Surprise slowed her response. She sat up. “Hey, Mom. How are you?” Where are you was a better question. Her parents liked to be on the move, whether it was in their convertible, in a rented RV, or on a plane.
“We’re good. Just packing for our trip. Are you spending Christmas with Piper and her family?”
“I’ll go over for dinner. I’ve made some good friends and they’ve invited me to be part of their day.” Okay, they hadn’t actually but she didn’t like to make her mom feel bad.
“Good. Then I won’t have to feel bad about you being alone. I know we agreed to meet at the airport but we’ve actually found a cheaper flight out of a different airport. I’ve sent your gifts.” She could picture her mom marking the item off on a checklist.
Of course they weren’t meeting at the airport. The logical part of Hailey never thought they were. The part of her who still wanted to believe in them curled into a ball, put her head on her knees. “Same. No worries about the airport. I hope you guys have fun in Mexico.”
“We’re looking forward to it. How’s California?”
“Good.” She rolled to her side. “You should come visit.”
“Maybe in the new year. How’s your little salad shop?”
Maybe not so little. “Today was an amazing day. A friend of mine mentioned me on social media—”
“Sorry, dear. I have to go. That’s fantastic about your friend. We love you.”
Just like that, the conversation was over. Hailey was too used to the status quo to let it dim the happiness bursting inside of her. Unfortunately, the weight of her limbs, the fatigue of the day, was stronger than her excitement. She fell asleep curled around her phone, dreaming of salads.
A buzz woke her up. She looked at her phone but realized it was her apartment buzzer. Quickly, she scrambled off her bed, disoriented as she shuffled to the speaker.
“Hello.” She sounded like a sick frog.
“Delivery for Hailey Sharp.”
“Oh. Uh, I’ll come down.” Because even half-asleep, she wasn’t stupid.
She had no idea what was in the gift-wrapped box she signed for. She shook it gently as she walked back up to her nondescript apartment. It was really more a room and a half than an actual apartment. Like a studio with a half wall that separated the bedroom area.
Her phone was ringing when she got back. Setting the box on the bed, she smiled when she saw Wes’s face but frowned when she realized the time.
“Hey,” she said, panic settling into her bones. She’d fallen asleep for an hour and a half. He was going to be here to pick her up for the Christmas party at the radio station in twenty minutes.
“You ready?”
“Nearly. Working on the finishing touches. I need to go do that,” she said, already stripping off her clothes. She hurried toward the only separate room in her place: the bathroom. Swearing when she stubbed her toe, she leaned over, started the shower.
“Hailey.”
“Wes. I gotta go. I have a hot date,” she said with a laugh.
“Wait. You’re still coming with me tonight, right?”
She froze. What the heck? “Of course I am. You’re the hot date.”
“Oh. I thought you meant Seth.”
She stared at her phone even though he couldn’t see her. He hadn’t brought up running into her at the restaurant or how weird he’d been. Seth had stopped by the shop earlier this week, asking if she wanted to maybe catch a movie. They’d left it up in the air as to when but she’d said yes.
“I would never bail on you.” Definitely not for Seth. He was nice and all but Wes was … Wes.
“Right. Of course. Is that the shower I hear?”
“Wes,” she said more urgently. “I need to go.”
She heard his groan as she disconnected. She showered as fast as she could without leaving soap in her hair. Fortunately, she’d been playing around with her hair last Sunday when she watched the kids so she wound her partially dry hair into a cute bun she’d seen on Pinterest. It was harder to do on her hair than it had been with Cassie’s but it wasn’t horrible. She applied her makeup and was proud of the time she was making until the buzzer sounded.
She looked down at her towel tucked between her breasts and swore. There was no way around this. Her dress was in her closet. If she waited until she put it on to answer Wes, he’d know she wasn’t ready anyway. So she buzzed him in, left the door unlocked, and hurried to her closet.
