Can't Fool Me Twice: Sweet Contemporary Romance: Belles in the City Book 1 (18 page)

He glanced up at the door and saw Anthony. "What are you doing here so early? It's not even 8:00 AM yet."

"I knew you'd be here." Anthony pulled up a chair and sat down. "I wanted to let you know that Christina and I are stopping off at the diner for lunch."

"Come early. The place gets packed at noon." Dante looked at the clock. "Don't get too comfortable. I have to leave in a minute."

Anthony stood back up. "That place is always packed. Who'd have thought that a place that specializes in southern cuisine would do so well in such a big city?"

"Good food does well anywhere."

"You got a point." Anthony waved. "See you in a few hours."

Dante finished everything he had to do and left for the diner. Estelle greeted him at the door, told him how things were going, and left him to seat customers while she took orders of the people she'd just led to a table.

The breakfast crowd was steady all morning until around 11:00, and then it slowed down to a trickle. When he heard Anthony at the door, he smiled, glanced up, and froze. Not only was his wife Christina with him, so was another young woman who hung close to Christina.

Anthony waved and pointed to a booth toward the back. "Mind if we seat ourselves?"

Dante gave him a clipped nod and headed back to the kitchen to catch his breath. His brother was up to something, and since he'd refused to go on a blind date, he suspected Anthony had brought the blind date to him.

Riley ambled over to him. "You look like you just spotted a ghost, boss."

"Much worse than that." He told Riley what he suspected.

"Nothing worse than family matchmakers." Riley gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "I gotta get back to work. Let me know if you need anything."

Now that Dante had a chance to gather his thoughts, he headed to the dining room to join his brother and the ladies. He'd decided to be nice in order not to embarrass that woman, but he'd let Anthony have a piece of his mind later.

He'd barely sat down when the bell on the diner door jingled. He glanced up just in time to see Sunny and Twila walk in. His heart sank the second she met his gaze and looked at the rest of the people at his table.

Sunny blinked. She clearly didn't have any reason to expect Dante to be true to her after pushing him away, but she didn't expect him to recover so quickly … or bring a date to the diner while he was working.

"Sweetie, don't jump to conclusions." Mama gripped Sunny's arm. "Try to keep your cool while I go surprise Riley."

"I'm coming with you," Sunny said. "I want to see his face." Her voice cracked, and she wanted more than anything to turn around and run. But that would only call attention to the fact that she was hurt, and she didn't want Dante to think he had that kind of effect on her.

With what she hoped was a look of indifference Sunny followed Mama all the way through the diner and back to the kitchen. She knew that Dante was watching, which made it all the more difficult to keep her cool.

"Twila!" Riley opened his arms as he rushed toward Mama. She unashamedly went straight to him, and they embraced without an ounce of embarrassment. "You have just made my day."

"I can't stay long. We just got back, and we have a ton of unpacking to do. I just wanted to stop by and say hey."

Riley continued grinning as he released her. "I'm so glad you did. I'll call you tonight after I get off work."

As soon as Estelle cut a glance in her direction, she knew that the woman could see right through her. "Welcome back. How was South Carolina?"

"Good." If Sunny could go back to Charleston right this minute, she would. But she knew she had to face the reality of her situation.

Mama didn't spend as much time in the diner as she'd hoped, and Sunny knew it was because of her. Right now it didn't matter. All she wanted was to get out of the diner so she could breathe.

They drove to Miss Lucille's house in silence, until they pulled up at the curb. Mama turned to Sunny. "You really need to clear the air with Dante. It's painfully obvious how the two of you feel about each other. The problem is, you're both trying to guess what the other one is thinking."

Sunny shook her head. "He kept saying he regretted not telling me who he was, and then when his brother said he was a love-'em-and-leave-'em ladies' man, he got upset. Now look at him. It certainly didn't take him long to find someone after I left town. I don't see how anything good can some of this."

"Maybe not. Or it might be that you're just here to run his diner, and that's okay. The main thing you need to do, though, is talk it out. Find out exactly what he's thinking and tell him how you feel."

Sunny blinked back the tears that had started to sting her eyes. "Right now I'm too confused to know how I feel."

"That's okay too." Mama continued looking at her for about a minute before she gestured toward the door. "We need to go say hey to Miss Lucille. She's probably wondering what we're doin'."

