The Beauty Within (21 page)

Tyler huffed and rolled her eyes. “You’re going to kill me on Saturday,

aren’t you?”

“Not when you owe me a date, no,” Gunnar said with a sly grin. “Just most-

ly dead.”

“Mostly dead!”

“
The Princess Bride
? I can’t believe you didn’t have that in your collection, by

the way.”

“I do! Just Damon and Wen still have it…and thanks for reminding me

about that,” Tyler said.

“I’ll dock his pay ten cents for every day he doesn’t return it to you,” Gun-

nar said seriously.

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113

“Ten
whole
cents. He’s gonna feel that!”

“That’s the difference between a bag of potato chips and the chocolate bar

in the vending machine, and you
know
how much of his dietary intake comes

from the vending machine!”

Tyler laughed, remembering a time when Damon had picked her up from

work and seeing various cracker, candy bar, and potato chip packages strewn

in the interior of his car. “Wendy hates it too.”

“I keep threatening him to only stock the machines with granola bars…”

“Why don’t you?”

“I have a soft spot for Milky Ways. And it actually does bring in decent

outside revenue too.”

“Talk about defeating the purpose!”

“We’re all allowed a vice, aren’t we?”

“Need I remind you about the atrocious meal plan you gave me?”

“Need I remind
you
I left ample space for you to partake in your Girl Scout

cookies?”

Tyler arched an eyebrow at him as she walked past, feeling his eyes settle

on her bottom. She was wearing worn jeans and a T-shirt, but he made her feel

as if she were wearing something much sexier. She reached for her jacket.

“Heading out?”

“It’s after closing, and you’re my last customer.”

“Have you eaten?”

“Actually, I’m going to meet Wendy for dinner.”

Gunnar approached and helped her right the garment, then reached behind

her to grab his. “Where you’re going is so not in your meal plan, is it?”

“I refuse to self-incriminate.”

Laughing, her pulled her close and gave her a sweet kiss. “You do know

this affects how hard you work on Saturday.”

“It’ll be worth it.”

He pulled back and nodded. “Of that, I am completely sure.”

They walked out of her shop together, he waiting for her to lock up, and he

took her hand in his as they walked to her truck. He kissed her softly one last

time before whispering, “Later,” against her lips.

Tyler was a giddy mess as she drove to Chicken Wings Palace, a neighbor-

hood restaurant two streets from her home. She spotted Wendy immediately

when she entered and Wendy pounced.

“You saw Gunnar.”

Tyler’s eyes widened at her sister’s guess. “What?”

“Aside from the fact it’s a Wednesday…that smile…it’s been a long minute

since you’ve smiled like that, girl!”

Tyler ducked her head shyly. “I can’t help it.”

“Nor should you! I was afraid, after you seeing Quincy…”

“He said he wanted to get back with me.”

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Savannah J. Frierson

Wendy blinked at her before bursting into laughter. She drew several cu-

rious stares to their table and Tyler toed Wendy’s shin so she would stop.

“That Negro has
lost his damn mind
!”

“Wendy!”

“Men have radar for that shit, don’t they? Soon as you ready to move on,

here they come,
swoopin’
back in talkin’ ’bout, ‘Baby, please! I ain’t mean it! I

love you! We can work it out!’ No, Negro, we can’t, so getsta steppin’!”

“That sounds like personal experience,” Tyler chuckled, though discon-

certed by how accurate Wendy had been in terms of Quincy’s speech.

Her sister scowled. “Don’t wanna even think about him…and neither

should you think about Quincy! I hope you told him off.”

“In a manner of speaking.”

Wendy frowned. “You still love him.”

“Part of me always will.”

“He doesn’t even deserve that much!”

Tyler shrugged. Whether he did or didn’t was irrelevant. The fact was he’d

been her first love, and for the majority of their time together, it had been good.

Really good. Really,
really
good…maybe that was why she was so scared of

starting things with Gunnar…she knew he would be just as good—possibly

even better. Would she be able to handle it if he decided to “upgrade” her as

well?

