I frown. “Your brother thought you’d fail, and that’s why he didn’t hire you?” He nods. “Wow, that’s really shitty. Did he even listen to what you had to say? Well, clearly not, if he doesn’t know about your design abilities.”
“I worked on a few mock-ups for the rebrand when my dad told me what Ford was up to. I used it as part of a class project, and I actually thought it was good, so I brought it to show Ford. His mind was set the minute I started talking to him. There was no way he wanted me involved, and instead of pushing him, showing him what I could come up with, I just backed away and let it be.”
“Do you have them with you?” I ask. “On your phone?”
He shakes his head. “No, I deleted them after Ford wouldn’t look at them.”
“Deleted them from your computer?” I ask, stunned.
“No, just from my phone. They’re still on my hard drive.”
“Well, you need to show me sometime. I want to see your work. Do you have anything else finished that I can see?”
He scratches the back of his neck. “Nothing I want you to see.”
“What do you mean by that? What could you possibly draw that you wouldn’t want me to—ohhhhh.” I smirk. “Are you one of those guys?”
“‘One of those guys’？ What the hell does that mean?”
“You know . . . draws himself . . . naked?” I’m teasing, but I have to admit, I’m not opposed to the idea.
“What?” he laughs and shakes his head. “No. I’m NOT one of those guys.”
“Then let me see something.” When he doesn’t budge, I poke him in the chest. “Come on, let me see.”
“You’re not going to stop badgering me, are you?”
“No.”
He sighs. “Fine. But don’t say it’s good just to say it’s good. I hate that shit.”
“If it’s trash, I’ll let you know. Don’t worry.”
“You don’t have to be brutal either. I am a fragile man, after all.” I laugh as he pulls his phone from his pocket and searches through it for a few seconds. He looks up at me again. “Also, no judging.”
“Any more rules before the big reveal?”
“Don’t ask to see any more. This is it. Onetime show. Got it?”
“Oooh, I love when you speak with authority.” He rolls his eyes and then lays his phone flat on the counter in front of me. I focus in and find a drawing of my bakery front, with an illustration of myself holding a cake. And oh my God, it’s good, it’s adorable, and look at my boobs. I glance up at him, catching him gnawing on the corner of his lip. “Have me on your mind, did you?” I ask, trying to play it cool.
He just shrugs.
“You know, the coloring of my eyes is off.”
“Nah, that’s the color when you’re annoyed, the color I seem to bring out in you.”
My heart skips a beat.
“My hair is far too neat.”
“Didn’t think making you look like your usual hot mess was polite.”
My heart tugs in my chest.
“My boobs are entirely too large.”
His eyes scan to my breasts, study them, and then travel back up to my eyes. “They look pretty damn accurate to me.”
My cheeks flush.
I clear my throat and try to hold it together, even though my entire body heats up from my toes all the way to my ears. “Besides those items, this is really good, Cooper.”
“Yeah, it’s my favorite so far that I’ve done. It’s why I showed it to you.”
“Oh, so you’re not trying to impress me with your ability to accurately—according to you—draw my breasts?”
“Nah, if I wanted to impress you, I would have made them much bigger.”
I chuckle and push his phone back to him. “You’re good, Cooper, and you know I wouldn’t just say that.”
“Yeah, I know. And thank you.” He stuffs his phone back in his pocket.
“So . . . are you going to send me that drawing?” I ask.
“What would you do with it?”
“Well, first I would print it, then I would have you sign it, then I would frame it, and then I would hang it right over there.” I point to a blank spot on my wall. “It would be perfect there, don’t you think?”
“You’re not hanging it in here. It’s not that good.”
“Oh, it’s good. I should have it printed on my cake boxes. How cute would that be. But we would have to reduce the boob size.”