Sunny looked over at the house, where Miss Lucille stood at the door waiting. That was one woman who wore her feelings on her sleeve, and she didn't make any bones about the fact that she adored both Sunny and her mama.

They got out of the car and ran up the steps. Miss Lucille giggled as she hugged them. "I am so happy to have my roomies back. This has been the longest five days of my life."

"Of your life?" Mama asked.

Miss Lucille made a face. "Well, not of my life, but I sure did miss y'all. Bethann spent a couple of nights here, but she's so busy at work with the new fashions coming up."

"Did Dante come over like he said he would?" Mama pursed her lips.

"He did, and he brought food. That Riley sure can cook … but of course it's not as good as what you fix." Miss Lucille took a step back. "Let's stop standing by the door and go sit down."

"Just for a few minutes," Sunny said. "We have to unpack the car and put everything away."

They went into Miss Lucille's study where they discussed the sale of the mobile home and how Mama felt freer than she'd ever felt in her adult life. "Amazing how God has lined everything up just so."

Miss Lucille nodded. "That only happens when we get out of His way and let Him do His job."

Sunny had a suspicion that she was the unspoken subject of that message. She stood up. "I think I'll go start unloading. You two stay right here and talk."

She'd just gone out to Mama's car for the second load when a cab pulled up in front of the house and out stepped Dante. He stood in one spot, looking at her, without saying a word. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out, willing herself not to break down in front of him.

"Sunny?" The softness of his voice almost undid her resolve, but she kept going. "I'd really like some time to explain."

She grabbed a box from the backseat. "What's there to explain?"

"Here, let me get that." Without waiting for her to respond, he walked up and took the box from her. "We have a lot to talk about."

"I don't think so."

"Things weren't as they appeared." He was clearly ignoring what she said. "The girl you saw at the diner … She was someone by brother and his wife brought by to meet me."

Her body froze. "You didn't know her before today?"

He shook his head. "I know of her family, but this was the first time we actually met."

Her mind raced with all kinds of thoughts. "You don't have to tell me this. I don't have any say about who you see."

"Sunny?" She glanced up at the door where Mama stood with a concerned expression on her face. "Is everything okay?"

Sunny nodded. "Everything's fine."

"Let me know if you need me." Mama hesitated before backing away from the door.

Dante put the box down on the sidewalk and turned Sunny around to face him, a look of determination on his face. "I want what your mom and Riley have."

"What?" Sunny's heart hammered in her chest.

"They have the same kind of chemistry that you and I have, only they're allowing it to happen."

"Don't—"

"Sunny, please hear what I have to say. I've already told you that I've fallen in love with you. I knew pretty early that it was happening, but I wasn't sure what to do or how to let you know." He grimaced. "I was so excited when I realized how I felt, I made the mistake of prematurely proposing to you. After I did that, I wanted to kick myself to New Jersey and back."

She shrugged. "We all make mistakes."

"One mistake I'm not willing to make is keeping my feelings to myself. I want you to know that I love you now more than that day. I think you have feelings for me too, but you don't want to admit it."

"Dante, you weren't upfront and honest in the beginning, and I was willing to let that go. But after what your brother said about you—and what I saw today—well, I can't let it go so easily." She glanced down at the sidewalk and then raised her gaze to meet his. "You can't fool me twice and think it's all going to be okay."

His expression saddened. "I'm not trying to fool you. I'm trying to explain what happened. What can I do to make you believe me?"

"Honesty is the only thing I want." She turned her gaze from him to the car that still had quite a bit left to unload. "I really need to get this stuff inside."

"I'll help."

She didn't argue. Together, they carried all of the boxes and bags into the house and set them down in the foyer. After the car was empty, Dante shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Can we go somewhere and talk?"

"I really can't today. I need to help put all of Mama's things away, and I haven't seen Miss Lucille in days, so I'd like to talk with her." Sunny realized she was talking a mile a minute, so she clamped her mouth shut. She didn't owe Dante an explanation.

He pursed his lips, blinked, and nodded. "I understand."

She remained standing there, waiting for him to leave, but he didn't. So she turned around and went inside without looking back. She went to the open door of Miss Lucille's study and paused.

"Come join us." A hint of a smile formed on Miss Lucille's lips as she pointed toward an empty chair. "Are you giving Bubba Dante the brush-off again?"

