Foothills Pride Stories, Volume 1 Page 4

  I fended off a bunch of calls from Alex, who was pissed with Felicity and the Penny’s gang who wanted back the money they’d given him for my birthday “surprise.” He whined about how they were tying up his cell and wanted me to call them off. I had absolutely nothing to say to him, so I deleted all his messages and carried on with my day.

  That afternoon I ended up reordering supplies and taking inventory while Felicity filled in for an ill employee. I was up in the office but had to run down to the back of the shop now and again to take stock. Each time I saw Felicity, she grinned at me, once even throwing her arms around me and giving a gleeful hug.

  “We are so awesome,” she whispered, doing a little happy dance in front of me. “Two stores! We’re going to own two stores!”

  “Two successful coffee shops,” I corrected. “We aren’t merchants. We’re baristas, baby.”

  Her excitement buoyed me through the day, especially when I’d get another call, text, or e-mail from Alex. I felt bad about them having given Alex money for my birthday, but I didn’t know what I could do about it. At the very least, he deserved to be hounded.

  Mostly what I focused on was seeing Guy that night. He was a thread, like Felicity’s excitement, keeping me going during my busy day. I didn’t care what he decided we should do, because just being with him was enough for me.

  I hated feeling this way, since I was probably still in shock about how Alex had abandoned me. Did I like Guy for Guy? Or did I like him because he’d picked up the pieces? Because he’d made me not care about being dumped on my birthday? I wish I knew.

  I GOT back to Penny’s about four after signing papers at the bank and then carting them to Felicity for her signature, then doubling back to the bank. All the wheels had been set in motion, and the money would be freed up soon and our payment booklets sent out to us. Now to start spending the money to get the shop up to speed and then ta-da! A grand opening.

  I was exhausted. In all the rushing around with supplying the old business and setting up for the new business, I hadn’t had time to think about what Guy’s real name might be.

  However, I did want a bike now more than ever. After a day like today, the thought of zipping around town or riding hot and fast at sunset sent shivers down my body. I could imagine Guy next to me as we stopped off at a roadside diner. So romantic. I just had to get my own bike.

  Guy walked into Penny’s just as the dinnertime lull began. Only two women with their babies and children sat next to a mall window, trying to quiet the kids while they talked and drank one of the Penny’s specials.

  The silence when he entered was startling. Even the babies stopped fussing. He was bigger than anything in the room and carried such an air of competence and purpose it seemed like we’d been invaded by a superhero.

  The women stared at him like they were about to abandon their families and follow him.

  They both jumped when he bellowed, “Honey, I’m home.”

  Felicity started laughing, and both babies wailed.

  The customers’ eyes were dazed. Had the superhero turned looney?

  Quickly, the two mothers bundled their kids up and scurried out of the place.

  “Wow,” Felicity said, one hand covering her waist as her laughter continued. “You sure do know how to empty a room.”

  She slid around the counter, ran to Guy, and wrapped him in a hug.

  “We got the store! We got the store!” she chirped happily up to him.

  “Yeah, I heard. You’re okay with it, then?” he growled at her with a smile.

  “We got the store!” she repeated a couple more times, bouncing up and down in front of him. “I’m so excited.”

  He looked down at her, then over at me. He looked scared.

  “Felicity,” I said, “I think Guy gets it. We’re both excited.”

  She threw me a disgusted look.

  “He’s been so grown-up about it.” She pouted at Guy. “He used to be so much fun. You ruined him.”

  “Me?” Guy’s voice was guileless but still amused.

  “Yeah, he’s becoming an adult around you,” she accused.

  I just stood there. What could I say? I am not an adult? I’d just signed away my life and promised to pay back a shitload of money. I couldn’t even rob a bank to pay it back, since I’d just be taking it out to put it back in.

  Guy, in the meantime, had unlatched Felicity and walked over to put his arm around my shoulder.

  He turned to look me up and down. He had a glint in his eyes, telling me he was up to no good.

  “Yeah, he looks like a grown-up to me too,” he told Felicity.

