Heat crawls into my cheeks.
“Are you blushing?” Ivori’s mouth falls open. “Oh, my god. Ainsley Morgan is blushing!”
I roll my eyes. “Pfft. Am not. It’s just warm in here. It’s the alcohol.”
“Uh-huh.” She grins, as I stand up and swipe my car keys from the entryway table.
When I swing open the door, she shouts, “Ainsley Morgan is blushing, everyone!”
“Shut up!” I shove her back inside her house.
She leans in and pecks my cheek. “Happiness looks good on you, friend.”
Now I’m most definitely blushing.
Landon’s eyeswiden when he opens his front door.
“What is all this?”
“Groceries. Move.” I step into his house, three bags dangling from each forearm.
“You should’ve texted me. I would’ve gotten them out of your Jeep.” Landon takes an arm’s worth of bags and carries them into the kitchen.
“I live alone. I don’t need help carrying my groceries.” I hoist the bags on the counter and smile at Marie, who’s sitting at the island. “Hi, Marie.”
“Hi, sweetheart.” She wags a stern finger at me. “You did not need to do all this.”
I hike a shoulder. “This is for purely selfish reasons. I want Landon to make me his infamous spaghetti and meatballs.”
He chuckles, pulling out the cans of tomatoes along with the basil plant from the bags. “I haven’t made that in ages.”
“Then it’s a good thing I got all these groceries. We don’t want you to forget how to make it. If you don’t use it, you lose it, they say.”
Leaning in, he presses a kiss to my temple. “Does that apply to everything?”
I shiver, his low gravelly voice sending goosebumps flying down my arms.
Then I freeze, my eyes flying to Marie.
She’s watching us with a sly smirk curving her lips.
“Relax, she knows.” Landon turns back to the bags, and continues to unload the contents onto the countertop.
Marie knows what, exactly?
That I fucked her son...in her house?
Hopefully Landon skipped all the colorful details.
Marie rises from the quartz island. “Come with me, Ainsley. Let’s go sit outside and talk.”
I swallow and clear my throat. “Of course.”
Landon shoots me a wink as I follow his mother outside, leaving him to the food in the kitchen.
A light breeze rustles the new leaves on the trees. There’s still a chill in the air, but the sun sets a bit later than it has with the promise of warmer weather on the horizon.
Marie and I lean back in matching Adirondack chairs.