Sunny walked into the room and sank down in the overstuffed chair. "No, why?"

"From what I saw, he didn't look happy about whatever the two of you were talking about." Miss Lucille snickered. "Not that I was watching or anything."

"That's okay if you were watching. He just wanted to stop by and explain something." Sunny saw Mama and Miss Lucille exchange a knowing look. "What?"

"Your mother told me what happened at the diner. What did he have to say about that?"

Sunny really didn't want to discuss it, but she didn't see that she had any choice without being rude. "He said his brother and sister-in-law brought that girl to the diner to meet him." She rolled her eyes. "He expects me to believe he didn't know her before today."

"Maybe he's telling the truth." Miss Lucille lifted an eyebrow. "Did you ever consider that?"

"It didn't look like—"

Mama shook her head as she interrupted. "It didn't look like anything, Sunny. We walked in, and there they were. I saw the same thing you did. Nothing was happening … just four people sitting at a table."

"Not that it's any of my business," Miss Lucille began, "but I think you should hear him out. Give the boy a chance. He's so smitten he can't think straight."

"I agree," Mama added. "Why don't you and Dante just go somewhere—away from the diner—and have a heart-to-heart conversation. He's already admitted that he's crazy about you, and even though you haven't said as much, I can tell this is affecting you too much to think you don't care about him."

"I don't know. I'll think about it." Sunny stood up. "Y'all stay right here and keep on talking. I'll go start supper."

"Isn't it a little early?" Mama asked.

"It'll take a while." She left the study before anyone had a chance to say anything.

*

Dante got up even earlier the next morning, hoping to be in and out of the office before he saw Anthony. He wasn't in the mood to see his brother. In fact, he worried he'd say something he might later regret.

But the light was on in Anthony's office, indicating he hadn't turned it off the night before or he was there. As hard as he tried to be quiet, it was impossible at this hour when there was no one else around. Anthony's door opened, and he popped his head out.

"Glad you're here, bro. I'll be in your office in a few minutes. First I have to wrap up this order for linens." Anthony ducked back inside his office and closed the door.

So much for sneaking in and getting his work done. Dante went into his small space and sat down behind the computer. He wasn't sure how much time he had before Anthony arrived, so he bowed his head and asked God to be with him and to keep him from blowing his gasket about yesterday.

He opened his eyes to see Anthony standing at the door staring at him. "Have a seat."

"Were you just praying?"

Dante folded his hands on his desk, lifted his chin, and nodded. "Yes, why?"

"Just asking." Anthony shifted in his seat as he looked around the room. "I should probably do more of that. Maybe you can teach me how."

"Teach you how to pray?" Dante furrowed his brow. "What's there to teach? All you do is bow your head and talk to God."

Anthony let out a nervous chuckle. "I'm not sure He'll listen to me. I think I have to get His attention first, and since I haven't talked to him in a while …" He splayed his hands. "He might not even want to hear what I have to say."

"That's not how it works." Dante leaned back in his chair. "Somehow I don't think you came in here to ask me for lessons on how to pray."

"You're right. I didn't." Anthony licked his lips and pulled them between his teeth as he shifted some more.

"Having a hard time?"

Anthony nodded. Finally, he took a deep breath and blew it out. "Look, man, I'm really sorry about yesterday. I know you said you still cared for her but that you knew it was futile. I honestly had no idea it was that serious between you and Sunny."

"Serious?" Dante looked down and slowly shook his head. "I wish we were serious, but she's not even interested."

"Oh, but I just happen to know she is."

Now Anthony really had Dante's attention. "How would you know? Did she talk to you?"

"No, but her friend Lucille Chambray did."

"What?"

"She's coming to see you."

"Why would she come to see me?" Dante watched his brother closely to see if there was any chance this was a joke. It didn't appear to be.

"That's why I came in early. I was hoping you'd be here before she arrived. She called me and chewed me out for bringing Carmella to the diner yesterday."

"Why would she chew you out?" Dante felt like a broken record, but he was clearly missing something.

The sound of a woman clearing her voice at the door snagged both of their attention.

"If that's what you call chewing someone out, I'd hate to see how you would've handled my mama." Ms. Chambray pointed her cane to the vacant chair. "Mind if I come in? I need to sit down before I fall down."