“I hear what you’re saying, Sarah. And thank you for being honest and straightforward with me. I’m glad we’re friends.”
She smiled and her shoulders fell. “Aw! I love being your friend, Amber. I’m glad I could help, and I’m here for you anytime you need to talk this out.”
“Thanks, girl.” I breathed a sigh of relief. “Now I have to figure out how to get to know Tobie more as an adult without Hannah finding out too soon.”
“Hmmm…” Oh, no. Sarah is plotting. “I think I might have an idea. I’ll be right back.”
Tobias
Driving home from Amber’s office gave me time to address all of the emotions swirling around in my heart. Knowing her reasons for waiting until marriage made me respect her even more than I already did, but seeing the pain and regret that she had suffered made me want to strangle the asshole who’d led her on and used her for sex. That’s not what a man does.
A real man protects his woman. He gives her the moon if she wants it.
I slammed my hand against my steering wheel when I realized I was no better than that asshole. I was furious with myself for having ever felt lustful for Amber. She was the model of perfection when it came to what a woman should be and I was a fucking douche bag for ever thinking anything less of her. She’s an angel and I’m nothing in comparison.
I had wanted Amber since I was in high school. I had always fantasized about her body and craved her presence. She’s the most amazing person I’ve ever met. I had always admired her and wanted to please her in all the ways I know I could, but I never knew I could feel this passionately about anyone. Until confessing my feelings to her a few nights ago, I had no idea how deeply rooted my feelings for her really were. I had been awakened to what it feels like to care for someone more than myself. This was uncharted territory for me. I was falling fast and hard for her and it scared the shit out of me. I could not screw this up.
I knew that no matter how perfect lunch was, no matter how amazing it was to hear her open up to me, I was really going to have to step up my game to prove myself to her. I was glad that she finally understood how I felt about her, but I’m not stupid enough to think that I won’t have to continue proving it to her. And after I’m able to finally convince Amber, I’m going to have to start all over with Hannah. Hannah: The one person who knows me better than anyone else. She knows all my secrets and every detail of my previous experiences with women.
I knew I had the biggest challenge of my life right in front of me. I had to make every move count. I needed my dad.
Chapter Seventeen
Tobias
In a stroke of luck, I found my dad at his office. I knocked twice before letting myself in. Dad was on a phone call with what sounded like one of his managers.
“I don’t really giva shit why the materials weren’t delivered, Bill. Just get ‘em and get the job done. On time. Understand?” He smiled at me despite the anger in his voice and waved me in, gesturing at one of the chairs facing his desk.
I sat down, nervously bouncing my legs. While I hated listening to him lay into one of his men, I knew that each of them deeply respected my father. He was a tough boss to work for, but his guys liked it that way. There was no guessing what Jack Miller expected from his employees. I knew the same things would be expected from me, the next Jack Miller, when I started working as one of his project managers next week. I was anticipating pushback from a few of the field guys, to test my limits. I hoped that I could be a tough as my dad, but as respected, too.
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t call me again until the job is finished, ya got that?” I could hear Bill’s voice agree on the other end. “And hey, Bill, don’t forget poker next Saturday. Susan says she’s gonna make chili.” I heard Bill laugh through the phone and what sounded like trash-talking. Dad laughed and rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Bill. Just get the job done. Tobie just walked in. Gotta go. Bye.”
Dad hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair. “Well, well, what a pleasant surprise! You wantin’ to start work early, son?!”
“Hell, no!” I laughed at the suggestion.
“Eh, I don’t blame ya. Enjoy your last weekend as a freeloader. Come payday your happy ass is gonna start payin’ rent.”
“We’ll see what Susan has to say about that.” I threatened.
I knew my dad and Susan loved having me back at home and Susan would have a shit-fit if she knew my dad was making me pay rent.
“Ha, hah!” Dad threw his head back and let out a big belly laugh. “Oh, damn. She’d kick me out and keep you!” He propped his dirty work boots up on his desk.
