Nailed - Opal Carew Page 0,11
when the customer called her friend over and asked River to show them how she’d done it. Especially when that resulted in a sale of all four colors to each of them.
“Nothing new there. Louise clearly doesn’t like me.”
“Oh, well. Screw her. The customers like you. And anyway, you’re going to start your own business and a year from now, you’ll be laughing at us poor saps who have to drag our asses in to someone else’s business and follow their rules.” Tia patted River’s hand. “You’ll be making your own rules.”
Her own rules. Yeah, not if Kane got his way.
“You know that a start-up company like mine probably won’t even be profitable in a year. I’ll still be schlepping into the store with you.”
“Naw. You’re going to be a big success. I know it. You’re talented and smart.”
“Not that smart. I didn’t even finish college.”
“That doesn’t matter. You’re going to make it big. I know you are.” Tia squeezed her hand. “I believe in you.”
The gesture filled River with warmth. She loved that Tia believed in her. And cared about her. She was just a casual friend—River didn’t really get close to people—but Tia filled a void in her life. Tia cared about what happened to River more than her mother ever had. And her father had been practically nonexistent in her life.
“I know you do. Thanks.” River smiled awkwardly. She patted Tia’s hand, then drew hers away, unwilling to allow herself more of the comforting contact.
Tia sipped her coffee. “So how did dinner go with your Kickstarter person? Was she nice?”
River frowned. “She was a he.”
“Oh?” She glanced at River. “You don’t seem happy. Did he hit on you?”
“No.” She certainly wouldn’t tell Tia about the kiss. “He was a guy I knew in college.”
“Oh? A guy you dated in college?”
She shrugged. “Do you consider going out two times dating?”
“That depends. Did you have sex with him?”
“Tia!”
Tia laughed. “I’m just kidding. I know you well enough to know that that would never happen. So what’s the deal?”
Oh, God, if Tia only knew.
“He did something that … hurt me.”
Tia’s eyes filled with concern. “Oh, God. What, honey?”
River just shook her head. Tia knew how private River was, so she didn’t push.
“Okay, well, it’s over now. You don’t have to see the jerk again.”
“The problem is I’m not sure about that.”
“You aren’t? But why would you even consider it?”
River explained the whole thing about the deal with Rapture.
“Oh, wow. Yeah, that is a tough one. I don’t know how you can turn something like that down.” Tia stared at River. “If you want, I’ll go with you when you meet him.”
* * *
The rest of the afternoon whizzed by for River, with a constant flow of customers. Luckily, she got more than five people to sign up for the text program, so Louise gave her no more grief. By four o’clock when she went off shift, she was exhausted. She said good-bye to Tia, then just headed to the food court for something to eat, too tired to face making something at home.
“Hey, you’re not having dinner with your boyfriend?”
She glanced up from her tray of food to see the guy who’d hit on her in the store the other day standing beside her in line. Her heart started to pound.
“Not tonight.”
“Well, instead of eating that crap, why not join me for dinner? We could go out for Italian.”
“No, thank you.” Her hands balled into fists in her lap.
Some guys just didn’t get the message.
He scowled. “You really are a bitch.”
She stared at his back as he strode away, trying to calm her breathing. She’d learned to hold her ground, but confrontations like that always triggered memories of her mother’s male friends. They would leer at her and … sometimes more …
A shiver rippled through her, but she pushed away the memories.
She ripped open the catsup package and squeezed out a red puddle onto her cheeseburger wrapper, then dipped in a fry.
Kane had never filled her with apprehension like most men did. That one incident … she’d been reacting to the situation, not him.
Go figure. The one man she’d let her guard down with had done the most damage.
First year of college—Spring semester
River walked out of the chemistry exam drained. She was a good student, but she found exams intimidating and stressful. It was seven p.m. and all she wanted to do was go back to her room and crash.
Then she saw Kane walking toward her.
“Hi. How did you do?”