He came in as she was pulling her blue dress out. She turned and nearly choked on her breath. Holy shit, he cleaned up well. His charcoal suit made those blue eyes shine like the ocean. His hair was styled to look messy but just looked sexy as hell. Here she was, not even dressed and he looked like he’d stepped out of GQ.
Her words got tangled. She might have lost a few brain cells staring at him wondering what it was about a man who wore a suit.
He gestured to her. “You’re, uh, you’re…”
She looked down and laughed. “Don’t worry. I’m not wearing a towel. Wow. You look great.”
“Thank you. So do you.”
Her face scrunched. “Right. I’m sure I look amazing. I just have to slip this on and I’m ready.”
“Oh. That’s what you’re wearing?”
Her heart cramped. Right. She’d worn it before. He probably had his suit custom-made by Gucci or something. He was used to women like Ana Pergo who probably never wore the same thing twice.
Doing her best to hide her hurt, she looked at her bare feet. “Is that okay?”
Wes’s feet showed up in her line of sight. She looked up then followed his gaze to her bed. For one split second, heat infused her body like someone had lit a kerosene lamp under her skin.
Wes swallowed audibly. She became all too aware of her towel.
“Hailey,” he said, his gaze coming back to her, running over her face like a soft touch. “Why don’t you open that.”
She stared at him a moment. There was something different in his gaze. Something that made her lungs feel tight. Setting her dress on the bed, she slowly unwrapped the shiny pink box.
The logo for the dress store where she’d bought the blue one stared up at her from the box. She looked at Wes. He shrugged but that new look was still heavy in his gaze. Her heartbeat short-circuited, going wonky as she slipped the lid off. Like a pogo stick gone rogue in her chest, her heart bounced around as she touched her fingers reverently to the glossy silk of the black dress she’d loved. Tears filled her gaze and she looked up at Wes, emotions tangling. Lines blurring.
“What did you do?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. What is that?” One side of his mouth quirked up.
She glared at him, opening her eyes wide in an attempt not to cry. She stood, set the box down, and lifted the dress, held it against her towel-clad body.
“Wes.” Her voice came out rough.
His gaze met hers and she lost her breath.
“That’s pretty. Looks familiar. You should wear that tonight.”
She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “I can’t accept this.”
He lifted his hands, came over to the bed, rooted around in the box. “Hmm. I don’t see a tag or a card. I guess you could just return it to the store.” He checked his watch. “Probably closes soon. We don’t really have time to do that before the party.”
“Wes,” she said, her tone sharper.
He looked at her, his expression one of complete innocence.
“Why did you do this?” She stepped toward him, the dress between them.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said again, his voice wavering just a touch.
She reached up, touched her hand to his clean-shaven jaw. It was smooth, soft. Strong. He wasn’t going to admit it.
“You should get dressed,” he whispered. He closed his eyes for just a second, leaned into her hand. She wanted to step closer, run her hand around the back of his neck.
She started to say something—she didn’t know what—but when he opened his eyes, he stepped back.
“We can figure out the dress mystery later.”
She gave a watery laugh, lowered her hand. “Sure.”
Leaving him there, she went to the bathroom and put on the dress. Smoothing it over her hips, she looked in the full-length mirror that hung on the back of the bathroom door. She felt … regal. Clothes didn’t make a person. But damn, it was pretty. She snapped a picture, sent it to Piper and Fiona.
When she joined Wes, he was looking at a Cosmo magazine, leaning against the back of her couch.
She cleared her throat and he tossed the magazine from his hand. It went flitting across the coffee table, nearly slipping off the edge.
Hailey laughed loudly. “You look like you just got caught with porn by your mother.” She couldn’t stop laughing.
Wes’s cheeks turned pink. He went to run a hand through his hair but seemed to remember it was styled and lowered it. “Just about. There’s no way moon phases impact physical pleasure.”
She bit her lip a second to stop herself from laughing. “I wouldn’t know.” She grabbed her small black clutch, slipped her feet into her heels, then turned to see he was staring at her.