“I don’t, but someone was just telling me about it. Do you know the gal who owns it?”
“Shannon?”
“Yeah. Shannon Murphy.”
“I do, and it’s Shannon Lange now. She got married.”
“So you know her well.”
Kimber was curious why he cared. “Gunnar, I know her even better than that. Shannon is my sister.”
“No way.” He muttered something under his breath. “Kimber, how about I pick you up there and we’ll walk to one of the restaurants or bars nearby? I think we’ve got a lot to talk about.”
Now she was really curious. “Come over in about thirty minutes or so. I’ll be here.”
“Thanks. See you soon.”
When she hung up, she felt like there was something new in his tone, but she couldn’t place it. But boy, talk about a crazy thirty minutes! She could hardly wait to find out what the rest of the evening was going to be like.
Walking back into the living room, she found Jennifer and Bridge were no longer alone. Gwen and Shannon had joined them. They were all chuckling about something but stopped when they saw her face.
“Kimber? What’s up?”
“I’ve got a date in thirty minutes. I need to go get ready.”
“With who?”
“Gunnar Law.”
“You’re going out with Gunnar Law?” Shannon’s face went slack. “Wow.”
“Do you know him?”
Looking amused, she nodded. “You could say that. I grew up with him in Spartan.”
Well, at least that explained why he sounded so surprised when she mentioned Shannon was her sister. “Girl, some days, this world is just too small.”
“You have a point, but in this case, you’re in luck. Gunnar is a great guy.”
“He seemed like it, but . . . are you sure?”
“I’m positive. I wouldn’t steer you wrong about a man. I promise, he’s as down to earth as they come.”
“That’s high praise coming from you,” Jennifer said.
“You know how much I love my hometown. He and I were never in the exact same circles and he was three years ahead of me in school. But I’m friends with guys who are friends with him, and we definitely know each other. Of course, our parents know each other too. When did you say he was going to be here? I want to say hi.”
“In a half an hour. And you don’t have to say hello tonight,” she warned.
Just thinking about the high-pitched southern squeal Shannon was due to bring on and how awkward Kimber was going to feel, since she’d never done any of that southern stuff in her life, made her feel queasy. “You know, this is a first date. It might be better if we kept things low key. None of you need to go near the door at all.”
“You might as well let Shannon say hey,” Jennifer said. “We’re all going to be downstairs anyway.”
Kimber threw out a hip and tried to cop an attitude. “You ladies are going to scare him off if you do that.” And yes, she was perfectly aware that she’d done the same thing to Shannon and Traci.
“Maybe . . . or maybe you’re just worried about you getting scared off,” Gwen said.
Kimber sighed. “You’re on this train too, Gwen?”
“Uh, yeah.” Even though she was holding Bridge close, the girl still managed to look kind of full of herself. “Sorry, but I totally have to see the guy who is finally good enough for you to give him the time of day.”
That didn’t make her sound too good. “I don’t act like I’m too good for the men around here.”
“I don’t think it’s men in Bridgeport, I think it’s all men,” Gwen retorted.
“Hey.”
“We’re only saying that you have a tendency to be super guarded and standoffish. Even though I sound critical, I’m not trying to be,” Shannon added.
“Sorry, but it sure sounds like you are.”
Her sister’s expression softened. “Come on, Kimberly. You might as well let us invade your space. Otherwise we’ll just be sneaking around and Gunnar is sure to notice.”
“You really wouldn’t do that. Would you?”
“Of course I would. But I’m warning you now, seeing a bunch of women attempting to sneakily spy on you isn’t a good look. No doubt it’ll make the whole family look bad.”
Kimber had been around these women long enough to know when it was time to give in gracefully. “Fine, but everyone, all I’m doing is going out for a drink. Don’t make it into something it’s not.”
“We’d never do that,” Shannon said with an almost straight face.
“You all are going to embarrass me. I can feel it coming on now.”
“Not intentionally,” Jennifer murmured.
“Payback can be painful. Remember that,” Kimber tossed her hair over her shoulder as she walked up the stairs to her room.
Their giggles didn’t give her a lick of comfort.
Instead, all their laughter did was make her feel like they hadn’t listened to a single word she said. Or that maybe they’d heard her, but they had no intention of doing what she asked.
Not one bit.
CHAPTER 11
the sugar plum fairy: The beautiful fairy who lives and dances in the Kingdom of Sweets.
What a small world. Gunnar couldn’t believe that out of all the women he could have met by chance in Bridgeport, he was interested in one who lived in the building he was trying so hard to avoid. Though he knew it was just a coincidence, it still felt like a weird trick of fate.
And then there was the comment about Shannon Murphy being her sister. Though he remembered Kimber saying she’d been adopted, she didn’t look anything like Shannon Murphy. Shannon was at least ten inches shorter than Kimber and her skin was lighter too. It just didn’t make sense.
Already regretting his spur of the moment invite, he parked on the street and approached the Dance With Me building with caution.
It was a real sight, that was for sure. Lights were blazing from every floor and the faint sound of music was filtering through. Shannon needed to hire someone to look into that. He’d bet they were paying a fortune in heating bills.
Stewing on that, he rang the doorbell.
Kimber opened the door. “Hey,” she said.
He couldn’t help but smile. Once again, she looked like a million dollars. Kimber had on dark jeans, a black turtleneck, and a ton of silver jewelry. She wore low-heeled boots, which he appreciated. She was still about an inch shorter than him. He wouldn’t have cared if she was taller, but he couldn’t deny that his ego liked there being a slight edge to his height.