“I know you are new to the store and were anxious to work here, but you can’t give out my business number to total strangers. That’s a business line only, for emergencies and whoever is working behind the register that day.”

“I’m sorry, Miss Price, but he said it was an emergency.”

“What?” I asked.

“The man who came in. He said he was a lawyer and that he needed to speak with you because it was urgent.”

“He what?”

“I can show you his business card.”

“I would like to see that, please.”

The young woman I had hired a little while back reached down into the drawer and pulled out a small rectangular card. I flipped it over and shook my head as the name Tyler Browning popped into my vision. Anger filled my bones. Not at the young girl. She had done what she’d needed to do. If someone had come up to me spouting off that they were a lawyer looking for the owner, I would’ve given them the fast track to getting in touch with them as well.

What pissed me off was that Tyler had thought he could waltz into my store and pull his career out of his back pocket to get to me.

I took the card and stuck it in my back pocket before I walked into the stockroom. I pulled out my phone and called Tyler back, ready to confirm our date for Saturday. It would give me the perfect opportunity to confront him about all this. If he thought he could manipulate whatever game he was playing into his favor, he had another thing coming.

“Well hello there, gorgeous.”

“Hey, Tyler. I know things were pretty short yesterday on the phone, but I wanted to call and confirm for Saturday,” I said.

“Sounds wonderful. Where would you like to go? Is seven o’clock still all right?”

“Could we make it six again? That’s a much better time.”

“Works for me. Gives me more time with you anyway. Do you have a place in mind you want to venture to this time?”

“I picked last time, so you pick this time,” I said.

“Ah, the old switching-off plan. All right. There’s this new place that’s opened up. It’s a sushi joint called Roll’d Up.”

“I haven’t heard of it.”

“The grand opening is Friday, but I figure there will be a massive rush then. I could get us a couple chairs for Saturday?” he asked.

“That sounds great. I love sushi. Do they have sake there?”

“Warm or cold?”

“Warm, of course,” I said.

“Then I’ll get us a nice table with some warm sake waiting for us. Do you want me to pick you up this time?”

“Nope. I’ll meet you there.”

“That your whole ‘independent woman’ thing?”

“Not at all. That’s my whole ‘if things go wrong I have a way to get out’ thing.”

“Oh, you wound me, Ana.”

“I do what I can,” I said, grinning.

“Then I’ll see you Saturday at six o’clock at a new place called Roll’d Up. If it doesn’t pop up on your GPS or whatever you use to get around, it’s on the other side of the main drag that runs straight through L.A.—about two blocks down from the Taco Hut.”

“Ah, the good old Taco Hut. Got it.” I decided to milk the moment, schmooze him up a little before I got onto him for the way he was forcing himself back into my world. “I can’t wait to see you,” I said.

“I can’t wait to see you either, Ana.”

The warmth in his voice gave me pause, and for a second I felt guilty for what I was doing. I could simply talk to him about what had happened now. I had him on the phone. But the angry part of me wanted to talk with him face-to-face. I wanted him to know that what he had done was unacceptable. Mostly because it was, and partially because if he came back into the store, there was a chance he would encounter Brody.

And there was no mistaking whose child Brody was.

I hung up the phone with Tyler just as the stockroom door slammed behind me. I jumped and whipped around, finding Kristi grinning as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Who can’t you wait to see?” she asked.

“None of your business.”

“Is this Mr. Monday Night Date? Because if we’re doing a second round, you know the deal. You spill now.”

“Kristi, don’t make me do this. It isn’t what you think.”

“All I know is you came into the store Tuesday morning with a very big smile on your face.”

“Kristi, it really isn’t what you think.”

“Then tell me what I’m supposed to think and I’ll stop.”

“I saw Tyler Monday night.”

Her jaw dropped in shock before she leapt toward me.

“What? And you didn’t tell me? What did you guys do? How did it go? Was that him on the phone?”

“I saw him Monday night to hash some things out and have dinner. I’m seeing him again Saturday night to hash out something else I just found out.”

“You just told him you couldn’t wait to see him.”

“Yes, to make sure he shows up. Kristi, he came in here and used the possibility of a lawsuit to get my information. That’s fraud. What if I would have been here? What if Brody had been here?”

“Ana, what did the two of you talk about Monday night?”

“About the fight we had that led to our breakup,” I said.

“And you didn’t tell him about Brody?”

“No, I didn’t. And I don’t intend to Saturday night either. I intend to sit down with him, tell him exactly what I think of this nonsense he pulled with my employee, and then tell him to stay the fuck away with his shenanigans.”

“You’ve got to realize how insane you sound right now. I know you still care about him.”

“I don’t even sort of care about him.”

“Bullshit. I heard the warmth in your voice when you said you couldn’t wait to see him. That isn’t something people can fake—not even you, Ana. You’ve always been a shit liar. And if you spend any amount of time with Tyler, he’ll know you’re hiding something from him.”

“He doesn’t know, and he won’t.”

“But you know he should, right?” she asked.

“Kristi, I don’t need you breathing down my back about this, okay? I got to tell him what I thought about our fight all those years ago and he got to talk to me about it a little. We got some closure, we had dinner, and that was it.”

“That was it?”

“Yep, that was it.”

I looked into Kristi’s eyes and tried to hold my ground as long as I could. But I could tell she wasn’t buying the shit I was selling.

“I still call bullshit.”

“Oh, come on,” I said. “This is ridiculous.”

“What’s ridiculous is doing this angry tango with Tyler and not admitting to yourself that you're using your anger as a way to be around him. Really, you could use your son as an excuse to do that.”

“Brody. Oh my gosh. I need to go—”

“Nope. Stop right now. I set him up with his iPad and he’s sitting in his favorite chair and playing,” she said as she grabbed my arm.

“Let me go.”

“We’re not done here. You know I’ll always have your back—even now—but you’re being ridiculous. Now I admit, what he did in here was squirrely at best. You’re not considering why he did it, though.”

“I don’t care why he did it,” I said. I wrenched my arm from her grasp and went to push the stockroom door open.

“He did it because he still cares about you.”

I froze at her words, my shoulder against the door.

“Tyler still cares. I saw it on his face at the bar, and I’m seeing it in his actions to get closer to you. And you know that won’t change once you tell him about Brody. It’ll only make him care for you more.”

I closed my eyes and fought back tears as I shook the thought away. It wasn’t possible. Too much time had passed. I had raised Brody all on my own and his time to father up had passed.

“I’ll let you know how Saturday goes,” I said.

Then I pushed out the door, Kristi’s heavy sigh following me out onto the main floor.