  She rolled her eyes at us.

  “Go. Get out of here,” she said, making shooing motions with her hands.

  As we turned, Jason sauntered in. Jason was a high school junior who worked the evening shift with Gretchen. They were the perfect team. Jason was bright and personable, someone who chatted easily with the customers, while Gretchen was a little shyer.

  “So where to, bwana?” I asked Guy.

  “Ah, we’re feeling like Tarzan these days, are we?”

  “It’s Penny’s Too,” I answered. “Makes me want to beat my chest and yell.”

  Guy laughed and nodded to Felicity. “Just don’t want to tell the missus, huh?” he asked.

  I punched him in the shoulder.

  “Felicity’s not the missus. I’m looking for my own princess. Uh, Prince Charming. Uh, you know what I mean.”

  Guy’s grin turned into a look of surprise.

  “You don’t say,” he muttered. “A Prince Charming?”

  “So where to?” I repeated. “I’m starving.”

  His smile became sly, but he answered, “Chicken-fried steak? Organic salad with local lamb? Piles of pasta? What sounds good?”

  “You don’t have the evening planned out?” I asked in surprise. He shrugged.

  “I was going to do the pasta thing, but a lot of guys don’t like it. So I thought I’d give you a choice.”

  We were walking toward the parking lot at that point.

  “Pasta’s fine,” I said.

  He nodded. “Okay, the bike’s this way.”

  AFTER PASTA and playing around, we lay in bed, me draped over him.

  “So you got another name to run by me?” Guy asked. He threaded his fingers through my hair, distracting me, just as the ride on his bike, dinner, another bike ride, then a ride in his bed had.

  “Right. A name,” I murmured, my mind emptying with each stroke of his fingers on my scalp.

  My mind was a total blank. I was satiated and sleepy. How could I be expected to come up with a name?

  I drifted off, my mind semiworking at finding a name to fit him. Most of the ones I came up with were too small, too puny for him to wear comfortably. John? Don? Bill? Much too shallow. Besides none of them was embarrassment material.

  Then it came to me. Of course, his size was what defined him. What was a wince-appropriate name for someone bigger than life?

  “Hulk Hogan?” I asked. “Or maybe just Hulk.”

  The choppy laugh making his chest become a roller coaster ride told me I was wrong.

  “Not even close, babe.”

  He rolled over onto his side and stared at my lips.

  “You know what you owe me,” he growled.

  “And you know what will happen after I lay a toe-curling kiss on you,” I countered, pushing him onto his back and me onto his chest.

  “Oh, yeah,” he sighed.

  5

  DAY THREE of the Great Guy Guessing Game—or 4G, right?—dawned bright and sunny, as is the Sierra Foothills’ custom.

  I called Fredi, a decorator friend. He and I and Felicity had gone to grade school together, and then Fredi had moved away to Oregon when his parents decided to leave the hustle and bustle of the city.

  He had moved back to California for college, and the three of us were now together again. He went from dating Felicity to dating me for a semester, after which
he moved on to dating football players and men more handsome and rugged than I could ever hope to be.

  Through all the back and forth, the three of us stayed friends. When Felicity and I decided to move to the foothills and open our coffee shop, Fredi tagged along. He’d already built a reputation as a world-class designer. Here he’d become the designer of choice for the multimillion-dollar homes for wealthy, back-to-nature types moving into the area. When the casinos started expanding into the area, Fredi was in the perfect position to become more famous designing them too.

  I was hoping to persuade Fredi to help us with the new coffee shop—for a reduced fee. We definitely couldn’t afford him on anything but a friendship basis these days.

  When I called him, Fredi said even though he had a lot of business designing upscale houses sheltering too few people in too many square feet, he’d be happy to look at the new space.

  “Oh, my dear. You’ve positively bloomed in the few days since you broke up with what’s-his-ass,” Fredi said, sashaying up to me.

  Fredi had once been a shy, nerdy guy who jumped whenever he saw anyone’s shadow. Now he was a fashion plate reflecting the newest style of dress, makeup, and accoutrements. Today he was a slender plum—shades of purple from head to toe, or rather platform shoes.

