take it you’re not with Theresa anymore?”
He blinked in surprise. “You know her?”
“Only by the name I wrote on her coffee cup whenever you’d come in together.”
“Good memory. And no, I’m not with Theresa.” He met her gaze. “If I had been, I wouldn’t have asked you out.”
“I figured, but it never hurts to be sure.”
“Absolutely.” He liked her direct approach. “So what’s your schedule? I’m tied up tomorrow, but after that I’m flexible.”
“Tomorrow wouldn’t work for me, either. I’m covering for several of my employees so they can spend Thanksgiving with their families.”
“Then you are the manager.”
“Yeah, it was a terrific opportunity and I grabbed it.”
“Good for you. But I guess you might not be able to take much time off, considering it’s a holiday weekend.” He couldn’t believe how disappointed he was.
“I will be pretty busy, but I scheduled some free time Friday night to decorate my tree. Want to help me?”
“Sure!” His world brightened. “Can I bring takeout for dinner?”
“That would be wonderful. I don’t know if you like Chinese, but—”
“I do. Any special requests?”
“I like almost anything, so you can surprise me.”
“All right.” He couldn’t remember ever making a date so effortlessly.
“I get off at six, so give me a half hour to change clothes and haul out the decorations. Got your phone?”
He pulled it out of his coat pocket and keyed in her number and her address as she gave it to him. “And your last name is?”
“Jones. You can text me your number so I have it in case there’s a problem with staffing Friday night, but I don’t expect one.”
“Doing that right now. And by the way, my last name’s Slater.”
“I know. It’s on the calendar.”
“Oh.” He glanced up from his phone. “Right.”
“I’ve only known you as Ty, but would you rather be called Tyrone?”
“Tyrone’s for my clients. Ty’s for my friends.”
“I doubt I’ll ever be your client.” She smiled. “So I’ll see you Friday night.”
“You will, and I’ll be armed with Chinese food.” He hesitated, almost afraid to say anything more in case he was reading too much into this invitation to help with her tree. “It’ll be nice to get to know each other better.”
Awareness flashed in her brown eyes. “I think so, too.”
THE UNEXPECTED APPEARANCE of Ty Slater helped Whitney get through the next day without feeling too sorry for herself. She’d never spent Thanksgiving away from her family and she missed that rowdy, irreverent bunch. Nearly everyone on both her mom’s and her dad’s side lived in Cheyenne, including all four grandparents and the majority of her aunts, uncles and cousins.
Hosting Thanksgiving rotated among those who had the space and extra chairs, and the routine hadn’t varied for as long as she could remember. The midday meal was followed by touch football for those who enjoyed it and bowl games on TV for everyone else. She looked forward to that touch football game all year, but today someone else would have to take her position as wide receiver.
Sometimes her shift at Rangeland Roasters had kept her from participating in everything, but she’d made do with leftovers, the annual Ping-Pong tournament and endless games of Yahtzee. Even when she’d had to work on Thanksgiving, she’d never lost out entirely on the fun and the food. Until today.
To cheer herself up, she focused on her Friday night tree-trimming date with Ty. Looking at his picture on the calendar had been giving her a thrill for weeks, but now it provided an extra shot of adrenaline. They were going to hang out for the evening. She could barely believe her good luck.
She’d had a crush ever since he’d shown up at the coffee shop about a year ago. No surprise that he’d had a girlfriend, considering those knowing gray eyes and easy smile. He’d made her heart flutter again today, especially when he’d told her the girlfriend was history.
After reading his short bio on the calendar, she’d wondered if he might walk into this shop eventually. And so he had, looking more like a cowboy than the lawyer she’d known in Cheyenne. Discovering his hidden depths had been a turn-on, but seeing him shirtless had been a total game changer. Tyrone Slater was beautiful.
But he was uncomfortable with the calendar picture, which made him all the more adorable. She’d noticed him pull his hat lower when he’d seen it hanging on the back wall. That one gesture had been enough to make her melt.
The hat ramped up his sexy quotient, even if it covered up his glossy hair. She always noticed hair, and at first glance his had seemed to be French roast brown. But a closer look had revealed some dark red that reminded her of espresso in a glass mug held up to the light.
Back then he’d been out of reach. No longer, though. At least for this weekend, he was quite reachable.
She wouldn’t have missed the opportunity to manage the new location, but if she still lived in Cheyenne... No use dwelling on that inconvenience. He probably drove up to Sheridan often to visit his foster parents at Thunder Mountain Ranch. And maybe none of that would matter because their Friday night date could be a bust.
No, it wouldn’t. She’d seen the light in his eyes. He was looking forward to the evening as much as she was. They’d clicked from their first conversation on opposite sides of the coffee shop counter. But he’d had a girlfriend then.
For whatever reason, though, Theresa was out of the picture and Theresa’s loss was Whitney’s gain. Timing was everything, and meeting Ty yesterday felt like the hand of Fate. Those thoughts sustained her through most of Thanksgiving Day, but around five, when the touch football game was probably over, she gave in to a fresh wave of homesickness. Ducking into her small office, she pulled out her phone.
Her mom answered immediately. “Finally! I was so afraid you’d be too busy to call. We all miss you so much!”
Whitney swallowed a sudden lump in her throat. “I miss you, too, but it was either Thanksgiving or Christmas. I couldn’t justify leaving on both holidays.”
“I understand. We all do. But I wish you could have heard your young cousins rave about your legendary skill at touch football. You would have felt like a first-draft pick in the NFL.”
“Maybe by next year I’ll have an assistant I can trust to handle Thanksgiving here.”
“Maybe.” Her mother