“Girl, you should just focus on your date before you go gallivanting into the

future!” Tyler muttered to herself.

“What date?”

Tyler winced. She should’ve known Wendy would hear that.

“Uh…my date with Gunnar?”

“He finally asked you out?”

“
Finally?!
”

Wendy sniffed. “I was wondering if I was gonna hafta call the man! I think

he wanted to ask you out since the Super Bowl party.”

“We barely knew each other!”

“That’s the point of dating, sweetheart, to get to know people better and

have a free meal to boot!”

“And speaking of, who’s paying?”

“You. I paid last time.”

“Figures…”

They made their orders, and afterward Wendy demanded Tyler give her a

detailed account of how Gunnar had asked her out and where they would be

going on their date.

She sat back and blinked after Tyler finished. “The Duke/UNC game? He

got it like
that
?”

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115

“Actually, his sister does…” The server returned and placed their meals be-

fore them. After they said their thanks and grace, Wendy resumed their

conversation.

“Hmm. And you don’t really like basketball.”

“It’s Duke/UNC though.”

“Who are you going to cheer for?”

“Duke. We’re in Durham. If we were in Chapel Hill, I’d root for the Tar-

heels.”

“That makes entirely too much sense, Tyler.”

Tyler laughed at her sister’s comment and pulled the meat from the bone of

the chicken wing. “I know. Logic is
so
overrated, isn’t it?”

Tyler, however, refused to acknowledge the irony of that statement when

it came to matters of the heart.

Tyler’s enthusiasm for sports did not end with football.

Gunnar came to that conclusion after watching five quarters of intense

basketball with the home team edging it out with an exciting three-point

buzzer beater. His date for the night could cuss like a sailor when she became

passionate, and that only made her sexier in his eyes.

It also made his jeans uncomfortable.

“That’s gonna be all over ESPN tonight,” Tyler said, settling in the seat as

they drove down the road. Gunnar had had the foresight to park a good ways

from the gymnasium, knowing it would be hell to get out after the game, and it

also gave them a chance to ruminate on all that had happened as they

walked—the yo-yo score, the plentiful fouls, the overtime, the language that

bordered on obscene, Tyler’s cheering. She definitely wasn’t shy when it came

to supporting her team, and she’d started many cheers and almost gotten

kicked out the arena when she and a Tarheel fan started mouthing off at each

other.

“I think you got some screen time too,” Gunnar laughed.

Tyler blushed and hid her head in her shoulder. “That…jackass…he needs to

learn to keep his mouth shut, especially when his team was getting spanked!”

She was shy now! Gunnar laughed and shook his head. There were so

many layers to this woman, and he wanted to discover them all.

“You hungry?”

“Starved. I haven’t eaten since lunch.”

He frowned at her. “Why not? We could’ve stopped and gotten something

after I picked you up…”

“I wasn’t hungry, and the prices at the arena were ridiculous,” Tyler mut-

tered, shaking her head. She’d said the shop had been busy, surprisingly so for

a Wednesday, and she’d barely had enough time to change before he came to

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Savannah J. Frierson

her house. Gunnar hadn’t gone to get his hair cut, mainly because he’d been too

busy choosing the right outfit. It was a basketball game, not a night at the

opera, but he’d still had trouble finding something just right.

Turned out a long-sleeved white T-shirt and jeans was right enough, espe-

cially when Tyler had worn something similar—except her shirt was Duke

blue.

Gunnar pulled into a twenty-four-hour Waffle House. “Is this okay?”

“You read my mind! Those waffles are callin’ my name!”

They found a table towards the back, and Tyler ordered milk while Gunnar

ordered orange juice. Tyler, it seemed, already knew what she wanted while he

was having a hard time deciding.

“Get the double order,” she said. “You know you want to.”

He looked longingly at the listing and sighed. “It’s so bad for you…”

“Which automatically means it’s
so good
. Don’t deny it. I’m getting it, and

no, I’m not doing an extra mile on the treadmill, either!”

