Chapter 7
Judy
Of all the coffee shops in town, why did he have to pick the Rocket?
Garrett had walked off to make us coffees. I sat at a table along the back wall and bristled in the small mountain of clothing I wore. My stomach hadn't untwisted from the embarrassment I felt earlier. Ruthless, corporate businessman, Garrett Walker saw me prancing around in my underwear.
I wanted to hide under my comforter until I died of old age, but I couldn't. The whole town was literally depending on me to put on my big girl pants. How could I change the heart of someone who didn't have one in the first place?
Or maybe he lost it along the way somewhere...
I sank a little in my puffy white jacket, trying not to be noticed. It wasn't super busy, but there were still a few people mulling about the record and CD racks or flipping through some of the comic book stands. One young couple even sat on the small stage we used to use for live bands, and read poetry to each other.
I couldn’t help but crack a small smile at seeing the place. It'd been years since the last time I was in here. Local art hung on the walls. The ones I remembered had long since been cycled out and replaced. That was one of the design elements I was most happy with. Whether it was painting, sculptures or whatever, I loved the idea of sharing the work of local creators.
I’m really glad Gloria kept that. Looking around, it seemed like she kept most of my design ideas. The place hadn’t changed much in the years I was gone, except that it was doing much better financially.
Being back didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would, but despite it all, seeing Black Rocket Records doing well did make my heart ache a little. I wanted Gloria to succeed. It just reminded me how much better off she was without me…
“Judy?” a bubbly young voice asked from over my shoulder. I knew it was Penny before I turned. She had green hair this month and wore a big, wide-eyed smile and a pre-faded Metallica shirt. It was good to see her. We hugged.
“Are you in college yet?” I asked. Penny hung out here with us after school every day, when we first opened, then she started working part time when she was old enough. I did the math in my head. Penny had to be around eighteen or nineteen now. From the cleaning apron she wore, I could tell she was still working here.
“No. I’m taking a year off. I just need to figure myself out first. Student debt scares the hell out of me.” She wiped down the small table then plopped down across from me. “What have you been up to? Did you go with Gloria to open a new store somewhere cool and exotic?”
“Hmm? Oh no. I don’t— Gloria and I split ways a while back. Nothing personal! We still talk all the time. It just didn’t work out. The business, I mean.” I tried to put on a blasé attitude about the whole thing. Penny gave me a confused look. She obviously thought I was still part owner. “I’m up at the stadium working with my dad now; interning in the PR department.”
“Oh.” Penny’s reply was a painful spike between my ribs. The look of sympathy she gave me afterward stung the most.
I wish that failure didn’t still hurt so much.
“Just trying something new, y’know?” I chuckled, shrugging, trying to wave it all off. I was just making things more awkward. I struggled to keep the groan out of my voice and was mostly successful.
“Huh. I figured you’d have gone into design or something by now. Do you still paint?” Penny raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow, causing the piercing above her eye to catch the overhead light and sparkle.
“Yeah! Of course. All the time.” I lied energetically. I hadn’t had the time for that in a long while. I was trying to take my unfulfilling work seriously. I didn’t want to let Dad down again.
Someday I’d feel inspired again…
“So,” Penny smiled, looking over her shoulder at Garrett who was finishing up with the coffees. “Who’s the hunk?”
“That is none of your business little girl.” I teased Penny, hiding the shallow depression that lingered in me like a bad cough I couldn’t get rid of.
“Come on!” Penny leaned forward and whined at me. Penny was hopelessly forward with things. She got along with Gloria really well because of their shared bluntness when it came to telling everyone what was on their minds.
“If you must know… He’s a potential investor, and this is a business meeting.”
“Ohhh swanky.” She looked Garrett up and down as he began to walk back, two steaming coffees in hand. “Is he single?”
“No! He’s not single.” I whisper yelled. A flash of jealousy lit me up, but fortunately Penny was too occupied to see it. “I mean I don’t know if he is, but you need to go!”
What the hell was that? What did it matter if he was or wasn’t? And why did I get so defensive at that? Great, now she put the thought in my head. Was he single?
“OK. OK. I’m going.” Penny got up as Garrett arrived.