“So what brings ya in here this lovely afternoon? Can’t think of anythin’ else to do?”
I folded my hands in my lap and stared at my feet. “I was actually hoping I could talk to you about something.”
“Aw, shit. You ain’t takin’ a job somewhere else are ya?”
“Nah, Dad, I’m really happy to be coming back here. It’s just that…. Well… I was hoping you could give me some fatherly advice about something.”
“Mmm, hmm.” he lowered his feet off the desk. “Alright, what’s on your mind?”
I knew I could trust my dad but it was hard to get this story started. I wanted to be as transparent as I could with him so he could give me the best advice he could, but I also didn’t want him to know that it was Amber that I was all messed up about.
“Well, there’s this woman…” I paused. Here we go. I continued to describe the situation to him without telling him who exactly “she” was. I confessed to having deeper feelings than I knew I had and how that scared me. I told him all about rescuing her from her bad date, the stolen moments together, our lunch date, and how she wanted to wait until marriage. I realized there were tears welling up in my eyes when I told him that this person was connected to Hannah and my crippling fear that I could lose my best friend. All the while I spoke, Dad never said a word. He just listened and occasionally nodded his head in understanding.
When I was finished dumping my feelings out to him, he leaned back in his chair again. He pulled off his baseball hat and ran his hands through his thinning hair.
“Well, son,” he let out a big breath, “sounds like you’ve gotten yourself into quite a pickle.”
“Yeah, you could say that.” I scoffed.
“Seems to me like there’s just one thing you gotta figure out.”
“What’s that?”
“How you gonna tell Hannah that you’re in love with her sister?”
My eyes almost popped out of my head. “What?! How’d you know it’s Amber?!”
“Tobie, seriously? You think a father don’t know his son? You been head over heels in love with Amber since you were fifteen years old. It’s been obvious to me for a long time. I’m just surprised it’s taken you this long to figure it out. But I gotta say, it’s about damn time. She’s a wonderful woman, Tobe. I totally get why you’re in love with her.”
“Love. That’s a pretty strong word, Dad. I don’t know if that’s what this is.”
“Oh, no? Sounds to me like ‘love’ is exactly what you’re describin’ here. And if I’m wrong - which I’m not - then you’d better back the fuck off because you don’t want to see the wrath of Hannah comin’ after you for breakin’ her sister’s heart.”
“You don’t need to remind me of that. It makes me physically sick to think of how mad Hannah will be to find out that I am with her sister, let alone if I were to hurt her.” I shook my head. “What the hell am I supposed to do, Dad?”
“Well, I’m assuming you wanted to hear my advice seein’ as you came to bother me at work about girl shit,” he teased me. I knew damn well that he wasn’t the least bit upset at me for coming to him at work.
“Of course I want to know what you think.”
“Ya need to take some time to get to know Amber as your equal. Your partner. If there’s one thing I learned from your my marriage to your mother, it’s that you can’t build a castle on a bed of
sand. Right now, Amber’s an ideal you’ve had in your head for the last few years. Ya need to make sure that she really is everythin’ you’ve imagined her to be. And she needs the same opportunity to get to know you, too. I think it’s a really good thing that she’s bein’ so firm in her commitment to waitin’ until marriage. That ain’t as old-fashioned as ya might think, son. It forces ya both to take the time to really know how compatible y’all are together.”
It took a few minutes for everything Dad said to sink in. I knew he was right on all counts. I slapped my hands on my thighs and stood up from the chair. Dad stood, too. Walking around his desk to me, he pulled me into a bear hug. “Damn, son. I’m so fuckin’ happy for you.”
“Thanks, Dad. I really appreciate that. And thanks for talking to me. You’ll never know how much you mean to me.”
“Ah, Tobie, stop with the mushy shit.” He laughed, “We’re supposed to be men!”
I grabbed onto him even tighter. “But you’re lucky about one thing, ya know that, right?”
“What’s that?”
“You’ve known Amber for several years. That’s gonna be helpful because you’ve got a lot ‘a shit to get done in a short amount of time. You’re runnin’ against the clock before Hannah finds out and hangs you up by your balls!” He boomed in laughter.
