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He clutched his chest. “I’ve been waiting years to hear those words.”
I caught the barely discernable sound of her breath catching before she said, “Ava, meet Donovan Quinlan. His family owns the Beach Mouse Bakery. They supply Magpie’s with its baked goods.”
She quickly introduced me as well, again saying that I’d be working for her father. I wasn’t sure how she was so confident I’d get the job, but her surety blared like a horn each time she spoke about it.
“I need a big favor,” she said to Donovan. “A last-minute order of pastries for a Happy Clams meeting tomorrow morning. Twelve guests. Can you help me out?”
One of his thick eyebrows rose. “If I don’t?”
“I’ll be baking all night.”
“If I do?”
“I’ll be eternally grateful.”
His face wrinkled playfully. “Listen, while eternal gratitude is nice, it’s not what I want.”
Electricity sparked between them, and I wondered if they had a romantic history.
“What is it you want, then?” she asked, a loud note of apprehension in her voice.
“A date.” He smiled broadly, then glanced at me. “I’ve been asking Maggie out for years. She keeps turning me down. Why, you might ask yourself, when clearly I’m a catch. I ask myself the same thing. Why?”
Her whole face flushed and she sputtered. “You havenotbeen asking me out for years. You’ve only been back in town for a few weeks, and in that time you haven’t said a single word about a date.” She turned my way. “He recently retired from the Coast Guard and moved back home to Driftwood.”
“Itfeelslike years that I’ve been asking for a date. That counts.”
Maggie crossed her arms. “It doesn’t.”
He looked at me, a question in his eyes. I shook my head. “I side with Maggie on that one.”
“Well, I’ve definitelyhintedat a date.”
“Hinting is not the same thing as asking, Donovan,” she countered.
“Well, I might’ve asked, but you blew off the hints. I have my pride.”
She opened her mouth, then snapped it closed again.
He glanced at me. “What’s a man to do?”
“Oh my goodness. Stop,” Maggie said. “You’ll give Ava the wrong impression.”
“What impression is that?” he asked.
“That you’re pining for me.” She once again faced me and her words came out in a rush. “Donovan and I have been friends a long time now. Forever, really. Since he’s been back, he’s been working at the bakery, so now he’s kind of like a coworker. It wouldn’t be proper to date.”
With the tumble of words, I saw what she was doing. Hiding behind excuses. Why? It was obvious she cared for him. It was evident in her body language, in the way her eyes had lit up when she’d seen him. Did she not feel it? Or did she simply not want to acknowledge it?
I said, “I don’t think it’s improper. He doesn’t work for you. Not really.”
“Thank you, Ava,” he said. “Finally a voice of reason. So what say you, Maggie? Will you go out to dinner with me tomorrow night?Please.”
Maggie rubbed her temples. “Why now, Donovan? Why ask me now? Today? This is all so sudden. What’s gotten into you?”
The humor fell away from his face, and his features softened.He held her gaze. “I saw an opening and grabbed it. I’m tired of waiting for you to see that I’m not kidding. I wasn’t joking twenty years ago, and I’m not joking now.”
Twenty years ago? I looked between the two of them, hoping they’d elaborate, but they didn’t seem to notice my blatant curiosity.
