Page 20 of Fixed Up Ever After
A loud cough from someone pretending to clear their throat soon broke the moment between them. Lola snapped away, turning to see Monique smirking at them from the counter. Javi forgot she was there and he couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if she wasn’t. How long would they have stayed locked together?
Lola wrapped her arms around herself like she wanted to preserve the warmth shared between them. “Sorry,” she murmured and he wanted to tell her to never apologize for hugging him, but she quickly moved on. If she wanted to pretend that she felt nothing when they touched, he’d allow her. For now.
“I’m so excited,” she admitted. “I don’t care if the hours you need to work are from midnight to 3 a.m., I’ll be here. You don’t understand how much this means to me. I’ve been trying for weeks to try and get someone to take on this project, but they kept falling through. Seriously, Javi, I could cry right now.”
“But you won’t,” Monique piped up from the back, moving away from the counter to stand next to her friend. “So what’s the next step?”
“I’ll need to come back to take measurements and inventory. Then I can give you a better idea of the timeline and pricing. I also need to check with my crew and see what their availability is.” Most of his guys he found through working on different projects and often took extra jobs on the side, like him. They were pretty eager to work on new jobs, especially the longer and more profitable ones.
The woman nodded and then Monique said, “Give us one moment.” Instead of leaving, they turned around and discussed something in hushed whispers. He stood behind them awkwardly, pretending like he didn’t hear them whispering about him. Which was surprisingly easy because he only caught every other word they said.
After a few minutes, both women turned around again to face him. Lola was all smiles and back to bouncing on the balls of her feet, while Monique looked more subdued but equally excited.
“I’m ready to move forward with this. Whatever you need, I’m here for.” Lola said, unable to hide her enthusiasm which Javi thought was cute.
“Is there anything else I can help you with? Any questions you have about the process?” Of course, he would go over everything with her tomorrow after he got a better understanding of the layout and his part in this, but he was happy to try and answer anything she might have questions about now.
Lola shook her head no, but Monique spoke up. “Actually, I do,” she said. Javi hadn’t expected her to speak up and judging by the looks of it, neither did Lola. She raised a perfect brow at her friend which in return was greeted by a wicked grin. “How do you feel about weddings, Javier?”
A look of confusion washed over his face and Javi was rendered speechless. “Come again?”
“Weddings,” Monique said like it was the most natural thing to say when talking about renovating a bookstore. Like she hadn’t just stunned two people into silence with her wildly off-topic question.
With a roll of her eyes, she said, “Lola needs a date for an upcoming wedding. What do you say?”
What the actual fuck?
CHAPTER13
Lola
Her brain was still trying to process the fuckery that came out of Mona’s mouth. She had not brought up the wedding to her best friend since she got the invitation in the mail a few days ago. The last thing she said about the wedding was she planned on going because not going would be so much worse. She most definitely didn’t mention anything about needing a date.
She wanted one, of course, but she didn’tneedone.
“She has a plus one, and knowing her family, everything is paid for. So it would be like a free vacation for you.”
“Mona, enough!” Lola couldn’t believe her ears. She couldn’t look at Javi and see the horrified look she was sure he was wearing. “We need to talk.”
“But—”
“Now!” Her words came out forceful and she never spoke to Mona like this. Not once in their twenty-plus years of friendship, but then again her friend had never pushed her this far before.
She didn’t wait for Javi or Mona to say anything. She grabbed her best friend by the wrist and pulled her toward the back of the store, well out of earshot of Javi. Hell, she wouldn’t be surprised if he decided to make a run for it while they were preoccupied.
“What the actual fuck, Mona?” Lola hissed once they were alone. She dropped her friend’s wrist and settled her hands on her hips, keeping them occupied so they didn’t strangle her best friend like she wanted to.
Mona had the audacity to look puzzled. “What? Why are you so angry?”
Why was she so angry? Whywouldn’tshe be so angry right now? “I have every right to be angry with you. What the hell do you think you are doing? What possessed you to think to ask Javi to be my date? In case you forgot, Mona, he is here to remodel my bookstore. That’s it.”
“Easy. Because Javi is hot and clearly into you, whether you want to see it or not. And I know you, Lo-Lo. I know you don’t want to go to your sister’s wedding alone. Mattea and I could go, sure, but it’s not the same as bringing a date.”
“It was one night! He’s my contractor, nothing else.”
“You obviously have chemistry with him. Who the fuck cares if he is working for you. He can work for you and be your date. Those things aren’t mutually exclusive.”
Lola had to take a deep breath because she was getting heated. Not just out of anger, but out of embarrassment. How sad was it that she couldn’t deal with her own damn love life and find a date to this wedding? She probably looked pathetic and incompetent to Javi, having her best friend ask on her behalf.
