“Sure.”Her tone was bored and annoyed.
Owen followed me out of the shop into the mid-morning heat to my car parked on the side of the building.
“You two make up?”he asked.
“Sort of.I bribed her with scones.”
“A good bribe if they came from Honey & Crumb.”
“Of course.”I flashed a smile as I popped the trunk.
The Sun Disk lay wrapped in a dish towel between a tire iron and a jack—ridiculous and sacred at the same time.I lifted it out carefully.Even in daylight it seemed to hold a faint warmth, like it remembered the earth answering my hands.
“Here you go.”
When he grasped it, his hand lingered a second longer than necessary.He didn’t tug it away, just held it while he held my eyes.
“Dad wants it back in the shop,” he said quietly.“And… I wanted to see you.”
My heart did a ridiculous dance in my chest.
Then he added, like it was no big thing, “Come to dinner.”
“Dinner?”My heart kicked into overdrive.“Tonight?”
“Sunday,” he corrected.Like he’d changed his mind last minute.“After church.At my parents’.”
Oh.
That wasn’t dinner.That was intention.That was intimate.
“At your parents?”I repeated as if I couldn’t grasp the concept.
Sunday after church dinner was the kind of invitation that screamedI more than like you and I want them to know it.And maybe evenI want them to approve.
Of course, I knew Dougal McAllister, but I hadn’t seen Madeline McAllister since high school graduation.Last I heard Owen’s mother was fighting a battle with cancer.
A hot flash seared through me.
Oh, I was so not ready for that.
“Don’t answer now,” he said, perhaps sensing my commitment phobia.“Think about it.”
I swallowed hard.“Okay.”
He slid the Sun Disk fully into his grip.“Oh—and tomorrow, Mrs.Rollins can see us at one.”
The grimoire.I’d forgotten about it until that moment.“Tomorrow?”
“I’ll pick you up.”
He flashed a grin as he started back across the street to the antique store.
I stood unmoving, my breath stilled and my heart racing.He’d hit me with all he had, smiled, and walked away.
If his plan was to throw me off kilter, it worked.
Finally, I closed the trunk and headed back inside.A numb feeling took up residence in my chest.Rylyn finished up her phone order and hung up.
