Page 79 of Small Town Swoo
“Hey, Dash. Goodnews.”
“Yeah?”
“My father-in-law agrees that a bigger truck would be a good investment, and he’s willing to sell the current one.”
“Awesome. Got a price?”
“I’m still working on that. Obviously, I want to give you a good deal, but I just have to make sure my father-in-law doesn’t lose money. I need to do a little research.”
“Of course,” I said. “No problem.”
“Do you want to come see it? Make sure she’s even interested?”
“Yeah.” I thought quickly. Ari’s parents would be home from vacation later tonight, and she’d want some time to talk to them. “Maybe one day next week?”
“Sure. It’s probably easiest to get you in for dinner on a Wednesday night. Would that work?”
“That’s perfect,” I said. Mabel would be home Thursday, and Friday we’d all head to Snowberry Lodge for the wedding.
“Got a time preference?”
“I think you’re about two hours from here, and Ari gets out of work around two, so anything after five works fine.”
“Cool. I’ll text you.”
“Thanks, Gianni. I really appreciate this.”
“No problem. Looking forward to seeing you.”
Grinning, I locked up Ari’s house and headed out. Doing things for her just felt fucking good.
FIFTEEN
ari
Dash calledwhile I was putting the finishing touches on our dinner—a Moroccan chicken tajine I thought would go perfectly withCasablanca, which was the movie I’d chosen for tonight. I’d stopped at the little gourmet market on the way home from the diner and picked up preserved lemons and green olives for the dish, and I’d also made Moroccan bread called khobz from scratch. I couldn’t wait for him to taste everything.
“Hello?”
“Hey. How are you?”
“Fantastic. I cannot stop looking at the antique wood on my wall.” Turning around, I admired it again and smiled. “It’s so beautiful, Dash. Thank you so much for doing that today.”
“You’re welcome. You just have to show me where you want the hooks and I’ll get them in.”
“Perfect.”
“I just wanted to tell you I’m running a little late. I ended up driving to Snowberry this afternoon.”
“Oh, nice! Did you meet Lexi?”
“Yeah. She seems great. Dev seems really happy, and the renovations are incredible. It hardly looks like the same place.”
“You didn’t have much time there. We should have rescheduled dinner so you could have stayed longer.”
“Nah. I’m good.”
Smiling, I leaned back against the counter. “I hope you’re hungry.”
