A Guide to Being Just Friends(7)

“I already paid her,” Jane said to Chris. “But she refused a delivery fee.”

“You shouldn’t do that! We made you come out of your way,” Everly said.

Chris got up and joined his girlfriend at her side. “Hi, Hailey. I’m Chris Jansen. Everly brought me one of your salads last week. It was fantastic, and I’m not the biggest fan of salad.”

She lifted her chin, sending Wes a lightning-fast glare no one else seemed to notice. “Thank you. I’m really happy you enjoyed them. I get that comment a lot but there’s so much more to salad than what we remember from growing up and being forced to eat it by our parents.”

Noah went to the box. “Please tell me there’s meat on some of them.”

“That’s one of my brothers, Noah. He’s got no manners.” Chris hooked his thumb toward Noah.

Wes’s stomach felt like there was one of those cartoon characters in it who couldn’t move even though their legs were in hyperdrive.

“I have manners. Sorry. I’m just hungry,” Noah said with a wave. He picked up a clear cup with layers of vegetables, meat, and lettuce.

Wes never imagined he’d use the adjective “beautiful” on a salad but that’s what it was. Almost like a piece of art.

“Spicy Steak. Nice,” Noah said, gaze moving back to the woman making Wes’s skin feel too tight. “I stand corrected. I can get on board with salad that contains this much meat.”

She laughed and it surprised Wes to his very core that he thought the sound was pretty. Art was pretty. Not laughter.

“That there is Grace, Noah’s girlfriend,” Chris said. “You know Everly and that’s Wes, my oldest brother.”

She nodded in his direction.

He couldn’t stand it. “It’s nice to meet you, Hailey.”

No one else seemed to hear the emphasis he put on her name, his way of admitting his mistake, but she clearly did. With an arrogant tilt of her chin, she met his gaze. “You, too.” At least she hadn’t outed him in front of everyone.

“I’m so glad you brought the salads, but why won’t you take a delivery fee?” Everly asked.

Hailey’s gaze softened when she looked at Everly. “When I got here, I realized it must be you and Stacey who recommended me. I appreciate the word of mouth.”

“Do you have someone watching the store?” Everly asked.

Hailey shook her head. “No. I closed it for a bit. I’m still a one-woman operation.”

That didn’t sound good. She could be losing revenue by delivering to them. “I’ll make you a deal. Instead of a delivery fee, how about Stacey mentions By the Cup on the show? Do you have any coupons or anything? We could do one of our quick-draw giveaways.”

The hope he saw on Hailey’s face surprised him, made his stomach shift uncomfortably.

“I don’t but you can absolutely do a draw and I’ll honor a giveaway for sure.”

Why didn’t she have coupons? That was standard business practice. Especially for start-ups. They needed to have an advantage over their competition.

“You could give us a couple business cards. Then the winner can pick them up here and use them to verify that they won when they visit the store,” Wes said.

All eyes turned to him. He hadn’t even realized he spoke aloud. His brain liked navigating problems and unfortunately, he had a bad habit of not keeping it to himself.

“I don’t have any business cards yet,” Hailey said. He wasn’t sure if she looked embarrassed or worried. Maybe some combination of the two.

“That seems like something you should have,” Wes said, then realized how rude he sounded. Shit.

Noah was eyeing him quizzically. Wes’s hairline felt damp. He hated this feeling—being the center of attention was bad enough but being wrong and in the spotlight was horrible.

“Never mind me,” he mumbled, looking at his laptop screen. His skin felt too tight for his body.

“My pleasure,” she said sweetly.

He didn’t look up until she left, which was after a bit more chatting Wes listened to painfully. He pulled up his dating app on the screen, looked for Hayden.

Admittedly, it was a really bad picture. A full-body shot. It was hard to see any clear details besides the reddish-brown hair. The pixelated image hadn’t been enough to go on but from a distance there were similarities. Hayden was a buyer for a small clothing company, traveled for work. What she wasn’t was a salad shop owner with a death glare, a great laugh, and a very, very good reason to dislike Wes.

It was getting harder to ignore his brothers and their girlfriends as they surrounded him, clearly waiting.

“What?” he snapped, shutting his laptop so they didn’t see the evidence of his idiocy.

“What was that?” Noah asked, his voice ringing with laughter.

“Nothing.” Wes pushed his hands through his hair, avoiding all their gazes. “Can someone open a window?”

“Had you already met Hailey?” Everly asked. Her tone was so soft and safe, it would be a dick move not to answer.

Seeing no way out of it, he stood abruptly, heading for the window. Once he did, he stayed close to it. He needed space if he was going to embarrass himself.

“Sort of.” He leaned against the wall, grateful for the slight breeze, and told them the story.