AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ray followed my gaze. “So, you actually know the mayor, huh?”
“She’s my friend’s sister-in-law,” I replied.
Ray nodded slowly, as if it was all starting to make sense. “That’swhy she let you live here.” Then, she tittered with a nervous laugh, her cheeks immediately bright pink with shame. “Sorry. It’s just … everybody’s been wondering. Connie is so strict about everything. I mean, she won’t even let them open a Starbucks in town because she doesn’t like chains.”
“Hey, I get it. You wouldn’t want anything competing with that place.” I nudged my chin toward the window in the direction of Black & Brewed, the town’s quintessential coffee shop. “I mean, I’ve never been to a Starbucks, but I can tell you right now, they don’t hold a candle to what they have going on over there.”
Ray bit her bottom lip for a moment, looking up at me with those gorgeous, sparkling green eyes, and I wished I knew what she was thinking—what she thought ofme. But she looked away just as quickly, pulled her purse higher onto her shoulder, and declared very affirmatively that I should be at her place by six for dinner.
Then, she told Noah it was time to check out, and he left with an enthusiastic, “See you later, Soldier!”
What the hell just happened?
I wasn’t sure it was a good idea to go over there. I wanted it to be. I wanted to believe that building this friendship with Ray and her son was one of those good things I apparently deserved, according to Harry. But that foreboding I couldn’t quite figure out was back, nagging in my gut with these little pangs and punches as I finished mopping the floor between the apples and oranges. I didn’t know what it meant. I wished I knew. I wished it were obvious and that I could figure out what it all meant. But I couldn’t.
Yet I didn’t bump my head on that sign for the rest of the day, and that had to mean something too.
***
Ray had made a pot of spaghetti and some of the best meatballs I’d ever eaten in my life. I even told her they were better than my grandmother’s, which was one of the greatest compliments I could ever give anyone.
“You were close with your grandmother?” she asked, making conversation as she spooned another meatball onto my dish.
“I was.”
I cut the meatball in half with my fork and popped one side into my mouth, eating like I hadn’t consumed good food in a really,really longfucking time. Which wasn’t entirely true. The weeks I’d spent with Harry’s family were filled with excellent food. But it’d been over a month since then, and Ray’s cooking, I’d found, was even better.
Ray studied me with a soft, albeit intense, stare, a slight curve to her lips as she watched me stuff the other half of the meatball into my mouth. I met her eyes mid-chew, and she didn’t look away. We held each other captive for a few thundering beats of my heart as the questions mounted between us, piling high on thetableand cluttering the bowl of spaghetti and incredible meatballs.
Why is she looking at me like that?
How is she so fucking pretty?
Where is Noah’s dad?
Would a woman alreadyinvolvedwith a man stare at another like this?
Noah sighed and shifted in his chair, breaking the spell between his mother and me. I diverted my gaze to the sauce smeared across my otherwise empty plate while Ray cleared her throat and addressed her son.
“Excuse me, are we boring you?” she teased, reaching over to nudge his arm.
“No,” he grumbled against a heavy breath, but he was lying, and I laughed.
“Go ahead,” Ray said, dismissing him. “I’ll let you know when we have cake.”
Noah didn’t need to be told twice, and we both laughed as he ran to drop his plate in the sink before throwing himself onto the couch and grabbing his Nintendo Switch.
Ray met my gaze with a smile and a glint in her eyes as she stood with her own plate in hand. I wouldn’t let her take mine and instead helped her clear the rest of the table.
“You didn’t need to do all this,” I said, leaving the bowl of food on the counter. “I haven’t really done anything for my birthday in a long time, so …”
“You know, Soldier”—she turned from the sink to lean her back against the counter, crossing her arms over her chest—“you could just say thank you.”
I sniffed a short laugh and nodded. “Thank you.”
“Do you mind me asking why today is so bad?”
I wasquickly finding that Ray shared that same no-filters-allowed quality with her son, and I liked it. It was a breath of fresh air when everyone else around me seemed to walk on eggshells. Nobody ever knew how to act or what to say while Ray and Noah simply didn’t care. They just said whatever was on their minds, and, man, it was nice.
