Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 66642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
He waited until he was sure no one else was coming out of the diner before he opened the door. The restaurant was empty. He couldn’t see the waitress, either.
Walking to the front counter, he took a seat. He had hoped the waitress would have seen him entering. He looked good, he thought to himself.
He was dressed in his nicest jeans and boots and wore a blue shirt that his sister, Ginny, had told him highlighted the blue in his eyes; Jody felt confident he would be able to sweep his soul mate off her feet … once he charmed her into forgetting the little breakup he’d had with Baylin a couple of hours before.
Jody was growing worried when he sat there for several minutes without seeing her.
When she finally came out of the back, however, she appeared startled to find him there.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you come in,” she apologized, red flooding her cheeks.
“No problem. I’m in no hurry.” He gave her a smile he had practiced in his bathroom mirror while he shaved.
Her eyes narrowed on him suspiciously. Jody didn’t take that as a good sign.
Damn. The woman was going to be a hard nut to crack.
“Can I get you something?”
“I’ll take a cup of coffee,” he ordered.
She went to the coffee machine.
Telling himself not to become discouraged, he kept his smile on his lips.
When she returned with his coffee, he took the opportunity to introduce himself. “I’m Jody Coleman. What’s your name?”
Frost covered her features as she pointed at the name on her uniform.
“You don’t look like a Rowyn to me,” he teased.
When she set the coffee cup down in front of him, Jody could see the muscles in her jaw tense.
“What’s a Rowyn supposed to look like?”
“I don’t know. Someone uppity?” Feeling as if the ground was sinking beneath him, he tried to regain his footing. “I’m just a country boy.” Jody inwardly winced at the words coming out of his mouth. “What do your friends call you?”
“Since you’re not my friend, it’s none of your business,” she told him coldly.
“Ouch.” He placed a hand over his heart. “You’re right; it’s none of my business. I was just making friendly conversation.”
“I’m sorry. I’m not having a great day. I didn’t mean to take it out on you. I just had to fire my cook. I’m not great at taking a job away from someone who needs it.”
“Don’t feel bad about firing him. A cook has to know how to make toast.”
The waitress’ face went back to red. “The toast was my fault. George told me the toaster was getting stuck. I didn’t want to spend the money to buy a new one.”
“Oh … um …” Jody tried to think of something else to say.
“It’s okay.” She must have seen the dilemma on his face. “I know the toast was my fault. The pancakes, which got him fired, were his. Can I get you something else?”
“No, I’m good.”
Nodding, she went to sit down at one of the booths to do something on her cell phone.
As he drank his coffee, Jody tried to think of something to say that would start a conversation between them.
“How do you like living in Treepoint so far?”
“Fine.”
How had he ever gotten laid with his conversation skills?
Taking another sip of his coffee, he hoped someone would come in to get her out of the booth. It was hard talking to someone who was ignoring him.
“I’m sorry for the loss of your father.”
“Don’t be.”
His shoulders sank. Obviously, her father was no great loss to her.
“Treepoint will grow on you.” Deciding to talk to her as if she did want to talk to him, he barreled ahead. “There’re a lot of fun things to do here.”
“Like what?”
Why in the hell had he just shot himself in the foot? There wasn’t jackshit to do in Treepoint. The point was to make her want to stay, not to convince her to leave.
“There’s a nice movie theater and really nice steak restaurant across the str …” His voice dropped off as he realized what he was saying. Using another restaurant as an enticement to stay might not have been the best route to take. From the way she looked at him, as if he was slow on the uptake, he couldn’t blame her. Why was he having such a hard time talking to her? He’d never had this problem before.
The stars might say they are soul mates, but she wasn’t the woman he had imagined since he had found out about her existence.
She was a brunette instead of a blonde, nor was she particularly pretty. If not for the effect she had on his body whenever she came near him, he would have passed her off as uninteresting. There was nothing eye-catching about her. She hadn’t made the effort to put on any makeup, and her hair was pulled back into a tight bun.