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“How many Greenes live in this town?”
I add them up in my head. “Well, I have three full siblings and five stepsiblings. Most are married now. Add on my mom and her husband—”
“Wait. Does your mom have dark hair and her husband is a taller guy with dark hair, a little gray in it? She the kind who might lecture a stranger about how romantic this town is?”
I laugh. “Sounds like her.”
“I met her while you were on vacation.”
“Yeah, they couldn’t go because my stepdad is going through treatment for prostate cancer. I’m surprised she didn’t try to fix you up with someone. She’s starting to take after my stepgrandma, Ethel.”
Noah shakes his head. “It’s crazy how intermingled our lives are, but we didn’t even know it.”
Jed brings over our drinks and we each order quesadillas since I push Noah to order their specialty. Jed lingers, so I figure I might as well start the introductions.
“Jed, this is Noah. Noah, this is my brother, Jed.”
The two men shake hands and it’s weird. I’ve always thought of Noah as my secret. Not that I want to keep him a secret, but introducing him to my family feels like inviting him to play an even bigger role in my life, which is unsettling.
They exchange pleasantries before Jed has to go help some more customers.
“Jed and my stepbrother Cade own this place.”
Noah nods. “So everyone in your family stayed in Sunrise Bay?” The disbelief in his tone doesn’t surprise me, since I just found out he’s from Greywall.
“Yeah. Except Xavier—he comes and goes. Two of my sisters even married people who relocated their lives here.”
He sips one of the beers from his flight. “Interesting. So I assume you’ll marry someone who wants to stay in town someday?”
I shrug. “Honestly?”
“Always.”
“I’m not sure whether I’ll even get married. I might be the complete opposite of my mom.”
“Why would a woman like you not believe in love?”
“A woman like me?” I raise an eyebrow.
He chuckles. I love the sound of his deep laugh. “Gorgeous, and let’s be honest, you’d make one hell of a wife.”
I wish his compliment didn’t make me blush, but my cheeks instantly heat. Redheads have a hard time hiding when they blush.
Not many men have called me gorgeous. Maybe because society’s perception of larger women isn’t always gorgeous or beautiful. In a small town like ours, I’ve watched all my sisters be flirted with and asked out when most of the guys I’ve known have put me in the friend zone. That’s not why I don’t believe in love though. That has everything to do with my parents’ divorce.
Noah just makes me forget that I don’t believe in love because when he looks at me the way he is right now, I want to say screw it and straddle him in the chair, kissing him until we have to tear ourselves apart for a deep breath.
“Why do you assume I’d make a good wife?”
He sips his beer and leans back in the chair. “I’ve never met someone so caring. I’ve seen the way you take care of your guests. It’s like it comes naturally, like it’s instinct for you.”
“Well, I don’t give everyone two chocolates at turndown.”
We both laugh.
“I wondered if I was special.”
He is, much as I hate to admit it. Once again, the thought of having just one night with him crosses my mind. Surely I’m someone who can put aside the worry that I’d grow close to him and get hurt in the end.
