Hearing her say that made me the happiest person in the world. I took out my phone and programmed her number as she rattled it off to me. I pushed dial and her phone rang. She pulled it from her small purse and looked at me with a smile.
“Hello,” she answered.
“Hi. Now you have my number in case you ever want to call me.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Our food was brought to the table and we both hung up our phones. Amelia enjoyed the chicken and the white chocolate panna cotta that I ordered us for dessert. We finished, and the minute we stepped outside, it started to pour. We ran to the car and I stood there, feeling my pockets for my keys. They weren’t in there.
“Collin, we’re getting soaked,” she laughed.
“I left my keys on the table.”
I ran around to the other side of the Range Rover, grabbed her hand, and told her to stand under the overhang while I ran inside. The hostess was kind enough to have my keys waiting for me the second I walked in. I walked back out and smiled at Amelia as I took her hand.
“Are you ready to try this again?”
“I sure am.”
We ran to the Range Rover and the rain was coming down harder than before. I quickly opened the door for her and she climbed in. I got in on my side, shut the door, and we both started laughing at each other. We were soaked. My hair was dripping and my jeans were sticking to me. I didn’t have a towel in the car, but I grabbed a sweatshirt from the back seat and handed it to her.
“Here, dry yourself with this.”
“I don’t want to ruin your sweatshirt,” she said.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s only water.”
“Here,” she said as she took the sweatshirt from my hand and wiped my face with it and then set it down.
Her bare hand touched the side of my face as she looked into my eyes. I softly smiled as I placed my hand on hers and leaned in closer, our lips almost touching. My damn phone rang. I sighed as I apologized to her and pulled it from my pocket. It was Hailey. Why the fuck was she calling me? I hit ignore and looked at Amelia.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“Yeah. Wrong number,” I said as I started the Range Rover and pulled out of Nick and Toni’s.
I couldn’t stop thinking about Hailey’s phone call as I drove Amelia back to her place.
“Thank you, Collin, for a wonderful day. I appreciate it.”
“I’m just going to run home and change out of these wet clothes and then I’m coming back to help you like I promised.”
“Really?” she asked.
“Yes. Did you think I was lying?”
“No. But you just seemed really distracted after your phone rang.”
“Nah. Everything’s good and I’ll be back real soon.” I smiled.
“Okay. I’ll see you in a while.”
I watched her run to the door as the rain continued to fall. I pulled out of her driveway and drove down the street to my house.
“You’re soaked!” my mom said as I walked in.
“I know. That’s why I’m home to change clothes.”
“Well, hurry up and go change. I don’t want you catching a cold,” my mom said. “Then come back down. I want to hear all about Amelia.”
“Sorry, Mom. I don’t have time. I’m helping her with her things. I’ll tell you both about it later. Dad, are you and Mom going back to the city tonight?”
“Yes, and you better be as well. You have to be in the office in the morning.”
“I will be. Don’t worry,” I said as I ran up the stairs and changed out of my wet clothes.
Once I was dry, I ran back down the stairs and told my mom and dad what Murray from the ranch had said. They both smiled and said they might head up there later. I kissed my mom on the cheek and drove back to Amelia’s house. When I opened the door, she was walking down the stairs, carrying a large box.
“Why didn’t you wait for me?” I asked as I took the box from her.
“It was the only one left upstairs, so I figured I’d just bring it down.”
I set the box on the floor in the hallway against all the others. “What are you doing with all these boxes?”
“The realtor is calling Goodwill to come and take them.”
“There’s nothing in any of them that you want?” I asked.
“No. I went through everything before I packed it all up. I really need this house to sell. I’m running out of money quickly. When my parents died, there wasn’t a will or trust or anything, so all of this, and all of their accounts went into probate. By time my father’s debt was paid off, this house was all that was left. Apparently, my parents were in some financial trouble. Anyway, this house is going up for sale tomorrow morning and now I just have to wait for someone to buy it,” she said.
“Real estate can be tricky. If you get an offer, have either me or my dad look it over. I don’t want you getting screwed,” I said.
“Thanks. But I won’t get screwed. I have a very good agent.”
I walked over and clasped her shoulders. “Just be smart.”
She looked at me and cocked her head, narrowing her eyebrows. “Are you saying that I’m not smart?”
Oh shit. “No, that’s not what I meant. I think you’re very smart, but there are a lot of people out in the world that like to take advantage of others. Now, tell me what needs to be done still.”
“Umm. Nothing,” she said as she turned away from me.
“What do you mean ‘nothing’? You said earlier that you had way too much to do and that’s why you didn’t want to go out.”
“Yeah, well, I was just saying that because I was trying to get out of going out with you.”
“Oh,” I said as I frowned.
“I’m sorry, Collin. But I’m glad I chose to go because I had a really good time.”
My frown turned into a smile when Amelia said she’d had a good time. I looked out the window and noticed the rain had stopped and the sun was shining.
“Hey, would you like to go and grab some coffee? We can walk to the Starbucks that’s around the corner. The rain stopped and the sun is out.”
“Sure,” she said as she put on her shoes and we walked out the door.
Chapter 15
We took our coffees from the counter and sat down at a table in the corner. The past couple of days had been the happiest I’d had in a long time. I really liked Amelia and I wished we had more time to spend.