Gunnar chuckled. “You are defeating the purpose!”

“I did extra time on the weights last Saturday
and
an extra two miles!”

“Like you said—
last
Saturday!”

She arched an eyebrow at him. “I thought you said I was beautiful?”

He scowled at her. She didn’t play fair at all. “Doing an extra mile on the

treadmill won’t make you less beautiful,
elskling
.”

She seemed to soften at that, and she regarded him curiously. “What does

that mean?

“What?”

“The non-English word you spoke!” she clarified, rolling her eyes.

He felt a blush stain his cheeks, and he let out a relieved breath when the

server came with their drinks and took their order. Conceding to Tyler’s point,

he ordered the double waffle. What was a mile or two extra on the elliptical,

anyway?

“So?” Tyler asked when the server left.

“What?” Gunnar asked, drumming an idle beat on the table.

“What does it mean?”

“What does what mean?”

She narrowed her eyes at him and almost stomped her foot. Gunnar tried

desperately to keep a straight face. She was just so easy tease.

She decided not to talk to him, then, pretending the menu they had just

perused had new, exciting information on it. Gunnar let her do this, glad he

had a few moments to gaze and enjoy being with her. She’d said Quincy had

taken her to a fancy restaurant for their date. Gunnar didn’t think he’d made a

mistake by taking her to the game, or even here for a late-night meal, but

Quincy had been on to something with his choice of dining. Tyler deserved

candlelight, soft music, and world-class food. She would love to visit Norway;

The Beauty Within

his parents and maternal family were there now. His aunt’s lamb and cabbage

stew was simply amazing…

“Darling,” he said finally.

Tyler merely raised her eyebrows as she continued to “read” the menu.

“
Elskling
means darling.”

A tiny smile appeared on her face, but she still didn’t look at him. “You call

me darling?”

“Yes.”

“You call all your friends that?”

“You’re the first woman I’ve called darling in years, who wasn’t my sister,

of course.”

“So I’m like a sister to you, then?”

Gunnar wasn’t annoyed by her playing coy, but he reached across the table

and ran his thumb along her inner wrist. “Trust me,
elskling
, if you become a

member of my family, it won’t be as my sister…or aunt…grandmother…”

Tyler giggled. “Is your grandfather hot? You may have a run for your money

if he is.”

“Aside from the fact he’s madly in love with my grandmother and has been

for the past sixty years? I think I can take him,” he replied with a wink,

thinking of his maternal grandparents.

Tyler’s eyes widened. “Sixty years! Oh…wow…that’s wonderful, Gunnar.”

Gunnar nodded and smiled, twisting their hands until his fingers locked

with hers. “And my parents are approaching their fortieth.”

Tears appeared in her eyes and he squeezed her hand. “Your family does

marriage for keeps, huh?”

“Yes,” Gunnar said, tilting his head. He wanted to ask about her parents,

but he’d only heard about her father, and never her mother. Had she died? Left?

He hoped it wasn’t anything so awful as that.

The food arrived, and he separated their hands. Tyler blessed their food,

and when they took the first bite of their waffles, both moaned in approval.

They didn’t speak for a few minutes, but when Tyler did, her voice was soft

and wistful.

“Mama went back to Venezuela…to take care of her mother and grand-

mother, and because her mother-in-law flat out didn’t like her.”

Venezuela? “Your mother is from Venezuela?”

Tyler smiled. “Yes. Barlovento, actually. I have yet to make a visit, but I

would like to someday. Wendy too.”

Gunnar was surprised. He would’ve never guessed she was half-Latina.

“Why did your grandmother not like her?”

“She wasn’t American?” Tyler conjectured and shrugged. “Mama wasn’t

like ‘other black people’ and she spoke Spanish…Grandma thought she was

‘uppity’, and the
real
reason was because she wanted my father to marry her

best friend’s daughter. But he didn’t.”