Page 39 of Unlikely to Stay
“Ohhh-kay.On that vague note, I think I’m going to go get this date started.One question.”
“What’s that?”
“Where does she live?”
CC was pacingthe floor of her small living room.Brant hadn’t told her what time to be ready, nor did he tell her what they were doing.She didn’t know when she should be ready or what she should wear so of course she had a sleepless night.She had finally rolled out of bed at seven when she realized trying to sleep any more was pointless.Besides, what if he was an early riser and decided to be at her door at the crack of dawn?She couldn’t answer the door with bed hair and morning breath.
After checking the weather and seeing it was going to be a beautiful spring day in the eighties, CC had gotten a mint green, flowy sundress out of her closet and thrown it over her head and paired it with her favorite tan leather strappy sandals.CC curled her hair into loose waves, dabbed some tinted lip gloss on her lips, and swiped some mascara on her eyelashes.Even though she always had wild-colored hair, her makeup was usually very minimal.
About the time she decided to call Griff and demand he give her Brant’s phone number so she could figure out exactlywhatthey were doing, she heard a knock on the door.Taking a deep breath, she walked slowly across the room and opened it.
Brant was standing in her doorway wearing a hunter green t-shirt and a similar pair of shorts he was wearing at the auction, only this time they were a shade darker.Flip flops were on his feet.CC couldn’t resist peeking.Feet were usually gross.And if a man had gross feet…nuh huh.CC was out.But Brant’s…Brant’s were cute.Clean.Not bad at all.CC was okay with his feet.
Brant looked her up and down and CC couldn’t resist taking a deep breath.She wasn’t used to feeling like being under a microscope.After what seemed like forever, he smiled.
“Have I told you of all your hair colors this one is my favorite?”he asked.
Well…that was not what she expected his first sentence of the day to be.CC fingered one of her curls.She didn’t even know he had noticed her variety of hair color.
“You notice my hair colors?”she asked, echoing her thoughts.
Brant nodded.“I have.They’re kind of hard to miss.You’ve had lilac with purple streaks, black with some sort of electric blue, platinum blonde with pink tips…am I missing any other ones?”
She shook her head.“Not recently, no.”
“Like I said, this one is my favorite.The red suits you.It reminds me of a maraschino cherry.I really like maraschino cherries.They’re my favorite part of a sundae.”
CC could feel her face turning red.“I saw Sharna onDancing with the Starsand just had to have her hair color.”
“I don’t know who that is but I’m glad you decided to copy her.”
“She’s a dancer…onDancing with the Stars.”God, that sounded stupid.
Brant shrugged.“Not my kind of show.”
“Probably not.So…” CC gave her dress a twirl, loving the feel of the soft fabric swishing against her thighs.“Am I dressed okay for what we’re doing?Where we’re going?”
“Absolutely.Are you ready to go?”
“Sure,” she said out loud.Hell no, she said in her thoughts.
Brant walked down the stairs behind the café and headed to an old silver Honda Accord.“This is Jessie.”
“You named your car?”
“I sure did.She’s been my faithful sidekick all through college and nursing school.Never let me down.I figured it would be wrong to abandon her just because I got a full-time job like a grown up.That and the fact I’m up to my eyeballs in student loans so I can’t really afford another one.”
CC laughed.Brant owning an old car was not something she expected.It was a nice surprise.Made him more…human.Less super smart, medically educated, and intimidating.
“You still haven’t told me where we’re going.”
“It’s a surprise.But before we go, I have to be honest.”
“Okay?”
“Your friends told me what I should do to impress you.”
“They did, did they?”