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“Morning, buttercup,” Aunt Flora said, rubbing her eyes and looking around for the coffeepot.
“It hasn’t moved,” Addy said, pointing toward where the Bunn coffeemaker always sat.
“I know that,” Aunt Flora said peevishly, schlepping over to the coffee pot in her ratty old slippers. “I may be old, but I ain’t stupid.”
“Never said you were.”
Flora sighed. “You’re as grumpy as I am.”
“Mmm-hmm,” Addy conceded.
“Would you mind going over the alarm system with me again? I’m still foggy on it.”
“Sure,” Addy struggled to her feet and beckoned Flora over. After showing her repeatedly what to push, she decided it would be easier to make Flora a cheat sheet and put it by the phone which sat near the door. After writing the procedure out on a note card and taping it to the counter, she turned to go upstairs. Out of the corner of her eye, a flash of dark hair appeared in the window.
Her heart leapt into her throat.
She refocused. Not Robbie.
Lucas.
Flora opened the door. The alarm shrieked.
“Oh, dear,” Flora cried, her hands flapping as she lunged toward the security pad and started jabbing random numbers.
Addy covered her ears and hurried over. “Don’t just push numbers,” she yelled, tapping the card.
Flora looked down and read the instructions. Finally, the shrieking of the alarm stopped.
“Oh, Lord, I’m sorry. I panicked.” Flora pressed her hands to her chest and looked as if she might cry. “We never should have let your father put that thing in.”
“It’s not a big deal,” Addy said, patting her aunt’s back. “It’s new for both of us, and there’s a learning curve. We’ll get the hang of it.”
“This is the reason I need to get out of your hair. I’m a liability,” Aunt Flora said, tears shimmering in her eyes.
“That’s not true,” Addy said, knowing it was indeed a little true. But she didn’t want Aunt Flora moving out. She didn’t want her world to change, but she guessed the good Lord wasn’t listening because she’d been turned on her ear.
While Addy had dealt with the alarm, Lucas had stood patiently inside the door, strong, silent, and looking a bit stressed.
Addy turned to him, lifting a questioning eyebrow.
“Sorry about last night. Sounds lame, but I fell asleep in the recliner,” he said, giving her a sheepish shrug. “Guess between the busy weekend and all the kids’ activities I wore out.”
Logical reason, but still Addy felt out of sorts. She’d wanted to share her fears, her revelations, her potentially having a partner in the floral shop freeing her to travel to, say, West Texas upon occasion. But now in the light of the morning, the whole thing sounded asinine. She’d been naïve to think she meant more to him than a friend and once upon a time lover.
“I’ve got to run. Michael has to make up a test early, but I wanted you to know why I couldn’t come by for tea.” He gave her a wicked smile, but instead of inflaming her, it made her uncomfortable.
Fine. Things happened. She understood. Still, she couldn’t stop herself from pulling away from him.
Part of her protection?
Or maybe her inner alarm system told her it was time to shut that part of her life down for the time being. She’d thought she was ready to take what they had a step further, but now she wanted to do nothing more than draw her defenses around her.
“No big deal,” she said, trying to sound casual and not like Aunt Flora when she forgot where the coffee maker was. “Monday’s exhausting for me, too.”
He smiled. “Good. Thought I had screwed up. And speaking of screwing up, I wanted to talk to you about that last conversation we had Sunday.”
“What conversation?”
