Page 14 of A Place to Call Home
Ada stepped up. “A vanilla cone, a chocolate cone, and—” She looked over at Craig. “What do you want?”
He did three-quarters of a double take. “You’re still buying us ice cream?”
She rolled her eyes. He really did think she was a flake who broke promises on a whim. “Vanilla or chocolate?”
“Chocolate.” The statement had the vaguest hint of a question behind it.
The rest of their non-date lunch date was every bit as awkward as he’d predicted their first one would be. Jack seemed oblivious, which was the only good thing Ada could say about the afternoon. The moment Jack finished his cone, Craig said they had to go.
Ada pretended the declaration didn’t seem like a desperate attempt to escape. “I’ll let you know if anything changes with your closing date,” Ada said. “But as of yesterday, everything was on schedule.”
“Sounds good.”
No, it sounded. . . disappointing.
Chapter Five
“Ican’t believe you convinced me to do this,” Craig told Bianca. They sat in his car outside a stranger’s home, contemplating his next move.
“I’ve listened to you whine for almost a week about how you messed up with Ada,” Bianca said. “You have to try to fix it.”
“But at her book club? That’s so—”
“Romantic,” Bianca said. “Didn’t you seeJerry Maguire?”
Wait, she was having him reenact a scene from a chick flick? Not a good sign. “Public humiliation is not my jam.”
“Really? Because the story about the hot dog/ice cream fiasco says otherwise.”
He lightly banged his head against the steering wheel. “I am so bad at this.”
“Luckily, being really bad at talking to someone you’re interested in is kind of endearing.” Bianca twitched her head toward the house. “Go tell her what you’ve been telling me. Ada’sreasonable, and, if Gina’s right, she’s totally into you. So go talk to her.”
Gina was Ada and Bianca’s mutual friend. He hoped Gina was a reliable source for gossip.
“You’re telling me to man up,” he said.
“Pretty much.”
He squared his shoulders and opened the car door. “Don’t steal my car while I’m gone.”
The walk to the front door was one of the longest he’d ever made. This would either turn out to be a great idea or a huge mistake. He rang the doorbell and waited.
He and Ada hardly knew each other. Why, then, had he been unable to get her out of his mind? The businesslike phone calls they’d had about the townhouse ever since the beach had been torture. He’d driven his brother and sister-in-law crazy by going on and on about Ada and the fallout in the ice-cream line. There was just something about her, and he needed to figure out what.
The door opened. Craig reminded himself that this needed to happen. “Is Ada Canton here?” he asked the woman who’d answered.
“Yeah.” She motioned him inside and around the corner to a living room. “Ada, someone’s here to see you.”
A dozen pairs of eyes focused on him, including Ada’s deep-brown ones.
She stared a moment, not speaking, not moving. Her mouth hung the tiniest bit open. “Craig?”
“I don’t want to interrupt, I just— Could we talk for a minute?”
“Yeah, sure.” She crossed toward him. “Is something wrong?”
Everyone was still watching. “Outside, maybe?”