“Thanks, Dad. No pressure, right?’ I laughed along with him. Thank God my dad was such an amazing man.
Amber
Sarah came back to my desk half an hour after she made me spill the beans. I had to admit, I liked her idea. I texted Tobie right away.
ME: Thank you again for lunch. I had a wonderful time.
TOBIE: No, Amber. Thank YOU. Can’t wait to see you again.
ME: Speaking of that… do you have plans Saturday night?
TOBIE: It just so happens that I was hoping a beautiful woman would ask me out.
ME: Hehe! Well aren’t you in luck.
ME: My friend, Sarah, from work asked if I would like to join her and her husband for bowling and I hate being the 3rd wheel. Be my bowling partner?
TOBIE: I would love to be your partner ;-)
TOBIE: What time should I pick you up?
ME: Actually, can I meet you somewhere? I don’t want Hannah to see you coming to get me.
TOBIE: Good call. Meet me at my house. Dad and Susan go on a date every Saturday night.
ME: I’ll be there at 7.
TOBIE: I’m counting the minutes.
ME: Me too. :-)
I couldn’t help but smile. I hated bowling but I couldn’t be more excited to go bowling with Tobie.
“He’s in!” I called over the wall to Sarah.
“Eeek!” She squeaked.
Chapter Eighteen
Amber
“Morning, Amb.” Hannah plopped next to me on the couch.
“Um, no… good afternoon.” I smirked at her.
“Meh. Whatever. I’m not officially an adult yet so I can still sleep late.”
Saturday mornings are the best and today might be at the top of the list. On top of my double-date with Tobie tonight, it was finally raining making the temperatures drop down into the mid-80s. The dark clouds and rain were a welcome change to the insane heat we’d been having. Not to mention that my flower beds were looking pathetic. Hopefully the rain would help perk them back up.
Some people hate rainy weather but I absolutely love it. Especially when it’s accompanied by thunderstorms. When we were little, our parents used to take Hannah and me out onto the front porch to watch the lightning. Hannah and I would make a game of counting the seconds until we could hear the thunder. I’m pretty sure that’s how Hannah actually learned to count.
Sadly, today did not have any thunderstorms, just steady rain. It was a perfect day to stay in pajamas and watch TV. Today’s guilty pleasure: Hallmark movies. I was in the middle of one about a woman who was forced to leave her big-city job and return to her small town roots to take over the family bookstore. She was just about to meet the male lead - always a strikingly handsome man - when Hannah sat down.
“Ooo! Hallmark! Which one is this?” Hannah gushed. She loved this crap as much as I do. I filled her in on the plot line.
“Wanna take bets about what happens next?” I asked her.
“You bet I do!” This was our favorite thing to do. The storylines of these movies were always laughably predictable. Why so many women - including myself - get sucked into them I’ll never know. Hallmark movies and smutty romance novels. We women are so predictable sometimes
Hannah predicted that the male lead, named Thomas, was a doctor. I guessed that he was an architect. We were both wrong. Hannah broke into hysterics when it was revealed that Thomas was actually a children’s book author.
“Oh, how perfect!” she howled, “A children’s book author falls for the book store owner! Who is the target audience for this move? Cat ladies?!”
The rest of the movie played out exactly as you’d think. Thomas expressed an interest in Julie, the female lead. She was initially flattered that such a handsome man would show her interest. But then Julie found out that Thomas was hiding the fact that he is actually the insanely auspicious and best-selling children’s author known as T.J. Mulligan. They fought. He chased after her, she refused to forgive him. Then some mother at the children’s hospital told Julie how much Thomas had done for their family and she fell back in love with him.
An hour and thirty minutes later, Hannah and I were both wiping our tears and blowing our noses. I was ashamed at myself for liking this crap. So we watched another one. Two more movies later, it was 4:30 pm. I tossed the remote at Hannah.
