He glanced at her as they headed toward the sauces. “Definitely not. We talked about this. We’re lone wolves. Together.”
He’d been aiming to make her smile but her gaze lit up and she beamed at him. Like freaking sunshine. She lifted her arm, held out her fist. For a second, he just stared at it, then realized she was offering him a fist bump.
Wes gently connected his fist to hers, all the while shaking his head. “You are a strange woman, Hailey Sharp.”
“I have been called so much worse.”
She said it so casually, like it was a joke but one that was true. It bothered him. He was thinking of a way to bring it up, to ask who would call her anything negative at all, as he looked at jarred sauce.
“You’re not buying a premade sauce, are you?”
He looked down, startled by the brightness of her gaze. She had very pretty eyes. “I grew out of butter and parmesan at twelve, so yes.”
She smiled, patted his arm. “You never grow out of that but it’s so easy to make your own marinara. I’ll show you. It’ll be a thank-you for the invite tomorrow. Come on. You don’t need much at all. It’ll be healthier and taste so much better.”
Bubbles of happiness fizzed in his chest, confusing him. He did not want to date anyone. Particularly this woman as he hadn’t figured her out. But he’d really hoped she’d join them tomorrow. As a friend. Was he going to find it difficult to keep that straight in his head? Or worse, his heart? No.
“You’re coming?”
She placed two large cans of diced tomatoes in his cart. “If that’s still okay. I’m bringing a friend because my cousin is worried you might murder me and bury me in the sand.”
He might never figure her out. “We try not to get that aggressive during the volleyball. Noah can be a pretty bad sport but I don’t think he’d go that far.”
Her laughter surprised him. It rang out over the quiet music humming through the store. “I’m not very good at volleyball so it looks like I’ll be safe from finding out.”
“I’m glad you’re joining us. You’ve made another friend? That was fast.” He watched as she put olive oil and balsamic vinegar in his cart.
“I did. Through my cousin. Her name is Fiona. We made a trade.”
His curiosity prickled but she didn’t say anything else. They strolled through the aisles, him adding items from his list, her grabbing whatever caught her gaze.
“I should ask Fiona if she’ll come to yoga. I found a studio right in the square.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” he said after a speaker announcement finished. “There’s probably one every few blocks. I’m glad you have a yoga friend.”
Hailey chuckled, one hand on his cart, close to his own. “A yoga friend. We still need to figure out what kinds of things we can do together that fits between yoga and drinking beer. Though, I’m not opposed to beer.”
“Well, we could grocery shop. This is platonic.” He grabbed a three-pack of toothpaste.
“Definitely. Cooking—I’ll show you how to make the sauce. What could you show me?” She looked up at him with such a sweet expression, his breath hitched.
Noah’s voice and inappropriate thoughts jumped into his head but he just smiled. “Know how to play Red Dead Redemption?”
“No.”
“I’ll show you. It’s fun.”
At the baking aisle, she stopped his cart with a gentle tug. “Do you have brown sugar?”
“No.”
She pulled the cart down the aisle. “It’s the secret ingredient.”
“To life?”
She looked back over her shoulder. “Ha. You’re funny. But no. To the marinara.”
His skepticism must have shown because she set a bag in the cart then put her hands on her hips. “If we’re going to be friends, you need to trust me. At least on this.”
“Is that a rule?”
She nodded. “A hard-and-fast one. Agreed?” She held out her hand.
“You know,” he said, an idea forming in his mind on how to keep his brain and heart on the straight and narrow. “We’re creating a how-to guide of sorts.”
She laughed, still holding her hand out. “A what?”
“Activities, hard-and-fast rules.” He shook her hand, held it for a moment, ignoring the pins and needles feeling as their skin brushed together. Yes. A guide was a great idea. He dropped her hand. “A guide. To staying just friends.”
Now she grinned a wide toothy grin. “Uh-oh, are you so impressed with my Saturday-night outfit that we need a guide to keep you from falling in love with me? Is it the color of my sweatsuit or the fact that it says ‘Brat’ on my butt?”
His gaze widened. “I wasn’t looking at your butt.” He was very curious now though. Shit. He was making things worse.
Hailey put her hand on his bicep. “You make me laugh, Wes. I’m joking, there’s nothing written on my butt. A guide could be fun, especially if you illustrate it.”
God. He really liked her, how it felt to be around her. She was happy and hopeful. It made him feel the same without any of the pressure to try and be more.
“When are we making this marinara?”
They continued through the aisle and he wasn’t surprised when she grabbed a box of cookies. This time he stopped. “Do you need an intervention?”
Hailey’s gaze narrowed. “There’s lettuce in my basket.”
“To sell to customers.”
“I’m surrounded by salad all day. Trust me, I get my fruit and veggie quota. Life without cookies is just dumb.”
“I might have to see about getting that put on a plaque,” he said, surprised that he fell into teasing her so easily.
Maybe it was because he missed his sister. Everyone got on Ari’s case about not knowing what she wanted out of life. She spent her days trying everything to figure it out. Even when they didn’t see each other much, they always got along. This easy back-and-forth with Hailey reminded him of how easy it was to be around Ari. Because she never expected anything from anyone. She just accepted them as they were. She sure as hell hadn’t learned that from their father. She was the only one who knew about his dream of designing and selling games.
Hailey was digging around in the purse she had slung across her chest. “Speaking of such things, check this out.” She lifted a card close to his face.
“You got business cards. That’s fantastic. They’re great. Very on brand.”
“That’s a very marketing thing to say. On brand. Yes. They suit me and By the Cup. My cousin introduced me to her book club, which is actually just a gossip, wine-drinking club. Two of them, sisters, made these for me as a welcome-to-California gift.”
“They’re fantastic. That was a nice gesture on their part.”
She’d started to walk but stopped and looked up at him with an earnest expression that made him want to pull her into a hug. “People have been so nice to me since I got here. You included. Thank you.”
“You’re pretty easy to be nice to. Besides, you need someone to monitor your sugar intake.”
Slapping his arm, she laughed and walked forward. “Maybe we just need to up yours.”
“I did introduce you to the chocolate cake. Oh, Tara will probably be there tomorrow. I was thinking you could chat with her about cross-marketing.”
The store announced they were closing in fifteen minutes. Wes looked at his phone. He never took this long to shop. By now, he was usually home with everything put away.
Hailey lifted her basket out of his cart. She looked down at the items in it. “I derailed your shopping, didn’t I?”
She had. But he wasn’t sorry. “It’s okay. I have most of what I needed.” Several things he didn’t. “Do you want me to bring up the cross-promo idea with Tara tomorrow?”
He saw, in the way her jaw set and her eyes darted back and forth, that she was about to refuse. She had a healthy amount of pride. He could absolutely respect that but wondered why. What made her need to prove herself on her own? To not ask much of another person who could clearly help her? “As a thank-you for teaching me to make marinara next week.”
Her smile was reason enough. She had a great smile. It was interesting, this being friends thing. He liked talking to her, being with her, but he didn’t have to be “on.” Didn’t have to make small talk or say he liked things he didn’t. All this time, he’d thought he needed a girlfriend, but what he really needed was a girl friend. The best of both worlds.
10
“What’s the weirdest article you’ve ever written?” Hailey was enjoying the ride to the beach far more than she’d expected. Like her, Fiona, who’d offered to drive, liked chatting about everything and nothing.
Fiona’s lips twisted in a thoughtful pout. “Oh, I wrote one that matched your toenail polish with your favorite sex position.”
Hailey nearly spit out the sip of water she’d just taken. “That’s not a real thing.” What did teal blue say? “Abstinence by necessity?” She wiggled her toes in her flip-flops.