  “Wow, Fred, look at you. Bold fashion statement,” I greeted him.

  We hugged, and then he pirouetted.

  “Like? I decided I needed to be a little more memorable, you know?”

  “You are,” I assured him with a grin. “I’ll never forget this outfit.”

  He smirked.

  Over his shoulder, I saw Guy advancing on us.

  “Hey, you!” I greeted him. “What are you doing here?”

  “You said you were gonna go through the new place and think about redecorating. I had some time and thought I’d join you,” he answered, then leaned down and gave me a quick hug. “Who’s this?”

  “Oh, yeah. Guy, this is Fredi. Fredi, Guy.”

  If Fredi had been a hunting dog, I’d have said he was in full point. Evidently I wasn’t the only one who thought Guy was really something special.

  “You can help me across the street, Guy,” Fredi simpered with a sly grin. “There’s the building, right?”

  I nodded, but Fredi didn’t notice. He was too busy batting his eyelashes at Guy. Obviously he’d missed the hint that Guy and I were together. I would have been jealous, except that it was Fredi, and I knew he wasn’t serious.

  Even if he were and Guy returned his flirting or acted interested, it would have been all the signal I needed to know I didn’t want Guy. I’d finally realized hanging on to someone who didn’t want me was a waste of my time and heartache. Besides, I could buy myself my own damn bike.

  Guy turned to me as Fredi led him jaywalking across the Old Town Main Street. Guy’s stunned look was priceless. I just nodded and smiled at him.

  Guy nodded back and nearly ran down Fredi while he was still turned my way. I grinned, Guy grimaced, and Fredi looked up at Guy.

  “Guy, what do you do?” Fredi asked, one arm pulled through Guy’s.

  “I, uh, I own Stonewall,” he answered, looking down at the shorter Fredi.

  “Oh, I knew it! I knew you looked familiar,” Fredi said, glee lacing his tone. “I was just in there with friends a couple of nights ago. The night Jimmy….”

  Fredi unhooked his arm from Guy’s and stopped as we got to the sidewalk.

  “Oh, Jimmy, I’m so sorry! The rat bastard wasn’t worth even one of the condoms you invested in him,” Fredi said, putting an arm across my shoulders.

  “It’s….” I couldn’t finish because Fredi suddenly looked up at Guy.

  “Oh, oh! I get it. Of course it’s okay. You traded him in for something much, much better,” Fredi said, beaming between me and Guy.

  He dusted Guy’s arm off.

  “Sorry about running across the street with him. I wasn’t thinking,” Fredi said to me.

  “Not to worry. So shall we take a look at the place?” I asked, pulling out my keys.

  The building in its last incarnation had been a small branch office of a nationwide bank. But long ago, before automatic deposits and online banking, it had been a newspaper office. It was one of the brick buildings put up in the 1860s when the Gold Rush started.

  The old walls were in good shape inside and out. Electrical and heating/AC had been added through conduits running up the walls to the ceiling. The space was divided into two downstairs rooms. I envisioned a customer area in front with the kitchen in back.

  Upstairs was one big room. I was hoping someday I could serve up there too, but for now getting the downstairs fixed up took precedence.

  “So what do you think?” I asked, looking more at Guy, I must admit.

  Ceiling to floor windows ran along the street side of the front room, with smaller versions of them on one side of the big room. Part of the side area had been walled off to be bathrooms, so two doors stood about seven or eight feet apart on the back wall.

  Fortunately, when the bank had been renovated, the bathrooms had been made ADA compliant, so I wouldn’t have to tear them out to get them up to code. All the electrical, too, was standard code, and the building was Wi-Fi ready. I just had to find a supplier for it.

  While I was thinking about all of this, both Fredi and Guy had moved into the center of the main customer space and were looking around.

  They were so cute. Fredi was now standing at least an arm’s length away from Guy and wasn’t acknowledging him at all. That’s why we were such good friends. Once one of us had stamped a man as special, the other backed off. We didn’t do the catty subtle pursuit of someone else’s man, even a potential one.

