She's Just Right (A Fairy Tale Romance)

by Diane Darcy

“Excuse me,” she said. “But do you think you could take our picture?” She indicated herself and her husband, who was a couple inches shorter.

  “Sure.” Anything for a distraction.

  The two stood in the middle of the bridge and Honey tried to get the sundial in the background. “Smile.”

  She snapped a shot, then one more at the couples request, then smiling, handed them back the camera.

  “Thank you,” said the woman. “Would you like us to take your picture together?”

  Honey glanced at Trevor. “Oh, no thanks, we’re not--”

  “That would be great, thank you.” Trevor fished his cell phone out of his pocket, pushed a few buttons to get the camera ready, then handed it to the lady.

  Honey shook her head, touched Trevor’s arm, and because she wanted to lean into him, dropped her hand and moved a couple of inches away, dutifully smiling for the camera.

  After he retrieved his cell phone, Honey and Trevor started walking again. Was it her imagination, or did this outing feel like a date?

  Trevor headed for a free spot on the edge of the bridge. “Follow me.”

  Honey shook her head and stayed in the middle. “I like the view from here, just fine.”

  Trevor’s brows pulled together. “Are you afraid of heights?”

  “No. Of water.”

  Trevor laughed, and when Honey didn’t join in, he stopped. “Sorry, I thought you were joking.” He held out a hand. “Here, hold onto me. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  Cautiously she took his hand, warmth enveloped hers, and she allowed him to tug her forward until they both stood at the edge. “The...” Honey’s throat tightened, she closed her eyes and gripped Trevor’s hand. “The bridge won’t snap?”

  “No way. This baby is supported by more than 4,300 feet of cable, has a steel truss, and rests on 115 tons of steel and 1900 cubic yards if concrete. This bridge will be here long after we’re dead and buried.”

  “Oh.” The numbers really meant nothing to her, but his confidence had her relaxing enough to open her eyes and let go of his hand. She felt an immediate sense of loss, and to cover it, looked down at the river.

  Big mistake.

  Queasiness forced her to step back and lift her head to look into the distance. She placed her hand on Trevor’s arm, his warmth and muscle calming her.

  Trevor pointed. “Look. There’s a red-tailed hawk.”

  Trevor’s heat seeped into her hand, grounding her, and Honey gladly looked away from the water to see a large bird turning a slow, lazy circle over the river.

  “He’s looking for lunch,” said Trevor.

  “He’s gorgeous. Is he fishing?”

  Trevor shook his head. “Doubtful. They mostly eat mice, squirrel or rabbits. Chickens if they get the chance. They don’t fish like bald eagles and ospreys.”

  Honey stepped closer to Trevor, her shoulder touching his arm, her hand clenching his shirt, and she relaxed a bit more. She felt almost safe by the water with Trevor there. Listening to him talk, pointing out other animals and sights, she rethought the beard. He was big, comfortable, and safe. A Teddy Bear.

  She glanced out at the rolling hills and greenery, feeling exhilarated and grateful to be so close to water without panic crushing her down. “It’s beautiful. You’re lucky to have grown up here.”

  “You have the same river running through your city.”

  Honey nodded. “Yes, Napa is pretty, especially the vineyards in the summer, but I wasn’t raised there.”

  “Oh, yeah? Where did you grow up?”

  “I was born in New York, but we moved to a subdivision in Oceanside when I was five, then later to LA.”

  “Have you always been afraid of water? Or did it start in California?”

  Honey looked up into his concerned brown eyes, and wondered how he’d connected the two. “When I was five, right after we moved to California, my sister drowned.” The words came out stark, flat.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Looking back at the green hills, Honey nodded. “Thank you.”

  A breeze fluffed her hair and a strand caught on her lips. Trevor reached forward and pulled it free, his big fingers touching her face, making it tingle. She wanted to lean into him, wanted him to place his arm around her and draw her close. The thought startled her so much she dropped her hand and took a step back, breaking contact. She tried to ignore the sense of loss.

  Trevor’s own hand gripped the rail. “Tell me about your fiancé.”