“That’s it. I’m spent. I have officially met my quota for sappy love story movies for the month.” I stretched out my legs and peeled myself off the couch. Hannah started flipping around to see what else was on.
“Hey I was thinking of heading back out to the mall tonight to get some more clothes for my trip. Do you want to go with me?” Hannah asked.
Oh, shit. I was hoping she already had plans. I hated lying to Hannah. “Dang, I’m sorry. I can’t tonight. I already have plans.”
“That’s ok, no worries. I’ll call Heather and see if she wants to go with me. What are you going to be doing?”
“Oh, uh… I’m going out with Sarah from work. You remember her?”
“Yeah, I remember Sarah! She’s cool. I like her. Didn’t she just get married?”
“Yup. To Eric. They got married this past spring.”
“Now if we can only get you married off!” she flashed a big goofy grin my way. “Any more luck on those dating sites yet?”
“Ugh. Not this again,” I started to walk up the stairs. “I’m going to take a bath. Enjoy melting into the couch.”
I retreated to the sanctuary of my bathroom with the sound of Hannah’s laugh echoing behind me.
I hadn’t even turned the engine off before Tobie was coming out of his house to greet me. I immediately felt that punch of excitement hit me right in the ovaries. He looked amazing in his slim fit jeans and solid grey t-shirt. I wanted to run my hands across the fabric that was stretched out across his muscular chest. Keeping my personal vow of celibacy is going to be a lot more difficult that I had ever thought. Then again, I never thought I’d be “dating” Tobie Miller, either. My sisters best friend. Holy crap, Amber, my voice of reason scolded me, what are you doing?!
Tobie walked over to the driver’s side and placed his hands on my waist as I slid down from the seat. “Hello, beautiful.” He placed a light kiss on my cheek. I shivered. Somehow he was able to sweep me away into a state of bliss with the slightest gestures.
“Where you standing in the window waiting for me?” I teased, commenting on the swiftness at which he came to greet me in the driveway.
“Perhaps.” He grinned at me. Oh, how I love that little dimple. “Can you blame me?”
There was so much about Tobie that I had discovered to be irresistible over the course of just two weeks.
The easy way in which he carried himself, his big infectious laugh, the depth of his eyes when he looked directly into mine. His genuine interest in me. Every nerve ending in my body fired in rapid sequence in his presence. Deep down, I knew that falling for Tobie was going to be the easy part. Ensuring and convincing Hannah that she wasn’t going to lose her best friend in the process was going to be the fight of a lifetime.
“Shall we go?” He asked.
“I suppose so. Sarah and Eric are going to meet us there at 7:15.” I began to climb back up into my Jeep, but was stopped by the strong hold on my hips.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Tobie pulled me back down.
“Well, I don’t intend to walk to the bowling alley, so…” I gestured to my Jeep.
“Oh, no. We’re taking my truck. There’s no way I’m letting my date drive.” He closed my door for me. “Chivalry is not dead, my love.”
My heart fluttered and swelled in my chest. I had been on so many dates where the men boasted of supporting feminism, which really ended up being a cover for their poor manners. To me, feminism meant an even playing field when it came to opportunities, but it did not excuse a lack of respect for the opposite sex. Respect that should flow both ways.
I think a lot of women perceived that a man who was being chivalrous meant that he was being demeaning. I felt quite the opposite. And my dad had agreed. A man who is constantly trying to please the woman he is interested in admits that she has the ultimate say in the relationship. Make the woman feel disrespect and she’ll make your life a living hell. Show her that you care for her, that you want to impress her, and that you’re worth her time and she’ll do the same.
Tobie opened his truck door for me, placing his hand on the small of my back as I climbed in. I had hoped that he would buckle me in again like he did at lunch yesterday so that I could inhale his scent again. His large frame leaned against my lap as he reached across my body. The feeling of his warmth against my thighs was enough to want to pull him up against me and press my mouth against his. Don’t be hasty, Amber. You’re a lady. Make him work for it.
Delicate (Sublime Series Book 1) Page 11
