“I’m listening.”
Dellina had a mug of tea. She picked it up, then put it down. “I have two younger sisters. Last year Fayrene met this great guy—Ryan. He’s an engineer who works in town. Fayrene and Ana Raquel are twins and four years younger than me. They’re both driven. Fayrene has a business in town. A temp agency with a pet-sitting business on the side.”
“Eclectic.”
“You have no idea. Anyway, she has very specific goals, and falling in love wasn’t one of them. So when she and Ryan got together last spring, she told him she didn’t want to get married for four years.”
“That’s pretty sensible,” Taryn admitted, impressed that someone that young had so much self-control.
“It is, except she’s now decided she doesn’t want to wait. But she has it in her head that she can’t simply tell Ryan she’s changed her mind. She needs him to propose on his own. Unfortunately Ryan’s a really good guy and wants her to be happy, so he’s totally respecting her need to wait.”
Taryn saw the problem. “The immovable force meets the irresistible object.”
“Exactly. Fayrene has been brainstorming ways to get Ryan to propose. It’s kind of a family thing now. I have a dry-erase board in my home office and she has a running list of—” she held up her fingers to make air quotes “—‘ten ways to get him to propose.’”
“Not my style, but sure.” Taryn wondered what this had to do with Sam.
“Adding to the excitement at my house,” Dellina continued, “is the third bedroom. Right now Isabel is using it to store wedding gowns.”
Taryn nodded. Isabel was expanding her store, Paper Moon. In addition to wedding dresses, she would also carry designer clothes. Taryn didn’t want to think about how much money she’d already spent at Paper Moon.
“Last Valentine’s Day I went out for drinks with some girlfriends,” Dellina said. “I’m chronically single and I figured looking at all the happy couples would either cause me to throw myself back into the dating pool or reaffirm my single state for the next five years.”
“Logic I support,” Taryn told her.
“Well, I saw this handsome guy sitting across the room.”
Taryn straightened. “Sam?”
Dellina nodded. “I would like to say that I’m not the one-night-stand type. Counting last Valentine’s Day, I’ve done it exactly once. But I figured he was cute and he had to know what he was doing, right? I mean based on volume alone. Sam’s a famous football player guy. There have been a lot of girls.” Dellina paused as she began to blush.
Taryn felt the laughter bubbling up inside her. “You took Sam home?”
Dellina nodded.
“To the house with the wedding dresses and a list on how to get him to propose?” Taryn grinned as she imagined what had happened next. She wished she could have been there.
Dellina sighed heavily. “Yeah. That was me.”
Taryn’s first giggle escaped.
“Don’t laugh,” Dellina said. “Never mind. I know you can’t help it. Yes, we did it and yes, the sex was great. And Sam got up to use the bathroom and on his way back, he went into the wrong bedroom, saw the list and dresses and totally freaked.”
Taryn burst out laughing as she pictured the look on Sam’s face. He would have been horrified. It was a difficult situation for any guy, but for Sam it would be a total nightmare. “Did he get dressed before he bolted?”
“Not really. He was pretty close to naked as he scampered away across my lawn.” Her mouth twitched. “I tried to call him to explain, but he didn’t want to talk to me.”
Taryn struggled for control. “Of course he didn’t. Sam has the worst luck with women. There have been massive disasters. Oh, honey, I’m so sorry if you were hurt.”
“I wasn’t. It was weird. Like I said, I enjoyed the night, but when he dashed out the door, it was a real mood breaker.” Dellina looked at her. “You’re going to torture him with this, aren’t you?”
“Every day for the rest of my life.”
“I’m kind of okay with that.” Dellina sighed. “Now you know why he’s not thrilled at the idea of working with me.”
Taryn drew in a breath. “Of course. He’s terrified of you. It’s settled. You are so planning that party. If nothing else, I’ll be entertained watching him squirm.”
“You could explain about the misunderstanding.”
Taryn shook her head. “No way. Let him man up and ask you himself. Until then, he deserves to suffer.”
“Remind me never to cross you,” Dellina said.
“Advice to live by,” Taryn told her with a grin.
* * *