will not. These are not my trailers.” She folded her arms across her chest. “And you can’t make me.”
Drew told himself he would admire the way she looked in tight jeans and tank top, with her long blond hair pulled back in a ponytail, later. After all this was settled, he would try to figure out if the tattoo on her left arm was new, because he sure didn’t remember it and he’d seen every inch of her.
“I can’t make you? That’s mature.” He motioned for the driver to give him the clipboard. “I’ll sign for them. Let’s get them unloaded.”
“No,” Silver said forcefully. “I will not let you put them here. This is my property.” She hesitated. “I rent this space.”
“I really have a schedule to keep,” the driver said, looking anxious.
“Leave ’em by the curb.” Drew grinned. “There’s plenty of room and that’s public property.”
“The Happily Inc police department won’t let you park them there indefinitely,” Silver told him. “It’s a violation of code.”
“Or so you hope.”
Drew wasn’t concerned. There was no way Silver would leave her precious trailers unprotected for more than a day or two. She might take a while to come around but he was confident she would see the beauty of his plan. And if she didn’t, well, he could take a nice long trip and see the country in one of his two Airstreams.
The trailers were unhitched and backed into place in a matter of minutes. Drew pocketed a copy of the paperwork and the driver took off, nearly burning rubber in his haste to get away. Silver waited until he was gone before approaching Drew. Her pale blue eyes filled with icy rage while her whole body stiffened, as if she were doing her best not to kill him.
“Whatever you’ve done, I don’t want any part of it,” she said, poking him in the chest hard enough to bruise. “You think you’re so slick and that you can manipulate me, but you’re wrong. I don’t care why you did this or what you think is going to happen, but you are the wrongest kind of wrong there is. You don’t get to dictate my life.”
He’d been hoping they’d moved past politely acknowledging each other to being something closer to friends, but based on her behavior, he’d been a little too optimistic. Or maybe her anger was about something else, he thought. Maybe it was about not being sure what he expected from her in return. Maybe she was worried he was dangling an Airstream-sized carrot and she was going to have to make a choice she wouldn’t like to get it.
He had assumed enough time had passed for her to think better of him, but now he wasn’t sure. As to the trailers, he was simply going to wait her out.
“I’m not dictating anything,” he told her, careful to keep his voice neutral. “I have an idea I hope you’ll find interesting. When you’re ready to talk.”
The glare turned into a glower. “I’ll never be ready to talk to you.”
With that, she turned her back on him and walked away. Drew took a few minutes to inspect the interiors before locking up both trailers. He’d taken the day off work, so didn’t have to worry about getting back to the bank. He would run some errands, grab a couple of sandwiches for lunch, then return to the trailers and wait. He had a feeling it wouldn’t take long to lure out Silver.
As he walked to his car, he wondered if he’d made a massive miscalculation. Maybe she wouldn’t come around. Maybe she really did hate him. Regardless, he had to try. Doing the right thing was part of his DNA and how he tried to live his life. Whenever he’d stepped away from that path, he’d been overwhelmed with regrets. Maybe not at the time, but later and permanently. Not marrying Silver Tesdal when she’d been pregnant with their child was the biggest regret of all.
“EITHER TALK TO him or I’m calling the police,” Wynn said as she checked a printed wedding invitation against the approved proof.
“He’s not breaking the law.” Silver did her best to look out the window without being seen by anyone outside the building—namely a tall, possibly good-looking guy sitting in an Airstream.
“Drew’s not the one I’m going to have arrested,” her friend murmured without looking up. She held her long, dark curly hair out of her way as she turned her head to study the invitation from every angle.
“You wouldn’t!”
Wynn looked up from the proof. “I wouldn’t,” she agreed, “but you are starting to get on my nerves. Come on, Silver. This isn’t like you. Grow a pair and deal with Drew or take a baseball bat to his head, but don’t dither. It’s freaking me out.”
“I don’t know what to do,” Silver admitted.
“You know exactly what to do. The problem is much more that you don’t want to do it.” Wynn nodded at her assistant. “They’re perfect. Print them. The bride wants two hundred. Let’s do a run of two-fifty, just in case.”
“You got it, boss.”
Wynn returned her attention to Silver. “You need trailers—he has trailers. Yes, he’s going to want something in exchange. So go find out what it is.” She shrugged. “I doubt it’s sex. No sex is worth two of those.” She pointed toward the trailers. “Not even sex with you.”
“Maybe I’m amazing.”
“No one is that amazing.”
Silver had to agree with her. The trailers were so wonderful. She was desperate to go explore them, to touch every surface and imagine the possibilities, only she couldn’t give in. Whatever Drew had planned, it was going to be bad for her.
“He’s trying to lure me,” Silver said, looking out the window again.
“And it’s working. Now get on out there and find out what he wants. I think Hunter left some sports equipment in the back room. You can go see if there’s a baseball bat for you to borrow if that makes you feel better.”
“I don’t need a baseball bat.”
Maybe a little courage and some backbone, she thought as she straightened her shoulders. Dammit, why did this always happen? In every other situation in life she was strong and powerful, but when it came to Drew she was little more than a whimpering mess.
“Okay, I’m going out there to confront him.”
“Good luck.”
Silver nodded. She could do this, she told herself. She’d handled much-tougher situations when it came to Drew. For ninety-one magical days the summer she’d turned eighteen, she’d loved him with every fiber of her being. She’d given herself to him, heart and soul, and then she’d pretended she was totally fine when he went off to college. She’d even had the smarts to break up with him so that he could go live his life without her. She’d told him that they were never meant to be and that he should simply move on.
She’d done the right thing and she could always be proud of herself for that. But it had been so incredibly hard. She’d loved him
