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He gripped her hand and tugged her along behind him.
At first, she was slow to move, then much happier once they had returned to the car and he helped her inside. Wade cranked up the AC and gave her a quick kiss before buckling his seat belt. “Are we still on for our celebration dinner tonight?”
“Of course, I’ve been planning on it for days. But I need to shower and change, you know.”
“Of course, me too. We’re still going to that French restaurant across town we like so much.”
“Yes, but you can’t rush me,” Lydia said with a small sniff. “Tonight is a big night and I want to look so gorgeous you’ll never look at another woman again for the rest of your life.”
Wade wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. Instead, he suggested, “Why don’t I take you home to get ready while I drop off this phone to the owner? Then you can take all the time you need.”
“I guess so,” Lydia sighed. “But don’t stay too long. I don’t want to be late, either.”
Chapter Five
It was the weirdest thing in the world to think she’d been talking to a stranger—a man—onher ownphone. Thank goodness, he hadn’t tossed it into a trash can before she called the number. She would never have found it again after the battery died.
Marina decided that as a gesture of gratitude for bringing her phone across town, she should offer him a drink from The Coffee Loft. Of course, that might look like a date.
Nope, she would suggest a coffee or drink for take-out. With a donut, of course. His choice. Although, if he asked for recommendations, she would urge him to choose the giant maple frosted donut with chocolate and pecan chunks on top. It wasto die for.
“Did he sound nice on the phone?” Jenna asked when Marina handed over her borrowed cell. “How old do you think he was?”
Marina laughed. “I have no idea. It’s so hard to tell with men. You think they have a warm, deep voice and when you meet them, they’re seventy years old.”
Jenna shrugged. “Very true. Oh, well, one can only dream. Oops, back to work for me! I see customers coming through the door. Ever since we remodeled, there’s hardly ever a break.”
“I just love how it all turned out. Great minds think alike, right?”
“Indubitably,” Jenna shot over her shoulder as she hurried back through the stone archway to greet her new customers.
Marina had kept the antique store open for the hour she’d been gone to the cemetery, but since there were currently no customers, she told her part-time help, Sally Broussard, to go on home.
She gazed about the store, thinking of her massive To-Do list to finish getting the place ready for a Grand Opening. In a few days, Marina also had a huge shipment of antiques coming in from Great Britain, causing her schedule to get even crazier, and making a visit to the cemetery even harder.
Cataloging and setting up the new inventory would take the next couple of weeks, at least. Then advertising the re-opening and planning the party!
Marina walked the store, tidying displays that had been pawed through by earlier shoppers. After that, she wound the weights and pulleys on the row of grandfather clocks clustered in the far rear corner.
She adored grandfather clocks, and these antique ones with ornately carved wood and delicate chimes were one of her favorite items. If only she could afford to take one home, although her apartment was nowhere near big enough for one of these grand, old things.
At the customer service/purchasing desk, Marina organized files, went through the sales tickets, and was tempted to cash out for the day and close up early, but she had to wait another few minutes while she waited forthe guy with her phoneto show up.
Hewouldshow up, right? He sounded normal. He said he would come. But maybe he’d decided to sell the phone on eBay. Or felt returning it was too much of a bother and toss it into a garbage bin.
Marina glanced up two minutes later when a cherry red Bentley Continental pulled up and parked in one of the empty spots in front of The Coffee Loft. The plate-glass windows along the front of the antique store and the coffee shop made it easy to see people coming and going.
Marina’s heart soared. Strange Guy was here at last! At least she hoped it was him.
She stepped around the corner of the desk and stopped dead in her tracks.
Gaping through the windows, she watched a tall, well-built man climb out of the sleek vehicle. That car was beautiful and so was he. At least from the backside. The broad, muscled shoulders and torso were obvious through his button-down shirt, of course.
His hair was thick and a dark brown chestnut color, cut perfectly as if he used an expensive barber. After closing his door, he stepped up to the sidewalk and Marina got a full view. Then man was sporting a business casual shirt with a deep blue tie and jeans that fit him so perfectly it took her breath away. As if he’d been dressed by a handler.
Was this THE GUY? The man with her phone?No, it couldn’t be. It was impossible. Here? In an ordinary neighborhood at an ordinary coffee place?
The next moment, a shock wave hit Marina. She knew this guy. Sheknewhim!
