Chapter Fourteen
Everything is fine. He’s not with another woman. He’s just busy. You didn’t scare him off.
All morning she was filled with worry. But she repeated her mantra, trying to talk herself down. By the time she left for work an hour later, she almost believed it.
The jitters were simply new lover nerves. The fact that he hadn’t returned her I’m falling for you wasn’t something to worry about. They were going to the Spring Festival together tonight; they’d play Skee-Ball, have some cotton candy, and then sneak off to an alley somewhere for a quickie.
Jamie smiled to herself, liking that image. Glad, too, that she’d talked herself down from pointless fears.
On the walk to work, her phone buzzed, and she removed it from her purse to check the message.
Her shoulders fell as she read it.
Hey baby. Can we reschedule? Something came up that I have to take care of NOW. Call you later.
She looked at the time. It was ten thirty in the morning. What could possibly have come up that he had to take care of now? A fire? God forbid. But if it was a fire, she’d have heard sirens, and he’d have said so.
Jamie jammed the phone back into her bag. It had to be an error. A missent message. He couldn’t possibly be canceling their first real date.
Or could he?
She walked through town, looking in familiar store windows on her way to The Panting Dog, trying to reassure herself that she could trust him. He was reliable. He was serious. But already her heart was racing at a rabbit’s pace because this was her fear. That once she went all in, he’d pull out. He’d love her and leave her like he did with the other ladies. As she stopped at a red light, she noticed a familiar profile at the end of the next block. A pretty brunette. An even more beautiful blond man. Then he opened Cara’s car door for her, walked around to the passenger side, and drove off with her.
This is what came up? He needed to spend time with Cara when he claimed he was working and volunteering?
She blinked and squeezed her eyes shut, then open, as if that would hold back the stupid tears.
“Whoa. Easy there.”
Jamie lifted her eyes to Becker as she slammed a glass down hard on the bar. She’d just cleaned the glass, and was now prepping for the dinner shift at The Panting Dog.