They exchanged hellos, then Penny went to the counter to wait on a customer. She turned back around once she was behind him. She pressed her fingers to her chest and cooled her face by fanning herself with the other hand. All the while she mouthed the word “HOT” at me.
I stared daggers at her hoping that anger would push down the flushness that was already swelling in my cheeks and neck.
It wasn’t working.
“Take off the coat if you’re warm.” Garrett’s eyes were intense and unreadable. His tone had a touch of mischief to it that was irresistible. He hung his jacket over the chair adjacent to us.
Garrett Walker is bad news. I rolled the statement around in my head like a sommelier might sip a fine wine.
“I don’t mind.” He stole a long glance at me and I felt nearly naked in front of him all over again. The look he gave me lit my skin on fire. “You look better out of them anyway.”
Fuck! It was suddenly way too hot in here with this bulky winter jacket on. Steam pulsed out of my turtleneck like the spout of a kettle just about to boil. In my embarrassment, I had overdone it with the layers. With the coat and all my heavy winter clothes on beneath it, I looked like the stay-puft marshmallow man. I really didn’t want to take off any more clothes in front of him.
I hated the idea of letting him win.
He’s just trying to rile you up. You’re Caldwell Hope’s ambassador!
People were counting on me. I couldn’t afford to let him under my skin. Yeah, easier said than done… Gloria’s warning to be careful rang out like a foghorn in my head. This wasn’t just any businessman. This was the Grim Reaper of Wall Street!
“So, um…” I coughed, changed the subject and glanced away. I stood up and quickly slipped the bulky coat off. If I didn’t, I’d be a sweaty, uncomfortable mess in no time. Besides, by taking off my outerwear, he didn’t win anything. The thermostat was set too high in here. I was just warm, that’s all.
It had absolutely, positively, nothing to do with the way his deep ocean blue eyes flickered over me like the hottest part of a lighter flame…
“When’s my father getting here?” I had texted Dad several times, but I didn’t get a response. That wasn’t surprising; he was notoriously bad at texting. If I was lucky, I’d get just the letter K or a question mark. For a solid week it was nothing but emojis. It wasn’t even the common ones; it was the weird ones that no one ever used, like the Clipboard or the No Biking symbol.
“Unfortunately, Paul won’t be able to join us.”
“What?” My throat filled with sand. “Why not?”
“I asked him to give my assistant Michael the tour I was supposed to take yesterday.” Garrett slowly mixed his drink.
“OK…” My eyebrows turned upward as I tried to swallow all the questions I had with sips of my scalding coffee. Well, what the hell? What was the point of this then? Dad was the one who knew all about the stadium.
Thanks for abandoning me to the wolves, Dad.
“I’m not sure how much I can tell you about the stadium.” I shrugged. “Dad is the real expert; I just work there.”
“I know.” Garrett leaned back in his chair totally at ease. The wooden chair moaned under his weight, as if it were satisfied that he was there. Garrett was a man who was just as comfortable in long silences as he was in the chaos of a bone-crunching football play. “I don’t want to talk about the stadium.”
“I can tell you a little about the town.” I offered eagerly, trying to fill the silence. I hated the long gaps in conversation and always rushed to lessen the tension. When he didn’t immediately reply, I began educating him about the new school that was built and about the town’s industry-heavy history. “Yelp has Caldwell Hope in the top fifty towns to watch in the coming decade. Between the ski resort and the new stadium, tourism is really starting to boom and—”
“Tell me about yourself.” Garrett’s commanding tone stopped me dead in my tracks.
“Me?” I asked more sheepishly than I wanted him to see.
Garrett slightly cocked his head, prodding me to say more. He sat on silence like a king to a throne, whereas I was crushed under it like a rockslide. It was suffocating to me.
God, how could one man have so much confidence?
“I don’t think that’s really relevant to the meeting.” I tried to be evasive. Garrett’s obvious power frightened me a little. He knew I was a painter. He knew that my house was a mess, and he probably knew that I used to own this place. That’s probably why he brought us here.
Oh, and he knows what I look like half naked.
Knowing how he saw me, made me cringe on the inside. I didn’t like that he knew so much about me, especially since I didn’t know all that much about him.
“You don’t trust me?” He asked, completely unfazed.
“No.” I couldn’t contain my chuckle. I was the rabbit talking to the fox. The last thing I wanted was to get eaten.
