His Southern Sweetheart (16 page)

“This is awesome, Amelia,” exclaimed Lexi once the video ended. “I don't know how to thank you.”

“You don't have to thank me.” Amelia shook her head. “This is what I do for a living.”

“
Did?
Right?” asked Lexi. “Nate shared with me he got you fired. I know I might not be able to pay much but I could really use your help around here.”

“Lexi,” Amelia started.

“No, I'm serious. Grits and Glam Gowns is more than just a dress shop. I've got weddings, proms and all other kinds of events needing a videographer.”

Amelia needed to stop her. She shook her head and held up her hand. “Lexi, my job is not in jeopardy. I'm on mandatory leave.”

“What?” Lexi stepped with a dramatic flair.

“I was never fired,” Amelia confessed. She watched the news register through Lexi's wide eyes and immediately began to explain. “When everything happened with Nate, I did miss an opportunity for some great sound points on the show I produce. So my boss felt I might be overworked. With Grandmamma getting ill and me not taking a sick day in years, he ordered a mandatory leave of at least one month.”

Lexi covered her mouth with her French-manicured hands. “You've been here for three weeks.”

“I know.”

“Because of Miss Helen?”

Amelia blinked and glanced toward the screen. “Would you judge me if I said Nate was a part of the reason?”

A pregnant pause of shame fell between them. Amelia thought of herself as a career woman, not someone who put her life on hold for a man. And the crazy thing about extending her time to be with Nate was that it was purely on an emotional level. If it were for the sex, she'd understand, but with each day passing she found herself growing more attached to Nate.

“Hey, don't be embarrassed. I fell in love with one of those Reyes boys,” said Lexi. “I completely understand.”

“No one said anything about love,” Amelia said, panicking. “I've produced shows where people claim to fall in love with someone after one date, seen folks get married after laying eyes on each other for the first time. I've seen some pretty bizarre things out in the world.”

“This is reality,” Lexi said, patting Amelia's shoulder, “and realistic. You and Nate clearly have the chemistry. The two of you can't stop making goo-goo eyes at each other.”

Amelia pressed her lips together to keep from grinning. “You've been talking to Philly.”

“Give the girl something sweet and she'll spill all your secrets.” Lexi chuckled and patted Amelia's shoulder again. “Look, girl, I'm not going to say anything to Nate about your job, but you need to. Sooner or later, you're going to have to make a decision.”

“Why?”

“Because you can't be in a serious relationship if you're traveling all the time working on reality shows.”

Amelia's lips twisted. Maybe she could manage her career as well as a relationship with Nate. Time would tell—and by time, she had until this weekend to decide.

* * *

Well aware of the silence falling between them since they'd left Lexi's shop that evening, Nate reached across the console of his SUV for Amelia's hand.

“Everything okay?”

The car passed under a street lamp. The light illuminated Amelia's face. Nate's heart seized for a brief moment when she smiled. He'd never get tired of it. “You're awfully quiet.”

“Lexi made me a dress.”

“She thinks you're special,” said Nate. “Something wrong with her making you a dress?”

“It's for your small gathering Saturday night.”

Nate bit down on the inside of his cheek to contain his excitement. “Oh, yeah?” His mind raced with all the places he wanted to take her in his hometown.

“I haven't agreed to go.”

“I fully believe you'll change your mind.” Nate turned his vehicle onto the graveled driveway. The tires crunching against the tiny rocks reminded him of the next task he wanted to do for Amelia and Helen. Even though Helen was still in a cast, she'd eventually have a cane. A cane and gravel did not mix. “Want me to bring you in to work tomorrow after I drop off the girls at school?”

The norm for the last week had been for him to pick Amelia up and bring her into town to work with Lexi. He looked forward to their routine. Who knew a relationship would be fun? Why did everyone think it was hard work? The hardest thing, Nate might argue, was the sex, or lack of it. At their age, a quickie in the car was not an everyday thing—hence why he also wanted to get away for the weekend. The girls would stay with his parents and he'd get a room at the Torres Towers, his family's hotel.

