This was it—the defining moment. Whatever she said next would change everything.
She must have hesitated longer than she thought, because Eliza cleared her throat, drawing her awareness back to Colt’s questioning gaze.
At the tender hopefulness in his turquoise-blue eyes, warmth radiated throughout her entire body.
The man standing before her was so different from the boy she remembered. His strength of character over the last several days had surprised her in the best possible way. And despite her fears, he’d more than earned her trust… hadn’t he?
“Yes,” she finally croaked, although it sounded more like a question than an answer.
Joyful relief flickered across his face. “Great! How about this Saturday at noon, if you can get Bree to cover for you?”
“Okay.” She attempted a smile, hoping he couldn’t detect the slight waver in her voice.
He grinned, revealing the dimple in his left cheek—the one she’d grazed with her fingertips less than twenty-four hours earlier. At the sight of it, she nearly lost her breath.
Colt opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Sylvia mounted the stage. She commanded everyone’s attention in her full chef’s attire, complete with a puffy white toque askew on top of her head. In her booming theater voice, she asked everyone to take a seat.
With the same endearing glimmer in his eyes as before, Colt gestured toward the folding chairs. “Would you like to…?”
Penny’s throat went dry. Was he proposing they sit together? Right now? In front of everyone?
Glancing over her shoulder, she silently pleaded with Eliza and Cassie for assistance.
They merely grinned like giddy schoolgirls.
Beaming broadly, Eliza flapped her hand in an enthusiastic wave. “See you after the show.”
Well, they were no help.Gathering a lungful of courage, she turned to face Colt.
“Shall we?” He offered his arm.
Digging her nails into the paper cup, she hooked her free hand through the crook in his elbow, gulping as he led her toward the back row.
Her friend, and sweet shop owner, Sadie Hamilton, raised both eyebrows in surprise as they squeezed past her. Penny could feel her curious gaze follow them as they settled onto the squeaking plastic cushions.
Isthiswhat it would be like if she and Colt officially dated? Everyone in town watching their every movement with blatant interest, waiting until he disappeared on his next grand adventure, leaving her behind?
The morose thought left a sour taste in her mouth that even the sweetened iced tea couldn’t squelch.
Smoothing the soft cotton folds of her dress over her knees, she tried to concentrate on the stage.Noton the way Colt’s bare arm gently brushed against hers as he flipped through the program.
Apparently oblivious to the spark of electricity setting her skin ablaze, he chuckled under his breath. “Looks like Eliza’s mom is playing JulietandFriar Lawrence. Considering they’re in the same scene, this should be interesting.”
“It always is,” she said with a shaky laugh. “But I love seeing the way she reimagines everything.”
Growing up, when other kids bemoaned studying Shakespeare in school, Penny relished digging into the text, analyzing every lyrical turn of phrase. Unsurprisingly,Romeo and Julietranked highly among her favorite works of the Bard. The love story spoke to her conviction that all romances were really tragedies in a feeble disguise.
After her breakup with Lance—her first and only boyfriend—she’d watched every film version Hollywood ever made, reminding herself she’d been lucky her love story ended before the third act. In her case, she’d been on the verge of falling madly in love, but hadn’t lowered all her walls quite yet. Which meant her heart wasn’t completely shattered when he took the chief curator job at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, ending their blossoming relationship. But the heartbreak had been just potent enough to fortify the walls around her heart, reinforcing her long-held belief in the futility of falling in love.
Now, as she sat beside Colt, preparing to raise the curtain on their own fragile romance, she couldn’t help wondering if it was doomed before it ever began.
But deep in her heart of hearts, she desperately wanted to believe he would stay.
* * *
Penny Heart had agreed to a date! And Colt knew exactly where he wanted to take her.
Whistling to himself, he skipped up the porch steps, almost bumping into Beverly as she emerged through the front door.
