Page 14 of Love Unbound
Jodi parked in the designated parking spot behind her store, walking around the block to the front door to unlock it, a beverage carrier in one hand holding two iced coffees and a chaitea, along with the bag of muffins and ground coffee from the store the morning before. It felt like a lifetime ago that she had been there talking with Free yesterday morning.
Letting herself into the store, Jodi stopped briefly in her tracks, unsure whether she had unlocked the door or if it had been unlocked before turning the key. She shook her head to herself; she certainly was preoccupied with thoughts of Free if she was doubting the door being locked. Stepping inside, she turned on the lights as she went, checking through all the book aisles as she cleared the building. Setting the bag of goodies and the tray of coffees on the front desk, Jodi turned on the computer that was used to ring up sales, place orders, and track all inventory.
Still, her mind wouldn’t let go of the fantasy she had had that morning, and again her body flushed hotly. She nearly jumped out of her skin when Tess came around the corner and startled her with an excited squeal and swung her purse up onto the top of the desk with a crash. In her other hand was a large white baker’s box of homemade cookies and brownies that she slid onto the desk a little more gently than her purse.
“I neeeeeed to know who that hunk was you were with last night!”
Jodi laughed and handed Tessa the chai tea, who took it with a thank you. Tall, blonde, and a year younger than Jodi, Tessa Milne had quickly become one of Jodi’s closest friends. They had met at a writing convention they had both attended the spring before. After learning that they had grown up a town away from each other and realizing they had many of the same interests, they had exchanged phone numbers and had been friends ever since, one of the many things that had upset Josh during their short marriage.
Jodi was grateful for Tessa’s friendship. She had been a much-needed ally during the failing of Jodi’s marriage and thebeginning of her divorce.
Tossing her wavy blonde locks away from her face, she pushed the red frames of her glasses back into place on her nose, then took a drink of her tea. A simple black maxi skirt with a surprisingly high slit up to the middle of one thigh was paired with a rolling stones logo band tee and strappy red flats. She also had her signature red lipstick on, which always made Jodi smile. “Well? Who is he?”
“Who is who?”
Tess and Jodi both turned at the new voice and greeted their friend and part time employee, Kit, as she made her way toward them. Pleasantly round in all the right places, she was always impeccably put together. A white and purple striped blouse with cuffed sleeves was tucked into eggplant purple wide legged trousers, and a large leather purse was draped over one arm. Her caramel brown hair was pulled back into a stylish topknot, several strands left out to frame her face. Kit worked full time at a real estate office across the street and was taking classes to get her real estate license, but had been friends with Tessa since grade school and had volunteered to help out at the store when needed.
The three women had made a habit of having coffee together on Monday mornings to start their work week off. Jodi handed the remaining iced coffee to Kit and opened her mouth to speak, but Tess beat her to it.
“Umm, just thisinsanelyhot guy I saw Jodi on a date with last night!” Tess exclaimed excitedly, her blue-green eyes wide.
Kit’s honey brown eyes swung from Tessa to Jodi, who blushed to the roots of her dark hair and laughed shyly. “Ohhh-kay. Well, now I’m invested. Who is he?” she asked, repeating Tessa’s question from earlier.
Jodi took a deep breath and took a drink of her own iced coffee and stepped behind the cashier desk. “It wasn’t a date.”
“Yeah, that’s why you had that stupid grin on your face,” Tessa muttered but was smiling to herself. “Come on! Who is he?”
Opening the baker’s box Tessa had brought in, Jodi began unloading the individually packaged treats, setting them in the display case neatly. “He was my dad’s foreman, before he moved.”
Kit narrowed her gaze, her lips pursing, “There’s more to the story than that.”
Jodi rolled her eyes before saying, “I may or may not have had a massive crush on him when I was younger.”
Tessa’s mouth opened in a silent ‘O’ of exclamation. She slapped the countertop and squeaked, “Wait, that’s Freeman?”
Jodi nodded and wrinkled her nose.
“But what’s he doing here? I thought you said he was gone, never to return?”
Jodi gave Tessa a baleful look. “I don’t think I used those exact words. It sounds way more dramatic than it is.”
“What am I missing?” Kit asked, setting her purse down on the counter.
“It’s nothing,” Jodi protested lamely, but was cut off by Tessa’s excited explanation.
“Freeman worked for Jodi’s dad, a long time ago. He’s older, but fine as hell. If my memory serves me right, then I recall the catalyst of this story being that he kissed young Jodi,” Tessa made a theatrical gasp of horror before continuing. “He left, hasn’t been back since. And our dear heroine here has been carrying a torch for this cowboy ever since.” Tessa looked over at Jodi, straightening her glasses again. “Did I miss anything?”
Jodi laughed gustily, shaking her head. “I think that’s the gist of it, yes,” she said, still laughing. “It’s not that exciting though, I swear.”
“Whatever,” Tessa sing-songed.
“I want to hear more about this mysterious cowboy later,Jodi,” Kit said and pointed a finger at her chest. “I have to run, but I want more info!”
“There’s nothing to tell!” Jodi called on a chuckle as Kit turned and headed back toward the front door. She waved as she stepped out onto the sunlit sidewalk, turning and vanishing from view. Jodi turned to Tessa and rolled her eyes again, saying with false sternness, “Come on, let’s get this place open for the day. Your brownies smell divine, by the way.”
“Thank you, but don’t change the subject. I want to know how your date went!” she said as she flipped the hand painted open sign so that it faced out the window.
“We got ice cream, we walked around down at the Waterfront. That was it!”
