Page 7 of Coyote
He’d said that before. “Well, the extra weight looks good on you.”
His eyes trailed over my body. “You’re looking nice yourself, like you’ve blossomed into a woman.”
“I was a woman before,” I insisted.
“Yeah, but you’ve got more curves and something’s different, but I can’t put my finger on it right now.”
I gathered up the boxes the helium tanks had been mailed in, turned and headed for the cash register. I was feeling all kind of things for this man. I needed to put my sales counter between us. Unfortunately, when I passed him, I could smell the scent of his body, it was a scent I knew well, one I loved. This man was too tempting.
I unloaded my boxes and asked, “What were you looking for today, Lucas? Maybe I can help you find it.”
He put the flyer on the counter and stated, “I’m opening a business account for my new auto repair shop. I’m interested in support for a grand opening and any other events that might help grow my business along the way.”
Happiness filled every corner of my heart. “You’re finally following your dream. That’s really good to hear.”
“Yeah, Callie is helping me decorate. She thinks blue and black should be my company colors because blue is a color associated with trust and black is gives everything a more professional look.”
It was wonderful that she was helping him with his business start-up. “I can’t believe how decisive and detail-oriented she’s being about this.”
He shot me a wry grin. “Yeah, I thought the same thing but her ideas sound good to me. She’s already got furniture picked out for my waiting room, so I’m going to let her run with it.”
I relaxed because our conversation was just like old times. “I’m sure it will be lovely. What name did you pick for your new business?”
“Coyote Auto Service and Repair.”
I was confused for a moment, wondering what coyotes had to do with anything, then my eyes dropped to his cut, and I saw he had a patch with his club name, “You’re Coyote now?”
“Yep!” he said, then gave me a smirk, “I’ll have to save the tale of how I got called that for another day.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it was due to your harebrained schemes and inventiveness making you sound like the cartoon character.”
He laughed at that, “You know me well.”
“I know you’ll be successful because you’re so organized and hard-working. You deserve all the good things in life,” I said.
His eyes were practically shining with happiness. “Yeah, things are really looking up in my life right now.”
We stood staring at each other for a second before I reminded myself he was here to open a business account and talk about his business needs, not to converse with me. So, I asked, “What are you thinking of in the way of an event? Do you have a main goal in mind?”
“I gave some thought to that on the way over. The main thing is just making people aware that we’re open for business and get my name out there. It’s becoming obvious that I can’t be successful if people don’t who I am and where to find me, right?”
I nodded, “We can definitely help you with that. Did you have a particular theme you wanted for the event? Entertainment and catering I mean.”
He grinned, “Like inflatable castles and a taco truck?”
Still the joker. I laughed as I told him, “Well, that sounds good, but maybe we can tailor an opening to your client base.”
“Lay it down for me, sweetheart,” he said while leaning on the counter. His eyes were on my lips, and I was trying to fight the urge to pull him close.
I quickly got myself back into professional mode and ran down the list of event draws that came easily to mind. “Were you thinking of something along the lines of a cookout with red checkered tablecloths, maybe a rockabilly event with music or something more elaborate to draw people in, like an antique car show. You might be interested in something a little simpler, lemonade and finger cookies for anyone wanting a tour.”
“To be honest all of this sounds good. I love everything you just said, the car show and the rockabilly event with music especially.”
“I would be happy to plan out a couple of choices and work up estimates for each.”
He looked genuinely excited at the prospect. “That sounds pretty amazing. If it fits within my budget, I’d love to do something like that.”
A little voice in the back of my head whispered that he wasn’t wearing a wedding band so that must mean he wasn’t married. Though, the lack of a ring didn’t matter at all. He was an amazing catch. It didn’t make sense that he would be alone. He was definitely involved with some lucky woman. Even if he wasn’t, he didn’t need a cursed woman like me messing up his life. That thought brought me down a little, but I quickly realized that just being able to work with him on making his grand opening special would make me happy. It was something to look forward to in this lonely life of mine—also I harbored a not insignificant amount of guilt for running out on him. It would be nice to make it up to him somehow.