“Sounds like a plan to me, unless you want to stay the night and be here already in the morning.”

The lower extremities of his body thumped with lust. Nate swallowed down his desire. “Temptress.”

“So you're telling me no?”

“I've got to get back to the house.” Nate reached over and stroked her neck. “It's my turn to cook.”

Amelia shrugged off his touch and reached for the silver handle. For a moment his feelings were hurt from the rejection until she flashed a smile. “Are the girls on punishment or something?”

“You got jokes?”

Before Amelia got a chance to come back with a smart-alecky remark, a flock of startled birds flew from behind the barn. The sun hadn't made its way over the treetops but the near moon hovered along the horizon. An animal larger than Helen's pet howled.

“Stay in the car,” he ordered Amelia. “I mean it.”

“And if there is a wolf or coyote behind the barn—” Amelia's eyes widened with fear “—what are you going to do? It might even be a bear.”

“How often do bears come around here?” Nate jogged to the front of the car and then darted off to the trees to snag a branch. Satisfied with the weight, he stalked toward the screen door. Whatever made the noise was still back in the barn, not outside. Coyotes, wolves or bears could not open doors. Nate wedged himself through the screen door enough before the hinges squeaked and hiked the branch like a bat over his shoulder. Prepared to swing like Derek Jeter, Nate said a silent prayer bears hadn't learned how to open doors.

“Whoever's in there,” he said, making his voice deeper, “I'm coming in swinging.”

The light above the doors back into the house switched on. For a moment he thought the blinding beam came on as a motion detector, but Helen Marlow banged on the glass, her pinched face frowning.

“What the hell are you doing back at my house?” Helen snarled through the glass.

“Evening, Miss Helen.” Nate brought the bat back down to his side. “I did not mean to startle you.” He figured telling her an animal prowled somewhere in her backyard or possibly barn would only startle her further.

“You still did not answer me.”

“Grandmamma,” Amelia called out from the passenger's seat.

“I was bringing Amelia home, Miss Helen,” said Nate.

The brass doorknob turned and the door opened. Helen poked her head out. A blue cast wedged through the crack. “Why is she in the car?”

Nate cleared his throat, not sure how to answer—still not wanting to frighten her. “I wanted to make...”

“You wanted to get a peep at an old lady, didn't you?” Helen raised one brow and frowned before eventually breaking out a hacking cough as she laughed. “Boy, I'm just messing with you. Y'all stop playing around out here and get inside.”

Relieved she wasn't upset, Nate set the makeshift bat down and signaled for Amelia to come on inside.

“You like my granddaughter, don't you?” Helen asked.

“Yes, ma'am, I do.”

“Well, then, I don't understand what you two are doing here,” Helen said under her breath. “I would have figured the two of you young folks would be rolling around in a bed somewhere.” Choking on air, Nate began to cough. “Don't be shocked, darling, I was young once, too.”

“Grandmamma,” Amelia said, arriving at the screen door of the breezeway. “What are you doing out of bed?”

Helen Marlow cocked her hand on her hip and studied her granddaughter. “You'd like for this old woman to be bedridden, wouldn't you?”

Beside him, Amelia huffed out a sigh and rolled her eyes. “Of course not, Grandmamma. I want to make sure you're getting enough rest so your broken leg will heal properly so you don't have to go back to the hospital and disturb those nice people.”

Matching her granddaughter's sigh and eye roll, Helen turned around and waltzed back into the house, leaving the two of them alone. Whatever might have been in the barn must have been scared off. The threats coming from both sides now were gone.

“Well, I better leave, as well,” he said.

“Are you sure?” Amelia asked.

The soft batting of her lashes tempted him to stay. He wanted to see them flutter in the midst of a climax. But Nate held strong. “No, I'm not, but I am trying to do the right thing here.”

“Which is?”

“Amelia.” Nate sighed heavily and took her hand in his. “I would love more than anything in the world to stay here with you, but I have my nieces I need to look out for. I don't want them to get the wrong idea about us.”

“Us, or you?” Amelia asked out of nowhere.

“What?”

