. Hey, it removed all the complicated parts. The man from a few days ago, “Traveling to Survive,” had left her a short message and asked her “What’s up? My life is crazy today, how about you?” They’d exchanged a few short notes over the past day and she was starting to look forward to the responses. He seemed nice but she was thankful the chat site kept all her personal information secured. Sometimes initial niceness hid a whole slew of weirdness. Who knew what kind of people lurked on the site?

Why had she chosen the name “She Loves Dogs”? The guy probably thought she owned a house full. She shrugged. For someone with no dogs at all, it was wishful thinking.

She clicked at the keyboard.

Ironically, I happen to know the guy and can’t understand what she was thinking because he was perfect. Should I say is instead of was?

Speaking of escaped moments, forgot to ask you where you live? Hopefully, somewhere really exotic like an island out in the Mediterranean or a cabin in the mountains. Me? I'm from Austin, TX, the state capital that definitely puts the weird in Keep Austin Weird, but I live in Houston now.

The news flashed on the television and she watched the highlights for a few minutes, then returned to the laptop. The screen flashed a message pending in the app bar at the bottom so she clicked it.

Small world. I live in Texas too … not one of the weird ones. I think. Curious, what does a woman from Houston who hearts dogs do for a living?

As much as she’d like to “just chat,” she had work to do. That question could wait. Abby grinned, pulled up her last project plan, and delved into work while listening to news highlights from a car accident that had piled up the freeway, and a burglary downtown.

Badeep deep.

Uh-oh.

She bobbled her head from the laptop to the television, then to her phone sitting on the table—rather,
dancing
on the table. She needed a distraction, anything to keep her from delving deeper into the text-o-drama. What should it be? She glanced toward the kitchen. Ice Cream. Gotta have some.

She flung herself off the couch and went to the refrigerator. Unfortunately, she hadn’t thought to buy any the last time she was at the store. In fact, she hadn’t even gone to the store in about three weeks. She picked up a Ziploc bag of something green and black and sniffed. Gross. She pitched the unidentified object in the trash. Nothing to snack on. She slammed the door shut and returned to the couch.

Badeep deep.

She ignored it again. For about ten seconds. Then it beeped once more and she realized that if Caroline was texting, it might be important. Maybe she’d had an accident on the way home? Or perhaps she was sick? Or, God forbid, there was a fire at the shop? She snatched up the phone.

Or just a message from Carter.

Well, that one she could answer honestly. She tapped a finger to her chin twice. Should she?

I sent u 3 msgs and got zilch