Page 13 of A Winter Thaw

“Awesome.”

Harper crumbled up the old poster she’d taken down and stuffed it unceremoniously into the tote bag she had slung over her arm. “Good to see you, Theo. Don’t think I’m going to let you forget about adopting a pet.”

He laughed and waved goodbye to her, then went back to sticking his poster in the window. He had just finished and was starting toward the front door, intending to leave, when he saw Michelle burst into the shop. She was holding a pink leash that was attached to the goldendoodle puppy that the Sutton women had just adopted. The puppy was sniffing the floor voraciously, tugging at the leash so hard it looked as though Michelle was struggling to hold onto it.

“Puddle,” Michelle said. “Calm down, buddy. You’re not hunting criminals here. We’re just running errands.”

Puddle didn’t listen to Michelle and darted back toward the door, nearly tripping her owner with the leash. She barked excitedly, wagging her tail, as if she was begging to go back outside.

“Puddle, please,” Michelle said, exasperated. “Can you chill for like three seconds?” She looked up in the next moment and noticed Theo standing there, watching them with an impish grin on his face.

“Hi, Michelle.”

“Um, hi Theo.”

For a moment they stood there staring at each other. Theo was smiling and Michelle was shuffling her feet, looking flustered.

“You picked a rambunctious one, I guess,” Theo said, looking down at Puddle, who was lying down now and chewing on the corner of the doormat.

Michelle lifted her chin defiantly. “Actually, Puddle is extremely well-behaved.”

“Really?” Theo couldn’t disguise his quizzical expression. “Are you training her to vandalize property?”

Michelle looked down and noticed Puddle chewing on the doormat. “Puddle! No! No, baby girl. We don’t eat things that don’t belong to us.”

Theo laughed. He bent down and scratched Puddle behind the ears. The puppy chomped playfully on his leather jacket sleeve. “Wow, she’s a killer. You’re going to need all hands on deck at The Birchwood House in order to keep this little monster out of trouble.”

A flicker of concern passed over Michelle’s face, and it made Theo feel that he’d taken his teasing too far.

“Hey, I’m just joking,” he assured her. “You’ve got it under control, I’m sure. And you’ve got your mom and Elaine to help you, obviously. If I were Puddle, one look from Elaine would make me behave perfectly.”

Michelle wrinkled her nose. “Actually, my mom and grandma are about to head out of town for a little while, so I’ll be watching Puddle by myself.”

“And running the hotel by yourself?” Theo asked, his eyebrows lifting.

Michelle squared her shoulders. “Yes. What’s so surprising about that? I’m not worried. It’s going to go smoothly, I’m sure.”

Theo couldn’t help smiling inwardly at her bravado. Personally, he would have felt extremely perturbed by the idea of having to handle all that by himself, but Michelle’s confidence seemed to be mostly genuine. He detected only the faintest glimmer of uncertainty in her eyes.

“Well, good luck,” he said out loud, starting toward the doors. “Don’t forget to send out Morse code if the ship starts sinking.”

Michelle let out an indignant snort and then pointed to the folder he was carrying. “Are those posters? Is your band playing again?”

“We are.” Theo felt a surge of energy, hoping that Michelle wanted to come to their next concert. So far, she’d been at all of his band’s performances, but she’d always acted like she had some other reason for really being there. He hardly dared admit to himself how much he wanted her to be excited about coming to see his band perform. To come see him perform.

“Um, cool.” Michelle cleared her throat. “Well, I’ll probably be busy, but good luck to you guys. I hope it’s a great show.”

“Thanks. See you later. Good luck with Killer over there.” Theo forced a smile before stepping outside in the winter air.

As soon as he’d taken a few steps away from the pet store, he sighed. Why did it always have to be this song and dance with that woman? She never acted as though she really liked him, only as though she was holding him at arm’s length.

He shook his head, trying to think about something else. Try as he might, however, for the rest of the morning he kept imagining Michelle showing up to his show and clapping louder than anyone.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Audrey stared down at her carefully organized suitcase, frowning and running through lists in her brain.

“I have all my toiletries,” she muttered. “And enough clothes. And makeup. And money. And a notebook. And my laptop. And sunglasses in case we go walking. And a winter hat. And an extra pair of gloves. And perfume. And sunscreen in case we go walking. And an eye mask in case I have trouble sleeping. And vitamins.”