Dirty Thoughts - Megan Erickson Page 0,6
me for free, Delilah Jenkins. Don’t you dare.”
Her friend pressed her lips together. “Fine.”
“Fine. And throw in those gold chandelier earrings too.”
As Jenna signed the credit card slip, Delilah leaned on the counter and placed her chin in her hands. “So. Cal Payton.”
“Cal Payton,” Jenna repeated, her lips comfortable forming the name, like they’d never forgotten.
“How’d he react when you dropped off the Dill Pickle’s car?”
Jenna pushed the slip to Delilah, who placed it in the register drawer. “Do not call him Dill Pickle.”
“It’s either that or Dylan the Dick.”
Jenna held back a laugh. “Okay, fine. Dill Pickle it is.”
Delilah beamed, surely pleased she won that argument.
Jenna leaned a hip on the counter, crossed her arms, and told Delilah what had happened at the garage, including how she’d offended Cal.
Delilah’s eyes widened. “Huh.”
“What’s ‘huh’ mean?”
“Wow.”
“What’s ‘wow’ mean?”
Delilah furrowed her brows.
Jenna threw up her hands. “Will you talk?”
Delilah shrugged and held her hands out, palms up. “I don’t know what you want me to say! That’s weird. It’s weird Cal showed emotion, and it’s weird that it bothered him that much. And it’s super-weird he was honest with you.”
Jenna chewed the inside of her cheek. “Weird bad or weird good?”
Delilah was silent for a minute. “I . . . I would actually say good. I’ve been worried . . . ” Her voice trailed off, and her gaze drifted. “I’ve been worried about Cal for a while. Not that I talk to him much or see him much, for that matter, but when I have, it’s seemed like he was turning more and more into . . . well . . . ” Delilah winced. “Jack.”
Jenna clamped down on the inside of her cheek so hard that she gasped. Jack Payton, Cal’s father, was a bitter, scowling man. At least, that’s the way he’d been back when she and Cal had been together. “I take it that Jack . . . ”
Delilah shook her head. “He’s not any worse, but he’s not better.”
Jenna sighed and picked at a sales sticker on the counter. “I never wanted that for Cal.”
“I know, sweetie.”
Jenna looked up. “Cal was never going to leave Tory, though. He was always going to stay here. I mean, I made the right decision. I didn’t want to ruin his life. Or mine.”
Delilah laid her hand on top of Jenna’s. “It’s not even worth it to look back. You know that. It’s not like you can change anything.”
Jenna swallowed, dreading the next question but asking it anyway. “Does he . . . have a girlfriend?” She didn’t recall seeing a wedding ring.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. To be honest, I don’t see him around a lot. It’s a small town, but most rumors are about Brent, not Cal. Although they are the most eligible bachelors in Tory.”
She didn’t know which relationship status for Cal she preferred more. Even though the thought of Cal in a serious relationship with someone else hurt, it also hurt to know he was alone. “I kind of hate this, Delilah. I had no idea this would still be all . . . fresh.” She looked into her friend’s deep brown eyes. “I thought time healed everything.”
Delilah’s face softened. “I don’t—”
Jenna’s phone rang, cutting into the moment. She pulled her cell out of her purse and rolled her eyes. “This is Dylan. I’m sorry. I have to take it.”
Delilah waved her on. “Don’t even worry about it. I have to close out the register anyway before we leave. Say hi to Dill Pickle for me.”
Jenna huffed a laugh and then answered the call. “Hello?”
“Hey, did you get my car fixed?”
Jenna clenched her phone hard so she didn’t say something nasty to her brother. He wasn’t a bad guy. But he had a serious lack of interpersonal skills. “I dropped it off. It’ll be ready tomorrow night. I’ll pick it up for you.”
A pause. “Where’d you take it?”
“Um . . . ”
“You took it to him, didn’t you?”
Jenna’s hackles rose. “Yes, I did, actually. Because we all know that’s the best garage in town, and I wasn’t driving an hour to the dealership.”
“He’s probably going to put a condom in my gas tank—”
“Oh, grow up, Dylan.” Jenna was over this. Her brother was thirty-four years old, and he needed to act like it. “Cal is a professional, and he’ll treat you like any other customer. If you do find a condom in the gas tank, it will be me who put it there!” She ended