Page 76 of Some Kinda Romance

37

DASH

It was Friday and Serenity and I were having dinner together tonight. In public, unfortunately, but we’d agreed that we weren’t going to avoid being seen together forever. We’d both had good weeks and I’d asked her out to blow off some steam together.

Everything was on track for my mother’s wedding that was coming up in just a few weeks, and while I was ready for it to be over, I definitely didn’t feel like Serenity was the bane of my existence anymore. I was actually really happy that we’d met, even if I was still supremely surprised that things were working out the way they had.

My day at work dragged and dragged, but that was the excitement about tonight. I had everything all set up and now I just had to wait for it to get here. Lance distracted me when he walked into my office about an hour before the end of the day, carrying a bottle of single malt in one hand and two tumblers in the other.

“Got time for a drink?” he asked.

I nodded. “Sure. I’m not meeting Serenity until eight, so I’ve got time. What are we celebrating?”

“I closed the Davidson project today,” he said, smirking at me. “A cool ten-bar, weekend-long polo event that should look pretty good for the estate.”

My eyebrows shot up and I grinned at him, sticking out my hand to shake his. “That definitely calls for a celebration. Congratulations, man. That’s great. I know how hard you worked to get that one.”

“I put in the hours.” He shrugged, but he was being modest. The truth was that he’d busted his hump and I hadn’t missed it.

He’d been working with me for a while, but he’d moved up after my father had passed and he was doing exceptionally well. Some might even say he was excelling.

Waving for him to take a seat, I cracked open the bottle he’d brought and poured us each a drink, lifting my glass for a toast before I’d even sat down. “To you, Lance Yates. We’ve been trying to get them to hold the Davidson Cup here for years. I don’t know how you did it, but thank you.”

He grinned as he clinked his glass to my own, and we each took a drink before resuming our seats. “They’ve told me that if all goes well, the estate will be the new home of the Cup, which makes this an annual thing. Let’s just hope all goes well.”

I chuckled. “You’ll make sure of it. I have complete faith in you.”

He smiled, but his head tilted like he was confused about something. “You’ve never said anything like that to me out loud before. I’ve always known that you trust me, but you’re different these days. Serenity, or your mother?”

“Both,” I said. “Mostly Serenity, though. At least, that’s what I think. I guess it helps to know that Mom’s happy again as well, but I’m happy too. Really happy, which makes a difference as it turns out.”

He laughed. “Welcome to the world of being a real human. Of course, being happy makes a damn difference. What did you think?”

“That people were goofy idiots who should stop smiling so much and just focus on getting stuff done,” I said honestly, chuckling as I leaned back in my seat. “You’re happy too, right? Here, I mean. I should’ve said it before that I have faith in you. There’s a lot of things I should’ve said before. To a lot of people, actually, but at least I know it now.”

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I won’t take the Davidson Cup elsewhere, if that’s what you’re thinking. This is my home as much as it is yours. We make a pretty decent team.”

“True,” I replied. “I wasn’t worried about that, though. It’s simply recently occurred to me that people in our industry work incredibly hard to make sure things are perfect for other people. I haven’t given enough recognition to our own people for that. I should, though. The game is changing. Competition is heating up. I need to keep on top of that kind of thing if I want to avoid losing the best.”

He laughed. “Speaking of competition heating up, how are things with Serenity? Did she accept your apology?”

“She did. Thanks to you, I realized exactly what it was that I had to be sorry for and I suspect it helped that I truly was sorry about it. Things are going well again now, but she’s going to keep me on my toes as a competitor. They got Horowitz.”

His face scrunched up. “Damn it. I was going to go after that next.”

“Can’t,” I said. “They’re locked in with Serenity, but I thought we were booked that day anyway?”

“We are, but I was hoping to convince them to let us set them up outdoors. Perhaps next to the dam overlooking the view. It might’ve worked.”

“Yeah, well, next year,” I said, chuckling. “It looks like we’re all going to have to up our game to keep up.”

He laughed. “Trust you to fall for the girl who’s going to start making our lives difficult when people finally realize just what she has to offer. On the other hand, it’ll keep things interesting. Are you picking her up for your date? I hope so.”

“I’m not, but I offered to. She said she’d rather meet me at the restaurant. We’re not avoiding being seen together in public, but arriving separately should keep away as many paparazzi as possible, which is obviously a good thing. I still don’t like having them crawl all over me and neither does she.”

“Sure, no one does,” he said. “As long as you offered, I’m proud of you. You’re learning.”

I nodded, finding out more about what would be expected from us at the venue hosting the Cup while we finished our drinks. After that, I headed home to change and then finally, it was time to go meet my girl.