  “Christian?” She looked down and shrugged, glad for the change of subject. “He’s a great guy. A pharmacist. Blond-haired, blue-eyed, and a couple of inches taller than I am. He’s...well, he’s not very happy with me right now. But I’m sure he’ll get over it soon. And it’s probably my own fault for not communicating with him better.”

  Did she sound pathetic and needy or was it just her imagination?

  “If you were my sister, I’d have something to say to him about whose fault it is.”

  Sister? While Trevor’s protective attitude soothed her ego, his reference to her as a sister stung for some reason. She glanced to where his hand rested on the rail, and at that moment, attraction strong and intense urged her to place her own on top of his, to show him...show him what?

  She glanced up as her face heated. They’d just been talking about her fiancé. She’d already been pawing at him. She’d come across as really loyal, wouldn’t she?

  Turning her head she looked into the stream of people wading their way across the bridge, and cursed Christian for not coming to see her. If he’d come, she wouldn’t be here feeling these things for another man. She’d be with Christian repairing their relationship and enjoying his company.

  “What do you say we pick up sandwiches for lunch? We could head out to Whiskytown Lake for an hour or so before I have to go into work this afternoon. We’ll stay firmly on the shore, I promise.”

  Honey hesitated. From a river to a lake? What was it about the guy that had her not only considering it, but wanting to go? She knew she could use the excuse of studying for her exam. But she was getting hungry. And what could one more hour hurt? “Sounds fun.”

  With a grin he placed his hand at the small of her back, swept her back into the tide of people, and left her wondering what she’d agreed to do.

  ***

  At about three o’clock Honey slid out of Trevor’s truck onto the gravel driveway and Trevor shut the door behind her.

  “I only have to work for a few hours,” said Trevor. “So I’ll see you later, okay?”

  Honey nodded. “All right, see you then.”

  She walked to the front door thinking about what a great time they’d had. The door was unlocked and she turned, waved goodbye and went inside just as she realized she had a big, sappy grin on her face.

  Jeeze!

  She shut the door, rolled her eyes and suddenly felt like a fool. It wasn’t like they’d been on a date, or anything. It was just that she liked to go sightseeing, and Trevor had been great company. Anyone who could get her by two large bodies of water in the same day without her berserking was obviously very good company.

  Standing by the front door, she glanced around at the empty room, wondering what she ought to do. She decided she might as well study, since she had a few hours to kill until dinner.

  But a moment later, she hadn’t moved and was still standing by the door. She kept thinking about that sappy grin. It was bugging her. It was okay to like Trevor, as a friend. Which was exactly how she felt, right?

  Honey finally moved enough to get the phone out of her purse so she could dial a familiar number.

  Jessica answered after the first ring. “Hello?”

  “Hi, Jess, it’s me.”

  “What’s up?”

  Honey let out a breath and started to pace across the living room floor. “I don’t know. I guess I’m feeling the need to justify myself because I’m feeling a little guilty.”

  Jessica laughed. “I’m
your girl, then. What is it? Chocolate, men or procrastination?”

  “Men.”

  “Ah. Just a minute. Let me get comfortable. This could take a while.” There was a short pause and then a sigh. “Okay,” said Jessica. “Tell me everything.”

  Honey let out a breath. “There’s not that much to tell. I went out with this guy today. He’s just a friend. My host, actually. And I’m having dinner with his family later. It’s just business, and I know it doesn’t mean anything, but I haven’t told Christian about the situation.”

  “Is he cute?”

  “He has a beard.”

  “Hmm. I know you don’t like beards. Young or old, tall or short, single or married?”

  “He’s thirty-two, tall, and single,” said Honey.

  “Sounds nice. Is he nice?”

  “Very. But he’s my host, so how else could he act?”

  “Is he employed?”

  “He’s a game warden and owns some real estate. But really, it’s not like that. I don’t know why I’m even feeling guilty.”

  “Well groomed?” asked Jessica.

  “Other than having a beard? Sure.”

  “He sounds great. I like him better than Christian already.”