  “This is a great space,” Guy said, turning to me. “It’s gonna be really good.”

  In a few long strides, he was in front of me, picking me up and giving me a thrill-to-my-toes kiss followed by a bear hug.

  “We’re gonna send everyone down here,” Guy said happily. “Everybody’s gonna love it.”

  Fredi laughed, and our bubble of happiness reached out and included him.

  Fredi minced over and joined our hug.

  “He’s right, you know. This is absolutely perfect, dear.” He squeezed us together again. “I’m going to do my best by you. You have to promise when the very cutest men come in to be sure to give them my card.”

  We spent the next few hours following Fredi around the building, letting him draw daydreams of how he envisioned Penny’s Too. I was delighted, because Fredi also wanted to turn it into an Old West men’s club tricked out in leather chairs and dark wood tables. I envisioned bright light flowing through the windows during the day so customers could read or work on their electronic devices, and dark partially draped windows at night so a little seduction would be on everyone’s mind.

  He saw the color palette being hunter green and dark brown, green velvet drapes around the windows and plush green rugs on the hardwood floors. The idea was smooth, slightly sophisticated, totally different from the mall version of Penny’s, which was slick surfaces, primary colors, and plastic, plastic, plastic.

  By the time he left for his next consultation, Fredi had also signed up Guy as a client.

  “I didn’t know you were thinking of remodeling,” I told Guy as we walked to one of the upscale restaurants for lunch.

  “Yeah, I been thinking about it for a while.” Guy grunted. “Just never had time to track down a decorator or anything.”

  “But Stonewall is perfect the way it is,” I protested.

  “No, it isn’t. It’s rundown and shabby. If you get a place like Fred just described, then I get to change the bar,” he challenged.

  “Hey, no problem,” I said, holding up my hands. “It’s your bar. I’m just saying there’s nothing wrong with the way it looks now.”

  His mouth had quirked up into a little grin.

  “It’s my Grandpa’s idea of what a bar should look like. I’m thinking it’s
about time I claim the property by doing something other than pissing around it.”

  We both started laughing at the image.

  After lunch I drove to the mall to tell Felicity what Fredi had said and how much he estimated it would cost us. She, like me, was delighted with everything.

  “He’ll get us drawings and written estimates by next week, so we can really sit down with the books and decide,” I finished.

  She socked me in the arm.

  “So I can sit down with the books and decide if it’ll work while you pout over my negativity,” she said, grinning at me.

  “Yeah, well, that too,” I agreed.

  As Penny’s filled up with early afternoon moms needing an infusion of caffeine, I went upstairs and zonked out on my couch turned bed. I was exhausted. Everything seemed to be coming together too quickly and easily, but I refused to panic until after I’d taken a nap. Besides, I had to come up with Guy’s name so he’d have to buy the bike and I wouldn’t.

  I got up when my phone played my “Guy” tune.

  Dress up. Be ready at 7. We’re celebrating.

  Where?

  Not telling.

  Interesting. Celebrating with a dressed-up Guy. The image was enough to get me off the couch and into the store to ask Felicity if I could shower at her house.

  I wore my gray slacks, light peach shirt, and peach-purple-and-gray-striped tie. I had a darker gray sports coat to go with the pants, and decided after primping a little that I looked okay to celebrate.

  Guy, however, took my breath away. He was wearing dress pants, button-down shirt, vest, tie, and sport coat. And loafers instead of his usual biker boots. He was gorgeous.

  I guess we were both shell-shocked at how well we cleaned up, because Felicity came into the back room and started laughing.

  “What?” I asked in irritation.

  “You, guys!” she drawled. “You’re both beautiful and hadn’t realized it before. You should see your faces.”

  Guy and I smiled at each other.

  “My King,” he said, extending his arm.

  I didn’t even wince when he said my given name.

  “My Prince,” I nodded back, making him stare at me in surprise. Hadn’t I told him he was my Prince Charming once? I thought I had.