Then again…
I’d be lying if I said his perfect teeth and wicked lips didn’t look tempting as hell. Every time he gave me that look, it went right through me like a lightning bolt. I thought about what would’ve happened if I let him in this morning instead of slamming the door in his face.
“Good.” Garrett smirked, sending another lightning bolt directly into my pussy.
God, I had to stop being so attracted to this man!
“Ask me a question then.” He casually sipped his coffee. He had a rebel air to him that could only come from his years as an athlete. “Anything you want.”
Are we really playing truth or dare?
“OK.” I swallowed the old high school thrill that made my inner thighs tingle. One question for Garrett Walker… A million questions fluttered in my head; how could I narrow it down to just one?
What was it that changed your mind at the stadium? Why did you pick me to change your mind?
“Why—” I paused and swallowed. “Why did you jump out of that helicopter?”
I wussed out. How could I not? What would happen if I steered the conversation in that direction? I was here for the whole town, not just for me. I felt the crushing weight of responsibility again. Why did I have to be the one to do this? If I failed, what would everyone think of me?
Oh. Penny’s reply stuck me in the ribs again. Everyone already new I couldn’t even run a small business. What business did I have trying to save a town?
“Why not?” He shrugged, then glanced to the side.
Something on Garrett’s face jerked me from my downward spiral. If I blinked I would’ve missed it. There was an unmistakable hollowness behind his eyes. There was a flash of emptiness within him, like he was searching for something.
It was incredibly…human.
Adrenaline filled that hole for him, the same way painting did for me. Even I knew it was just a Band-Aid though. A painkiller. I couldn’t help but wonder what happened to him that forged this hardened version of himself.
“You live in a tourist town.” His face snapped back into this perfect mask that concealed all of his previous thoughts and emotions. “Do you ski?”
“I do,” I said guardedly, still trying to give away as little as I could. I’d have asked him the same question, but the man jumps out of helicopters; odds are he’s been on a mountain before. “Are there any extreme sports you don’t do?”
Garrett surveyed the room as he legitimately thought it over.
“I don’t dance any more. Does that count?” He cracked a sexy smirk that made my nerve endings crackle. “Do you still dance?” He glanced back and snared my eyes. “I remember you were quite good.”
Dance? How did he know anything about what I danced like? Again he sent my mind spinning. I regarded him with utter confusion. I hadn’t danced outside of my living room in years…
It was bright enough in here that I felt like I was really seeing him for the first time. I wasn’t rushed, or worried about a million other things, or caught off guard like when he picked me up this morning. All I could see was him. There was something about Garrett’s eyes that filled me with some serious déjà vu.
Where had I seen them before?
An image floated through my subconscious like an ice cube bobbing to the surface of a chilled tea on a humid summer day. A viking-style helmet mask with horns sticking out the front.
With that thought, came a surge of inspiration; it flowed through me like heroin. I was overcome with an urge to capture this moment. I wanted to paint. I didn’t know why, but I needed to paint Garrett Walker.
Holy crap… The masquerade! That’s the last time I danced. My eyes frantically looked him over. Like watching a puzzle get assembled in fast forward, everything dropped into place. The voice, his massive size, those stunning eyes…
I danced with the Garrett Walker?!
From across the table Garrett’s smirk deepened as he saw the sudden realization dawn across my face. The bastard was loving this.
“I—” My mouth opened to fill the void of silence, despite having no idea what I was going to say. How do I respond to that?
I was suddenly transported back to that party; all those mixed emotions cascaded through me, jumbling me up. Except this time I knew who I was dancing with.
Thankfully Garrett’s watch lit up with an incoming call. He fished out a Bluetooth earpiece, slipped it into his ear, then answered. “Go ahead.”
“Is she alright?” Garrett’s playful smirk disappeared; it was replaced with an angry sternness that sent ripples of worry up my spine. Garrett’s now ice cold gaze snapped away from me; they narrowed and burned holes into the wall behind me. It reminded me just how quickly Dr. Jekyll could turn into Mister Hyde.
That terrified me.
“I’ll be right there.” His voice lowered into a tone that could freeze everyone in the store. If we were in a room full of lit candles, they’d have all winked out in one go.
The Grim Reaper of Wall Street had returned.