  Honey laughed. “You like everyone better than Christian. Besides, like I said, Trevor’s just being a good host.”

  “Uh, huh. The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

  Honey snorted. “I’m just saying.”

  “So, have you kissed him?”

  Honey chuckled. “Not with that beard.”

  “But you didn’t deny wanting to!” Jessica said gleefully.

  Dismayed, Honey sighed. “I should go study now.”

  “Okay. Have fun at dinner tonight! If you start stressing, eat some chocolate. Then you can feel guilty about that instead. Bye,” said Jessica cheerfully.

  Honey hung up feeling worse than she had a few minutes before. Did she want to kiss Trevor? He was big. And hairy. Since when did she find big, hairy men attractive? Never, that’s when. But for some reason Honey wasn’t put off by the idea at all.

  So much for ‘just friends.’

  It took a minute, but her innate honesty finally had her admitting she was having ‘I like the guy’ feelings for Trevor.

  What was she doing? She was engaged!

  And what was it about Trevor, anyway? He wasn’t even her type. And to compound the guilt, she was living in the guy’s house. And tonight, it was dinner with his family. It definitely felt like they were dating.

  Dating, ha! More like living together. She wasn’t even doing that with her own fiancé.

  Disgusted, she shook her head. She was living in fantasy land. The guy knew she was engaged and was simply being a good host. So what if she had a tiny crush? It was probably the result of Christian being a jerk recently and Trevor being a nice guy. A revenge crush.

  Anyway, Trevor didn’t like her that way, so what was the problem? As soon as the land deal was completed, he’d probably breathe a big sigh of relief to get her out of his house, and they’d never even see each other again.

  And she and Christian would have a decent conversation or two, maybe even spend next weekend together, and she’d be reminded that she truly was head over heels in love with him.

  As if that had ever been in question!

  Satisfied with her conclusion, she went upstairs, retrieved her books, and headed to the dining room table to study.

  She brought along a chocolate bar just in case.

  ***

  “I’ll drive,” said Paul as they crossed the parking lot.

  Trevor hesitated then shrugged. “Fine by me.”

  “Really? Somebody’s in a good mood today.”

  Trevor shot Paul a dirty look as they both slid into Paul’s truck and took off toward the dam.

  “I heard there’s a lot of traffic down at Shasta today,” said Paul. “What do you want to bet we’ll be issuing some citations?”

  “Mmm hmm.”

  Paul glanced his way, then back at the road. “Or maybe not, Pollyanna.”

  Trevor’s phone rang, his mom calling, and Trevor punched Paul in the arm before answering. “Hello?”

  “Hi, Sweetie,” she sang out. “Hey, dinner tonight is canceled. We’ve been having such a great time playing that we completely forgot to cook anything. You’ll have to take Honey out to a nice restaurant to make up for it. I’m so sorry, dear.”

  His mother forgot to make dinner? And she wasn’t offering to get pizza? Yeah, right. Obviously more matchmaking which was fine by him. “Okay, Mom.”

  “You’re such a good boy. Why don’t you take her to that new steak house on Market Street that just opened? I hear it’s really nice.”

  “I’ll do that.”

  “Just the two of you. Elizabeth can find something to eat over here. All right? I’ll call your sister and let her know.”

  Trevor smiled. Food for Elizabeth but none for them? “Fine.”

  “Have a good time,” she singsonged.

  Trevor hung up and before Paul could ask, Trevor told him, “Honey and I have just been uninvited to eat at my parents place tonight. I’m supposed to take her out somewhere nice to make up for it. Just the two of us.”

  Paul stopped rubbing his arm and laughed. “Real subtle.” He looked over his left shoulder and merged onto the I-5 before straightening again. “So, what do you think? Is she the one?”

  Suddenly queasy, Trevor shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not really good at deciding that, am I?”

  “Because of your ex? The signs were there. No one liked Veronica from the beginning. There had to be a reason for that, right? This time your family’s all over it, so you’re pretty safe. Of course, Honey’s not perfect, either.”