Amelia shook her head and then smiled. “I'm sorry. I am a bit cranky. You head on back and I'll see you in the morning.”

* * *

Just because Nate had a curfew didn't mean Amelia did. So when Chantal stopped by with the last cartridge of footage on her way to the club, Amelia took her up on the offer to come along. From what she'd learned, Chantal was talented as well as smart. She helped Lexi out at Grits and Glam Gowns, not only with the books but with the pageant choreography. Now that Chantal had recently graduated with her MBA, she actually was able to get paid as a bookkeeper-slash-dancer.

“It's not the dancing my grandmother wants to brag about,” Chantal said, circling the rim of her wineglass with her index finger. They sat in the VIP section, watching the patrons on the dance floor below.

“Don't get me started on grandmothers.” She liked the young dancer a lot; they had a lot in common. Both women worked hard and spent a lot of time on their phones. Tonight, however, proved to be a difference between the two of them; Amelia had forgotten her cell phone at home.

“That's right.” Chantal laughed. “At least we don't have to see our families all the time.”

Moisture began to pool at the stem of Amelia's glass. After Nate left, she and Grandmamma had discussed different flavor ideas for ice cream. Having the old equipment dragged out onto the breezeway had gotten Grandmamma all nostalgic. She even wanted to send Amelia out to the store to pick up the ingredients, but when Chantal came over, Grandmamma had ushered her out the door. Things were certainly different now that she was older. Grandmamma was slightly easier to get along with. Would staying here be so bad?

“Well,” Amelia said with a sigh, not knowing what to say. Was she seriously thinking about staying here?

A slow smile spread across Chantal's face. “Do I hear hesitation in that ‘well'?”

Heat reached Amelia's cheeks before she could register her embarrassment. “I'm not saying Southwood is all bad. And after last week's barbecue, my cousin Cay has been set on reopening the family's ice-cream parlor.”

“You better snatch up the property soon,” said Chantal. “A lot of developers have been vying for that location.”

“I know. I can't believe it hasn't been bought yet.” When her parents had closed up shop, they had done so leaving a lot of things intact—the original flooring, the wall-unit freezer, even the cases for the bins of ice cream. Cay's idea to reopen the place had really stuck with Amelia. Cay didn't have the equity for the place, but Amelia did. Working with her cousin had been fun. And who knew? With the flavors they came up with, the foodies visiting Southwood would literally eat it up.

Amelia didn't mind the revamping of the city or the traffic it brought in. If travelers wanted to spend time in an authentic small town, who was she to point fingers? As a matter of fact, it might make for an interesting pitch to MET.
Small town, big bucks?

“It helps having a hot guy like Nate to persuade you, huh?”

“Nate helps,” said Amelia. “It's nice knowing not everyone hates me.”

“I can't imagine anyone hating you.”

At that inopportune moment Brittany Foley entered the VIP section, stumbling over her four-inch heels at the top step. Their eyes locked and Amelia resisted the urge to smirk when Brittany's lip rose in a snarl. “No need to imagine, here's one right now.”

Chantal scoffed at the comment. “Brittany doesn't count. You're occupying her man.”

My man
, Amelia thought.

“I mean, the man she thinks is hers,” Chantal corrected herself. “Now, with you here, he's off the market. If you leave, there might just be a feeding frenzy.”

If
, the one little word that struck a chord with Amelia. “Nate is a big boy. He can handle himself.”

“Of course Nate is a big boy,” Brittany snarled as she approached. “And now that you're not forcing him to be with you...”

“Oh, come on now, Brittany,” Chantal cooed. “She can't be forcing him too much if Nate is the one begging her to go home with him this weekend.”

As a field producer for catty reality shows, Amelia earned cash bonuses for money shots. The opened mouth, stretched face and rush of red across Brittany's cheeks would have gotten Amelia the bonus of a lifetime. Staying in town just to keep the look of shock on Brittany's face might be worth it.

“You know what,” Brittany began, her eyes crinkled at the corners of her eyes. “Y'all need Jesus. I'm going to pray for you, something which I can do because my grandfather, Pastor Rivers, taught me to do that for my enemies.”