“Exactly. There’s too much at stake here. This isn’t just some random guy you met at the bar. It’s not somebody you’ve only known for a couple of weeks. This is Tom Anderson. Gorgeous, dignified, fabulously wealthy owner of the company you work for. You have to figure out what’s going to happen moving forward. You’re not going to be there in Astoria forever. Eventually, you’re going to come back to San Francisco. And when that happens, you’re going to have to have some sort of idea of where you stand.”
“I know,” I said. “I’ve been thinking the same thing. They’re the company policies against us dating, but things are so good between us. I just don’t know what to think or do.”
“I know exactly what you need to do,” she said. “You need to sit down with Tom and talk about it. And then you need to have sex with him again. Just because he’s there and it would be a tremendous waste if you didn’t.”
I laughed. “Always the pragmatist.” The shower turned off. “Oh, Emily, I’ve got to go. He’s getting out of the shower, and I don’t want him to hear this conversation. I’ll call you later.”
“I want to know everything,” she said.
“You will,” I said. “Bye.”
I ended the call and slid my phone onto the table just as Tom walked out with a towel wrapped around his waist. Looking at him like that made me want to take Emily’s last piece of advice immediately.
“Were you just talking to somebody?” he asked.
“Oh, I was on the phone,” I said. “I was talking to Emily.”
He gave a short laugh. “Emily. Isn’t that your wildly loud friend?”
I laughed. “That would be the one. I’ve been meaning to call her the last couple of days. She’s been checking in on me to make sure I was doing okay, but I haven’t been able to talk to her much.”
“How’s she doing?” he asked, dropping his towel and starting to get dressed.
For a brief second, I couldn’t respond. I was far too focused on his exquisite body, still damp and warm from the shower. I shook my head to get myself back into reality when I noticed him staring at me.
“Oh, yeah, she’s fine. Same old same old, pretty much,” I said.
“That’s good,” he said. “Okay, go ahead and get ready.”
“Get ready?” I asked. “For what?”
“We’re going to go out and scout the new place for the bar. I’ve already talked to the real estate agent.”
I was surprised by the revelation. “Already?”
“It sounds like it might be perfect. I don’t want to give anyone else the chance to snatch it out from under us. Come on. Get ready,” he said.
Tom sounded excited, and I had to laugh a little as I got up and got ready to go. He drove us out to the location, and we found the real estate agent already there waiting for us. She smiled as we approached.
“Hi,” she said, extending her hand toward Tom. “I believe we spoke on the phone. I’m Vera Hardley. You must be Tom Anderson.”
“Yes,” Tom said, shaking her hand. “And this is Amanda.”
Again, he didn’t give me any sort of descriptor but just let Vera think about what she would about who I might be to him. It was flattering in that he didn’t mind what she might think of us, but it was aggravating in that it would have been very helpful to hear him describe what was happening between us.
“Nice to meet you,” I said, shaking her hand.
“You too,” she said, then let out a breath as her hand dropped away from mine and swooped in a gesture of invitation toward the building behind her. “Well, would you like to get a look inside?”
Tom nodded eagerly. “That would be great.”
Vera unlocked the door, and we went inside. It only took a few seconds before Tom and I turned to each other and smiled. It was perfect. At least, that was what it seemed like to me. Tom knew far better than I did considering he knew what the old bar looked like inside while I had only seen pictures.
I could envision a bar here, but I didn’t know for certain it would be a good replacement for the one they lost. From what he told me, The Hollow had built up quite a fan base, and it would be important to make sure they followed the bar to its new location. This meant ensuring it had the same types of features and could be adapted to appeal to the customers.
We spent the next half an hour walking around taking pictures and jotting down notes. When we were finished, Tom walked up to Vera with his hand extended.
“This looks fantastic,” he said. “I’ll have to talk it over with my brothers.”
“Absolutely. And if they would like to see it, give me a call and we’ll meet up here again,” she said.
“That would be great. Thank you.”
We left the location and made our way back to Mason’s house. Tom spent most of the drive calling his brothers, so it was only a short time before they started streaming into the house. Ava came in with snacks.
We all sat down, and Tom brought up pictures of the new location.
“I think it’s time to start discussing rebuilding,” he said.
Jordan immediately tensed. His eyes went dark, and his arms crossed over his chest. “I want to take Danny down first. Before we do anything to put things back together, I want to hold him accountable for what he destroyed.”
Tom nodded with understanding. “I get that. I felt the same way.” He turned to me with a soft smile on his lips. “But then Amanda helped me see we need to focus on the positive and start rebuilding.”
The way he looked at me brought a wave of butterflies to my stomach and made my heart tremble in my chest. It must have been the look everybody was talking about. Now that I knew that I thought back to all the times he gave me that look and wondered how I possibly could have missed it.
21
Tom
The Realtor was showing us around the new location, and the more he showed us the more excited we grew. Tyler in particular was envisioning expansion, and he and Mason were discussing where specific areas would be when I called a family conference. As they made their way over, the Realtor stood by the door of the empty husk of a building, a satisfied smirk on her face. She might as well have deserved it.
“Which one of you told her we were going to take it?” I asked as the guys got close.
“Wasn’t me,” Mason said.
“Us either,” Matt said, pointing to himself and Jordan. They had been around on the other side of the street, checking the foot traffic in the area and nowhere near the relator. That left me and Tyler.
“I didn’t say we’d take it, per se,” Tyler said.
“Ah, man,” Mason said.
“What?” Tyler asked.
“You gave up our negotiation position, you dimwit,” I said, sighing. “It’s fine. I likely couldn’t have gotten her down much further from the listing price. It’s already pretty damn cheap.”
“So, we’re going to do it, right?” Tyler asked. I looked in the eyes of each of my brothers in turn before nodding.
“It looks that way. All the different requirements come together here. Jordan, Matt, how was the foot traffic?” I asked.