We do?There was just enough pause for the panic to set in—where the hell was Boomer?—before another message came through.
I’m kidding. He’s with Jack and Eli in the house. They were trying to convince him to eat the summer reading assignments because they think “the dog ate my homework” actually works.
Boomer would eat a lot of things, including things he probably shouldn’t sometimes, but Case didn’t think Mallory’s kids would have much luck getting him to eat their homework. Not without splattering the pages with some bacon grease, anyway.
I could have used Boomer today when I got attacked by a cat as thanks for trying to get her out of a tree.
Aren’t you allergic to cats? That makes the scratches hurt even worse.
True story.He settled into the chair, content to put off dinner until the messages stopped coming. Sure, the phone was mobile, but he didn’t want to divide his attention between preparing food and Gwen. All of his attention was on her.
Laura patched me up when I dropped off the truck.
I was going to offer to patch you up but Lane’s mom stole my excuse for getting out of here.
Case groaned and fought down the urge to beat his head against the phone screen. He’d blown it. If he’d waited a minute before sending the second text message, Gwen would have been offering to tend his admittedly minor wounds in that moment. And he definitely would have taken her up on that offer.
I just got out of the shower, so I probably washed the ointment off. You could help me reapply it.
As soon as he sent it, he realized that invitation had sounded a lot sexier in his head.
Dammit. Lane told Evie to stick to taking pretty pictures and leave the decisions to him and she told him where to put his decisions and Mom is crying and everybody’s yelling. Gotta go.
Good luckhe sent back, and this time the little dots that told him she was responding didn’t appear.
He’d comethisclose to being alone with Gwen, and in his own house, no less. Frustration made him drop his head against the hand-wash-only sweater that lived permanently on the back of the chair—a Christmas gift from Laura, who either didn’t read the tag or had too much faith in Case’s laundry capabilities—and closed his eyes.
It was tempting to jump back in the shower before the hot water heater recovered fully and see if the cold water helped any, but he’d tried that already and it did nothing to cool his desire for Gwen. He still thought about having sex with her. He just shivered while imagining it.
Then he heard Boomer bark, and he had to scramble downstairs and out to the front yard wearing nothing but gray sweatpants. Clearly the Sutton drama had spilled into the house, and if there was one thing his dog didn’t like, it was angry voices. If offering his belly to be rubbed didn’t help—or was ignored—he was out of there.
Either that or the dog’s internal clock had told him it was time for his person to make dinner.
After looking both ways, he signaled for Boomer to cross the street. Crouching, he ruffled the dog’s neck and asked him about his afternoon, getting a few enthusiastic face licks in return.
“I missed you, too, buddy. Let’s go eat.”
Boomer took off toward the house, and Case chuckled as he followed. But as he reached his porch, he couldn’t help looking back at the Sutton house. Gwen’s window was empty, and he felt another pang of regret at how close he’d come to having her company tonight.
Maybe he’d get lucky and Evangeline would go up a tree again. Getting mauled by a cat and needing some TLC was a painful way to get Gwen across the street to his house, but at least they’d be alone.
Chapter Nine
It’s Old Home Day, folks! As we gather together to celebrate Stonefield on this gorgeous summer day, don’t forget your sunscreen. The parade will depart from the school parking lot at ten o’clock sharp and make its way through town and around the square before returning to the school. The sidewalk sales and the events and vendors on the square will be ongoing until five o’clock, so pace yourselves! And don’t forget to fill out a “What I Love About Stonefield” card at the official Old Home Day booth! One very lucky resident will win a basket of gift cards from local businesses!
—Stonefield GazetteFacebook Page
“It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”
Her mother’s cheeriness set Gwen’s teeth on edge, but she forced a smile in response. “It is.”
Sure, itwasa beautiful day if one liked baking in the sun and wading through humidity that made the outdoors feel like a sauna. Gwen didn’t, but she didn’t have any choice but to stand behind the card table Case had borrowed from the thrift store and plaster a smile on her face. Mallory was overseeing Sutton’s Seconds, since the sidewalk sales were a big part of their Old Home Day celebrations, and Ellen was flitting around. Lane had looked like he might vomit at the thought of standing at a booth all day, talking up the beer he was brewing to the public, so that left Gwen and Evie to take turns telling the good citizens of Stonefield how amazing Sutton’s Place was going to be. Evie was definitely going to be better at that, but Gwen doing her part was only fair.
“People won’t really start coming around until after the parade’s over,” Ellen continued, as if Gwen hadn’t attended every Old Home Day celebration from birth until she finally escaped to Vermont.
“You should go watch the parade with Mallory, Mom,” she suggested. “And she might need help setting up for the sidewalk sale.”
“Oh, we finished that before I came over here.”
