“What?”
“Tell me another puzzle. About the people here.”
“No.”
He shrugs. “Suit yourself. I’ll pick one on my own from what I remember in Hawaii.”
“That’s not—” I start, but my words leave me when he flashes me a grin.
Grey. Duke.
Flashing me the most impish grin I’ve ever seen in my life.
He swings the door open and pulls himself out of my car, then trots up to his own doorstep without looking back.
I think I lost that round.
Actually, I know I did.
And for that smile?
Worth it.
I. Am. In. So. Much. Trouble.
I take a fast shower before heading back to the café solo, where I get funny looks all day long.
Or possibly I don’t get funny looks and I’m imagining it all since I don’t know if Zen is the type to spread rumors about the cheese incident.
And it’s obvious to everyone that there was a powdered cheese incident in the kitchen.
That takes a lot of clean-up.
Saturday, the roads are clear, but Grey’s not at the café.
And finally, it’s Sunday.
I have an entire day to myself, and I can’t hide from the other thing I’ve been hiding from all week.
It’s time to work up the courage to go see Emma.
Slowly.
I’ve started a text to her probably every other waking hour since Theo left Silver Horn to pick her up at the airport on Monday, but I haven’t found the right words, nor do I want to do this over text.
Laney reports she hasn’t seen Emma either, but Theo has nearly daily and says she looks sad. I’ve fielded questions from more friends and neighbors about if she’s back yet, telling everyone I haven’t seen her—which is the truth—but the entire town knows she’s due back this weekend.
And not because she does half the town’s taxes as our most popular accountant.
It’s more about the viral video and the reporters who were hanging out here for a week or so after the wedding hoping for more juice for their stories.
But today, I’m doing it.
I’m going to see her.
Probably.
After I swing by Laney’s and see if she wants to go with me, and if Theo thinks this is a good idea.
I’m packing my car in case Laney’s up for crashing Emma’s temporary digs with me when Grey walks out of his door.
I freeze and eye him.
Dammit, he looks like a box of chocolates that you know only has the kinds you like in it, even though you know you’re allergic to one of them, but you can’t help wanting to roulette the whole box anyway.
After a prolonged moment of both of us deer-in-the-headlightsing, he breaks eye contact and glances at the back end of my SUV.
His eyebrows furrow.
No doubt silently questioning why I need a massive box containing two blow-up human-size hamster balls in addition to my snowshoes, dog supplies, and winter safety kit.
Yes, there’s a story behind the hamster balls.
No, he’s not getting it.
I have places to be that don’t involve the kind of trampoline jumping that my heart is doing right now.
Wait.
Seeing Emma probably will involve my heart on a trampoline, but there won’t be any sexual tension mixed in with it.
And speaking of, I am all in for pretending Friday never happened. “Hey, Grey! How awesome to see you on my day off. Here you are. Here I am. Running into each other since you moved in next door… Jitter! Did you see who’s here?”
Grey’s eyes light up, and I feel like an asshole.
Jitter doesn’t come running, because he’s already hanging out with my mom for the day.
She loves taking him for walks around the lake on nice days, and thirty degrees with clear skies and no wind absolutely counts as a nice day. She meets a lot of new people that way.
And he loves her because she feeds him good food and lets him get up on her bed for Sunday afternoon naps. Mom’s approaching seventy in a couple years—she had me later—but she’s still strong and spry and can handle him.
I snap my fingers. “Dammit. Forgot. He’s not here. Habit. Have a nice day.”
“What’s with the perky attitude?”
“I’m not being perky.” I smile. Brightly. “I’m just being my normal, happy, cheerful self.”
And clearly annoying the ever-loving crap out of him.
Which is good.
He needs to not like me.
I need to not like him.
Get along? Fine.
Us having a repeat of Friday morning?
No.
And not just because I sneezed orange snot again this morning.