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Kaylee let out a huff. “Are you sure? She seemed awful friendly. Plus, I heard you call her darlin’.”
He turned around and leaned back against the shelf. “So?” He shrugged his shoulders as if that were no big thing. “I call lots of women darlin’. Plenty of horses too.”
“You’ve never called me that,” she mumbled not quite under her breath.
Luke narrowed his eyes at her then a coy grin curved his lips. He sidled a little closer to her. “Kaylee?”
She crossed her arms around her stomach but forced her chin up as she stared at him. “What?”
He arched an eyebrow. “Would you like me to call you darlin’…” he paused and lowered his voice just a tad deeper, “Darlin’?”
Oh.Her throat tried to swallow but seemed to have forgotten how to manage the act as her mouth went dry.
Was it warm in here?Who turned on the heat?
The door of the stockroom swung open, and Rita Mullins strolled in. She jumped and let out a little shriek when she saw them. “Lord have mercy, you scared me to death. I might have just wet myself.” She pressed a hand to her chest. “What in the devil are you two doing in here?” Her inquiring expression changed to one of speculation and she let out a knowing, “Ahh.”
“We were just looking for some paper towels,” Luke said, grabbing one of the rolls he’d just returned to the shelf.
She planted a hand on her hip and leveled Luke with a knowing stare. “Uh-huh.”
Gladys, who had still been wrestling with one of the rolls finally got her teeth chomped through the plastic and let out a victorious yip as she held the roll aloft.
“Good dog,” Kaylee said, scooting around Rita and hurrying down the hallway. She didn’t realize Luke was right behind her until she stopped at the door of the kitchen to compose herself.
He put one hand on the center of her back and leaned close to her ear. “I want to show you something,” he said, pushing the door partway open and nodding to where Dean and Marnie were standing by the counter setting up the food.
Kaylee couldn’t hear their conversation, but Marnie was laughing and looking up at Dean as if he had just hung the moon. She was standing close to him and had her hand on his arm as she gave him every ounce of her attention like it was a gift lovingly wrapped and presented.
“She’s been in love with the guy since we were in high school,” Luke said.
Kaylee sighed, once again feeling embarrassed at her lack of people-reading skills. “Is she Emma’s mother?”
“No, but she’d like to be. He was dating someone else back then, and they got married right out of high school. She’d acted like all she’d wanted was a family, and they had Emma that first year, but theideaof a baby and actuallyhavinga baby proved to be two different things in her mind, and she split to California and left them before Emma even turned two. They hardly ever hear from her.”
“Oh no, poor Emma. So, is Dean with Marnie now?”
He shook his head. “No. He would be if Marnie had her way. And I think she’d be good for him. Forthem. But he’s still pretty gun-shy when it comes to women, and she’s been stuck in his ‘friend-zone’ for years.”
“That’s a bummer.” Something was still niggling her. She’d already made so many wrong assumptions, she might as well ask him. “But if Marnie is so into Dean, how comes she knows what your favorite cereal is and that you were almost out of it?”
He chuckled. “Ah. So that’s where this thing started. She knows that because she and her sister are the ones Faye hires to come out and clean my house every other week. And because Marnie works at the grocery store, I sometimes talk her into picking stuff up for me and bringing it out with her. I told you Faye had them out the day before you arrived to stock up the kitchen and make sure the house was extra spiffy.”
“Oh.” Well, that was a perfectly reasonable explanation.
He leaned a little closer to her ear and lowered his voice to that rich deep tone that had her toes curling in her new boots. “And for the record, Idon’thave a girlfriend.” He slid around her and pushed through the door, leaving her with her mouth open and little sparks of heat shooting up her spine.
Letting out her breath, she followed him in and was immediately engulfed in the noise and hubbub of the busy kitchen.
Emma was dumping corn chips into a bowl, but she squealed when she saw Gladys at Kaylee’s feet, the roll of paper towels still clutched in the corgi’s mouth. “Oh my gosh, Gladys is so cute.” She squatted in front of the dog. “You’re such a good girl, aren’t you?”
Gladys held her prize a little higher but didn’t give it to the girl. Cooper was lying on a dog bed in the corner of the kitchen and lifted his head when he saw Gladys. The corgi trotted over and curled up beside him, finally releasing her grip on the paper towels. She let them drop in front of her but rested her chin on them as she surveyed the happenings of the kitchen.
Emma hugged her arms around herself. “Aww.”
They were pretty dang cute.
“You two just gonna stand in the way?” Rita said, coming through the door behind them, her arms full of paper plates and plastic cups. “Or are you going to help me set up these plates?”
