and earnest eyes. “I could use about another five minutes with Bailey. If you wouldn’t mind…”
“She minds!” Bailey said, grabbing Norma’s arm to guide her into the shop. “For Pete’s sake, Tanner. I’m trying to make a living here.”
“Okay, then, you asked for this,” Tanner said, his eyes narrowing as if he had calculated this risk and decided to take it. “I want to have dinner with you tonight, and I’m not taking no for an answer.”
Norma’s eyes lit up and she said, “Oh!” as if she had been witness to an historic event.
Bailey shook her head, refusing him in spite of his declaration that he wouldn’t take no for an answer. “No.”
“Give me one good reason.”
“I have a committee meeting.”
“I thought the whole purpose of that dinner dance last night was to celebrate that the flood cleanup was over. You shouldn’t be having meetings anymore.”
“You forgot the revitalization committee, the one your mother said you couldn’t join because you’re leaving town.”
He sighed. “No, I haven’t forgotten.”
“We’re meeting tonight.”
“What kind of committee meets on a Sunday night?” he asked.
Obviously exasperated, he took a few steps in her direction, as if being closer could somehow sway things in his favor. When he got to within a foot of her and her pulse began to scramble, her breathing felt heavy and the blood virtually tingled through her veins, Bailey recognized he was right. Since his nearness endangered her sanity, there was a very real possibility that she would agree to anything he wanted…right before she melted into a puddle at his feet.
Playing with the locket at her neck, she looked him in the eyes and didn’t say anything until she had mustered her most firm, most authoritative voice. What came out was more like a squeak, but at least she was still standing.
“The kind with a lot of busy people on it.”
Apparently sensing victory because of her shaky voice, he smiled. “Tomorrow night, then?”
“Shop’s open Monday nights.”
“Tuesday?”
“It’s hot wing night at my dad’s bar.”
“Great. I’ll see you there.”
“All you’ll do is see me because I waitress. I won’t have time to stop and chat.”
“Are you ever free?” he asked in exasperation.
Bailey grinned. “Nope.”
Glancing from Tanner to Bailey and then back again, Norma laughed. “Tanner McConnell, I think you’d better give up before Bailey ruins your reputation of being a ladies man.”
Tanner turned his smile on Norma again. “I wouldn’t be placing any money on that bet if I were you.”
Norma giggled with happiness, but Bailey felt her heart swell with the frustration of wanting something she couldn’t have. She was very tempted to throw caution to the wind and spend some time with him. But all she had to do was glance around at her shop to realize she couldn’t afford three months of depression after he left her. She had utility bills, stylists’ salaries and a big loan to pay. Depression would stop all that cold.
“Okay, Tanner,” she said, then pointed him to her door. “I have work to do. Fun’s over.”
He smiled. “The fun’s only begun Bailey,” he said, then pivoted and made the best exit Bailey had ever seen anyone make through Flora Mae’s old shop door. Not just because he was smiling and walking tall, but because both Norma and Bailey got a very nice view of his back profile.
Norma sighed with female appreciation.
Bailey sighed, too. “You can say that again.”
Happy to have shaken up Bailey the way she continually shook him, Tanner left the salon. But as soon as he stepped out into the Sunday-afternoon sunshine, he realized he didn’t have a darned thing to be happy about. He hadn’t gotten a date. He really hadn’t made any headway. She obviously had her reasons for not wanting to go out with him, but he still didn’t know what they were. So far all she had given him were excuses, not reasons.
Though the obvious guess was that she was afraid to get involved with him because of the rumors after his divorce, he had a weird sense that Bailey couldn’t be scared off by something like that; she wouldn’t blindly believe gossip. She would give him a chance to have his say. So her reasons had to be more practical, more personal, but he still didn’t know what the hell they were.
With a sigh he started walking toward his car, but when he stopped to insert the key into the lock, he heard someone calling him.
“Tanner! Tanner McConnell!”
Tanner glanced up and saw Joe Johnson, one of his high school football teammates. “Hey, Joe!” he greeted as Joe ambled over.
A few inches shorter than Tanner and obviously going bald, Joe had kept himself physically fit and looked as strong and athletic as he had fifteen years ago.
“How the heck are ya?” Joe asked, vigorously pumping the hand Tanner extended.
“I’m fine. Actually, I’m glad I ran into you. You’re one of the people on my list to call before I move to Florida,” Tanner said. “How long has it been, anyway?”
“Would you believe since high school?”
“Yeah, I would believe it,” Tanner said. He didn’t come home often enough to keep in touch with his friends and he sadly realized that was another casualty of his divorce. “Why weren’t you at the dinner last night?”
“The renovation celebration?” Joe asked, frowning.
Tanner nodded.
“Are you kidding? Any self-respecting former jock wouldn’t be caught dead at one of those schmaltzy town functions.” Joe’s eyes narrowed. “You went?”
“My mother made me.”
Joe laughed heartily. “No kidding. Your mother made you? Somehow I thought you were one of those guys who stopped listening to his mother long ago.”
“Well, typically it’s not an issue because she usually stays out of my life.”
Tanner made the statement in a matter-of-fact way, but Joe eyed him curiously, and Tanner felt his reputation slip another notch. First Norma saw Bailey turn him down, now Joe knew he still listened to his mother.
Giving Tanner an odd look, Joe asked, “What happened this time?”
“I think she wants grandchildren,” Tanner said, deciding he might as well be honest. Events in little Wilmore, West Virginia, really didn’t have any impact on the rest of his life. This was a stopover, nothing
