Fran walks in, and I hastily put my phone away. From the arch look on her face as she glances around, she caught me smiling over Rose’s messages. The chairs in the coffee shop are empty, the day sliding toward closing time.
“Where is your sweetheart today?”
And people sayI’mblunt.
“Rose is off this afternoon.” I can’t decide if giving her more info would help or hurt. Best to keep things short and sweet.
Luke walks in behind her. Fran spins to face him, blatantly looking him up and down. Her boldness exhausts me, but I have to respect it. She does and says exactly what she wants.
“Two Bridger men for the price of one. Is it my lucky day?”
“Good to see you, Fran.” Luke, at least, can be polite.
She gazes up at him with a light of appreciation in her eyes. “Has my new friend Cassie been by the hardware store yet? She has some DIY projects around her house, so Nora and I sent her your way.”
Luke ponders that for about five seconds, but I’d imagine he doesn’t know the name of everyone who wanders into his shop any more than I do. “It’s hard to say. Sabrina or Clark could have helped her.”
“Oh, no. I told her to see youspecifically.”
Luke purses his lips, her emphasis landing like a dead weight. “Anyone in the store can answer questions about what we sell.”
He’s no dummy. He keeps his voice friendly but flat in an attempt to cut off this conversation before she can really get cooking.
Frantsks, smoothing her short hair with one hand. “Honey, for this, she needsyou. Remember that name. Cassie.”
She turns her attention on me and orders one of the specialty drinks Rose came up with for our summer menu. I meet Luke’s gaze, lifting an eyebrow in question. He shoots it down with a frown heavier than mine.
Apparently, Jovie’s got some competition when it comes to setting up her dad.
“I hope for Rose’s sake you’ve upgraded to an actualhouse, Reed.” Fran peers over the counter, surveying as I prepare her drink. “I can’t imagine that girl will be happy in fifty square feet of forest shack.”
“One hundred and fifty,” I say automatically. I didn’t realize she knows where I live. Nobody beyond my family has been out there. Not that I know of, anyway. I don’t like to think of Fran and Nora tooling into the woods to spy on my cabin.
Worse, I don’t like to think about Rose in it. Parts of it, maybe, but taken as a whole? Fran’s right. She wouldn’t be happy there. Nobody would. That was the point.
Fran straightens the card reader, then adjusts the sign that saysOrder Here. “It might be time for you think about moving into town. Putting down roots somewhere.” She pauses, boring a hole in the side of my head. “Making some vows.”
I fumble the lid to her drink cup, dropping it on the floor. Luke chuckles, his smirk turned up to maximum now that her full attention’s on me. I grab another lid, secure her drink, and slide it across the counter.
The look of triumph on her artificially pink lips doesn’t seem justified. “You’d better take good care of Rose. She’s been through it with some no-good men. It’s time for her to be treated right.”
The thought of Rose’s exes makes my fists clench. But Fran’s not wrong. Rose deserves the world. To be not just treated right but cherished. Appreciated. Loved.
There’s that word again, making my throat stick like molasses.
I should have closed early today.
Fran swipes her card, tucking it back in her purse. “And if you can’t, there are plenty of other men in this town.”
Her decisive nod feels like a slap. Can’t say yet whether it’s to knock some sense into me or rule me out entirely. She gives the same crisp nod to Luke for good measure before marching out of the coffee shop.
My brother and I watch her go until the bell on the door finishes jingling. Luke turns back to me. “Good day, I take it?”
I huff a laugh. “I could do without the threatening advice.”
“You and me both.” He orders his usual, our house special, iced brown-sugar latte. “Has Rose seen your cabin?”
“No.” And maybe it should stay that way.
