The Wrong Right Man(15)

“It’s just me.” Jamie laughs, dropping me to my feet.

I spin around and smack him on the arm. “You scared me.”

“I kinda gathered that by the way you screamed.” He chuckles as he wraps his arm around my shoulders and uses his free hand to open the door. “Are you ready to eat?”

“I was ready to eat fifteen minutes ago.” I glare up at him.

“Sorry about that. I had company who didn’t want to leave.”

My nose scrunches. “Thank goodness I don’t have to deal with your—” I lift my fingers, making quotations. “—company anymore.”

“Oh come on, admit it. You miss me,” he says as we slide into an open booth across from each other.

“You, yes. Your company? Not so much.”

He grins then his expression turns serious. “Are you settling in all right?”

I let out a long breath then admit, “It’s taking me time to get used to living on my own.” I unwrap my silverware from my napkin then smile. “But I like my place and my job so far.”

“Good.” His eyes fill with relief, and I realize then he’s been worried about me. “Have you made any friends at work?”

“Not yet, but I’ve only been there a week. I’m still trying to find where I fit in.”

“You will, just give it time,” he says, and then we both look at the waitress when she appears at the side of the table, holding a pot of coffee. Once she fills our cups, we give her our orders without even looking at the menu, because we’ve been here before and always order the same thing.

When she walks away, I mix sugar and creamer into my coffee while asking, “How was your show last night?”

“Good. Really good. Dan showed after to go over our contract and to make sure we’re set to hit the road in a few weeks.”

“Are you ready for that?” I know becoming successful enough to go on tour has been his dream since we were kids, but dreaming about something and the reality of it happening can be vastly different.

“As ready as I’m gonna be. Dan keeps warning us that what’s about to happen is going to change things for us and we need to be prepared.”

“I’m worried about you,” I tell him honestly. “I wish I could go with you.”

“Maybe you can fly out when I’m in Nashville. We’ll be there for a week after our first song off the new album goes live.”

“I’d love that. I’ve always wanted to go to Nashville. Let me know the dates and I’ll see if I can fly out for the weekend.”

“I’ll have Dan send you an e-mail with our tour schedule.”

“Oh, Dan will send me an e-mail? How very famous of you. Should I also get your personal assistant’s number so I can message her when I need to speak to you?”

“Smartass.” He grins, and I grin back, but then his smile fades away. “So, do you wanna tell me what happened Friday?”

I almost choke on my coffee. I don’t know why I thought he’d let me get off not telling him about that. “Nope, not really.”

His eyes narrow and I shift in my seat. “Talk.”

“About what?”

“Dakota, I can read you like a book. I have always been able to, so spit it out. What happened that you don’t want me to know about?”

“Nothing happened.” I lift my thumb to my mouth, and he reaches across the table, tapping it away from my lips.

“What happened with the suit Maggie was trying to hook you up with?”

“I didn’t meet up with him.”

“I know you didn’t. I also know you, and know you wouldn’t stand someone up, which makes me think something happened to keep you from meeting him.”

“Fine.” I sigh. “I was going to meet him, but I was running late. Then there was an accident and the cab I was in couldn’t get me across town, and I kinda figured it was a sign that I shouldn’t go.”

“You’re lying,” he states then waves his hand out to cut me off when I start to tell him I’m not. Which, I’m not. Well… mostly not, anyway. “I’m not upset you stood the guy up. I met him, and he reminded me of Troy.”

“Really?” I scowl, not liking the idea of more than one Troy running around in the world.

“Yeah,” he says then frowns over my shoulder, and I turn to see what he’s looking at and notice a big guy sitting at a lone table reading the paper.

“Do you know him?” I ask, turning back to Jamie.

He focuses on me and shakes his head. “No, but he keeps looking over here like he knows me.”

“Maybe he does. I mean, you are famous after all.” I wink, and he laughs.

Just then, the waitress appears at our table with our food. We dig in and chat while we eat, and then when we’re finished, he pays the tab and we head out.

“Do you still have a lot of work to do?” he asks when we stop on the sidewalk outside the dinner.

“I have a few things to do tonight, but nothing that will take me long.”

“Then let’s go see a movie, that comedy you wanted to see with that girl is out.”

“You basically just described every comedy out right now.” I laugh, lacing my arm through his. “A movie sounds good, and you can buy me popcorn and M&M’s.”