Free Nova by Delia Delaney

know.”
    “Okay, you’re more than welcome to do them for me next year.”
    “Sweet, you take a hint really well.”
    I had to laugh, but I was also considering what it meant to be discussing the fact that we’d still be associating with one another in a year.
    “ So are you coming to Bakersfield or not?” he asked directly.
    It kind of took me off guard, especially because we’d jumped from birthdays to taxes to Bakersfield in a matter of seconds. “Uh…”
    “It’s not a hard question, Nova. You’ve either decided to come or you haven’t. I just need to know one way or the other so I can plan accordingly.”
    “I’ll come up tomorrow if that works out okay.”
    He paused for a few seconds and then nodded his head. “All right.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. After a couple of seconds he found a business card and slid it across the table to me. “Here’s the information for the ranch, and directions are on the back.”
    I looked over the card for Harmony Acres and nodded my head. “Okay. Uh, does Dr. Stevens know about me? I mean is there really the possibility that I could work with him?”
    Austin barely smiled and said, “Yes I talked to him about you, and yes he’s happy to sign off your hours.”
    “Really? Wow, that’s…that’s really great. Thank you so much. You don’t even know how much this means to me.”
    “Well, I th ink I probably do. I’ll have him give you a call tonight if you want. Or if you’d rather me not have your phone number, I’ll give you his,” he smiled.
    I took a moment to discern any hidden meaning to it. My first instinct was that he wanted me to say it was okay for him to have my number, and even though I wanted to say that, I was also mad at myself for still feeling that way.
    Instead I grabbed a napkin and wrote my number on it. But as I slid it across to him, my senses returned and I yanked it back just as fast. “Oh, gosh! I don’t want you to hand him that.” I could just picture Austin handing Dr. Stevens a phone number on a white napkin.
    “He wouldn’t even care,” Austin chuckled.
    “Well I do, I guess. It’s not very professional.”
    I was glad that I actually caught myself before I handed it over. What was even more embarrassing was that I wasn’t even thinking about Dr. Stevens when I was writing my phone number down. I’d been in some weird trance because I actually wanted Austin to have my number and I just handed it over to him .
    I was looking through my purse to find something better to write it on, but I was coming up empty. Finally Austin said, “Just tell me your number, Nova.” He had his phone out and was going to punch it in. “I’ll make you a nice business card to put it on before I actually give it to him,” he teased.
    I rolled my eyes but just told him the number.
    “I’ll delete it as soon as your stationary is complete, too.”
    “Lemme see one of your business cards,” I countered.
    He looked a bit surprised but shrugged a shoulder as he shuffled through his wallet. “Job number one,” he said, setting one on the table, “…uh, I don’t have ‘my own’ for the ranch so… job number three,” he concluded, setting another one down.
    I looked them both over but I didn’t pick them up or anything. I was waiting for him to take them back and put them in his wallet I guess, but he just smiled and took a drink as the waitress arrived to take our order. When she left , it was back to the awkwardness of the two business cards sitting between us on the table. The ball was in my court, I knew it, and he was waiting for my choice. I could either take the two cards to show that I wanted his number, or I could leave them there to inform him that I did not. I hate making decisions, remember?
    Those two cards remained on the table during our entire lunch. Even though we talked about quite an array of things—the schools we went to, and different things about our jobs—there was not a