  Trevor straightened. “What do you mean by that?”

  Paul laughed. “Look at you, getting all defensive. What I mean is she’s engaged to be married to another man.”

  Trevor’s jaw tightened. “A tiny little problem. Not insurmountable. All’s fair in love and war.”

  Paul smiled triumphantly. “And that’s all I wanted to know.”

  The guy was playing him. “Jerk.” But Trevor’s defensiveness evaporated, and he grinned. It was fine by him if everyone knew he liked Honey. He flipped open his phone and started to dial.

  “Who are you calling?”

  “Honey. I need to let her know dinner is canceled, so we’ll have to go out.”

  Paul batted at the phone, forcing Trevor to hold it up high.

  “No, no, no, no, no. You don’t call her, you moron. You just show up and tell her in person when she’s all ready for dinner. You gotta think, man. Don’t give her time to come up with a different plan.”

  Trevor shut the phone and tucked it back in his pocket. “You’re right. Thanks for watching my back.”

  “No problem.”

  Trevor was looking forward to tonight. The thought of having Honey sitting across the table from him at dinner had him smiling.

  “I need to ask you for a favor,” said Paul.

  Trevor turned his head. “Sure. What do you need?”

  “Will you please just wipe that stupid grin off your face or no one is going to take us seriously down at the dam today.”

  Trevor’s grin grew. “I’m not sure I can do that.”

  “Come on, man. Try. You just gotta try.”

  Trevor shook his head and turned to stare out the window. When Paul groaned, Trevor’s grin widened and he chuckled. Tonight couldn’t come fast enough.

  ***

  Honey was ready and waiting for Trevor when he pulled into the driveway. She was relaxing and watching a sitcom on TV, since she didn’t want to appear to be anxiously waiting for him or anything. Weird, she knew, but all the same...

  Trevor came inside. “Hi. How’d it go today?”

  “Great,” said Honey. “I got a lot studying done. How was your afternoon?” Sheesh. They sounded like a married couple.

 
“Busy. Hey, dinner at my mom and dad’s house has been canceled, and Elizabeth is busy, so it’ll just be the two of us tonight.”

  “Oh.” Honey was surprised and instantly wondered if his family was matchmaking again or if she were just being paranoid. “Is everything all right?”

  “Oh, yeah. Everything’s fine. Mom just got a little too busy today.”

  And so, once again, Honey wouldn’t get a chance to talk to Mr. Baron. She really should have gone home for the weekend. But to do what? Honey had to admit she’d had a fun day. And she felt safe with Trevor. He hadn’t done anything to make her uncomfortable.

  If this were a matchmaking attempt by his family, it didn’t follow that he was interested. He’d even said he wasn’t. He was just a nice guy who liked to have fun. He almost felt like a brother or a cousin or something. He must be growing on her, because she even thought he was kind of cute, beard and all. In a sisterly way, of course.

  Trevor shifted his weight from one leg to the other. “Anyway, there’s a new steak house in town and I thought we could go check it out. What do you think?”

  Honey considered it. Eating out might feel too much like a date. Anyway, Elizabeth had gone grocery shopping so there was another option. “Your sister bought groceries today. How about if I make a simple dinner?”

  Trevor smiled. “Even better. And then we can watch a movie later, okay?”

  “Sure.” As Trevor went to upstairs to shower, Honey headed to the kitchen. She belatedly realized dinner and a movie at home might be considered even more intimate than going out.

  But she could be casual about it. She was perfectly safe with Trevor. It was not a date.

  She looked in the refrigerator and in cupboards and finally decided on taco salad. She started cooking the ground beef, then retrieved a tomato and an avocado from the refrigerator and found a cutting board.

  About thirty minutes later, dinner was ready. Honey was setting the table, wondering when Trevor would show up, when she heard him coming down the stairs.

  Beardless, he walked into the kitchen.

  Honey’s heart slammed against her ribs and she almost dropped the two plates she held in her hands.

  “Whoa. Careful there.” Trevor came forward and took the plates from her. “It’s just me.”