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They’d no sooner done that when the sound of a lawn mower filled the air. She met Lauren’s eye, and they both looked toward the front of the house. “Seems kind of late for a grass clipping,” she said casually.
Joy got to her feet. “I’ll go tell him to come back tomorrow.” She didn’t care that this was Harrison’s house. The grass barely needed to be cut, and Scott certainly didn’t need to come every blasted week. She hadn’t seen him again since that first time, and he hadn’t needled her with texts or calls.
She found him coming toward her down the narrow strip of grass, and his whole face lit up like the sun when he saw her. Unlike Lauren, Joy had gotten ready tonight, and she wore makeup, earrings, and a cute denim jumper that showed off all her best qualities—her larger chest and the waist that narrowed from it.
“Joy,” he practically yelled as he cut the engine on the push-mower and removed the sound-canceling headphones he wore. “Good to see you again.”
“You’re yelling,” she said into the sudden silence. “We don’t need you to cut the grass. I’m having my Supper Club on the patio, and you’re interrupting us.” She gestured back the way she’d come, and she glanced that way too. All five of her friends stood at the edge of the patio, smashed into the narrow strip of cement behind the grill. Unbelievable.
She didn’t linger on them and looked back at Scott. He was strikingly handsome, and Joy lost her breath for a moment. She’d only felt like this a handful of times in her life, the last time when she’d been thrown from a horse.
He’s not that good-looking, she told herself. But she was lying, because with his reddish-brown-blonde hair with those errant blades of grass in it, and those blue eyes…he was male perfection sent from above.
“Can you—?” Her mind misfired as the edges of his eyes crinkled. “Can you come back tomorrow, please?” She wasn’t working, as she’d be doing laundry and packing and cleaning up the house before she left the island for good.
“Oh, I don’t know,” he said in mock seriousness. “I have a full schedule tomorrow.” He stepped around the mower and almost reached for her. He seemed to realize what he was doing, and his hand flinched back to his side. “Especially if a woman as beautiful as you will grab coffee with me in the morning before work.”
Joy wanted to reach up and pat her hair like he’d just paid her the best compliment in the world. Chester had called her pretty, and while Joy didn’t really believe him, it had been nice to hear.
Beautifulwas better thanpretty, and Joy finally allowed herself to smile. She’d found her wits too, and she stepped into Scott and put her palm against his chest. Instant heat shot into her, and her eyes widened. Could he feel that too? The way the ground beneath her feet shook? The way her heartbeat pounded through every cell in her body? The instant crackle of electricity through the atmosphere?
His smile slipped away, and he gazed at her in a brand-new, intense way, and Joy had the distinct feeling that yes, he felt all of that too.
“Honey, if that’s your way of asking me out, I don’t like it.”
“No?” he asked, matching her flirty tone. “Why not?”
“You feel…fake to me, Mister Anderson. Like you’re playing a game with me, and once you get your way, you’ll toss me aside.” She stepped back and dropped her hand. “I don’t like that. I’m too old for games.”
He swallowed and licked his lips, his eyes dropping to her mouth. Joy wondered if she should just let him have his fun—it could be fun for her too—and be done with it. She immediately rejected the idea, because that wasn’t what women Joy’s age did. She wasn’t interested in a good time without commitment, and Scott Anderson didn’t strike her as a man who committed.
“Me too,” he said. “No games.”
“I’m leaving for Texas on Saturday,” she said. “I broke up with my other boyfriend.” Why had she said “other,” as if Scott were one of them? She gave herself a mental shake. Lauren and Cass were getting to her. “So I don’t think coffee in the morning is a good idea.”
He nodded, his eyes bright again despite the shade where they stood. “Can I call you? Text you?”
Her eyebrows went up. “While I’m in Texas?”
“Yeah,” he said. “While you’re in Texas.”
She half-expected Lauren to answer for her, but it stayed quiet in the peanut gallery. Joy didn’t know what to say to him. Why couldn’t he call and text her?
The fact that you’ll be separated by six states?
The idea that you and Scott will end before you ever get to go out with him, hold his hand, is terrifying?
Tell him you’re not interested in long-distance dating.
But maybe she was.
“Maybe,” she said, and then she turned around. “I’ll tell Harrison you’re going to skip this week.”
“I’ll come back tomorrow,” he said, and Joy smiled to herself as she walked away. She one-hundred percent added some sway to her hips, sending the skirt of her dress flipping and flapping from left to right as she moved.
She rejoined her friends on the patio, and they all stared at her from their proper spots at the table. “What?” she asked. “He’s going to come back tomorrow.” She took her seat and pulled it up to the table. “Okay, so the pork loin is a honey sriracha.”
“You totally flirted with him,” Bea said. “You said you two were nothing.”
