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Scarlett pushed forward until she was walking beside him again. She kept her eyes trained ahead as she attempted to come up with the words that could smooth all the ruffled feathers they both had. When she glanced up at him, she found him watching her—probably expecting her to start another fight. Well, she couldn’t guarantee that she’d never snap at him again, but for now, she was extending an olive branch. “I’m sorry.”
He stopped so suddenly in the aisle that she almost ran into him.
“I want you to know that I appreciate what you’re doing for us, and I don’t want you to walk away because you think I hate you.”
“But you do, right? Hate me?”
Scarlett released a groan. “Of course I don’t hate you. I might not like you very much, but I can accept when I’ve been given something that I shouldn’t toss aside. You’re giving my father’s farm a second chance at life. And for that, I will be eternally grateful.”
Elijah’s features hardened somewhat.
Or maybe she was just seeing things. “I still don’t want you doing more than you agreed on. I want to make sure I pull my weight just like anyone else. And when the time comes, perhaps we’ll be a little more like friends than enemies.”
He snorted. “Like that would happen.”
“True. I don’t see any miracles happening over the next few months.” A small smile played at her lips. “But wouldn’t that be something… if we did… you know… become friends?” She let out a laugh. “What do you think Annabel would do if she found out we were actually getting along?”
“She’d probably think we were edging her out.”
Scarlett laughed. “I could totally see that. She’s never wanted me to date any of your brothers. I haven’t even told her that I had a crush on Lucas for the longest time.” She continued laughing until she noticed something different in Elijah’s eyes. They were darker, stormier somehow. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” he muttered, nodding down the aisle. “Let’s get those spark plugs, and then we can get a few other things. You’re the one who said you didn’t want to stay in here too long. Something about the groceries…”
She gasped, and her head swiveled around to stare out the window toward the truck. “You’re right. That cheese is going to go bad.”
He cocked a brow at her. “You think the cheese is going to go bad? Isn’t cheese, like, notorious for being left out?”
“Not in the sun.” She swatted him as they picked up the pace and continued down the aisle. “If the cheese you bought at the store was meant to be put at room temperature, then it would be. It’s the really smelly cheeses that you might be thinking of, and I’m not even sure they can stay out at room temperature.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” he said.
She gasped, causing him to stop suddenly, his hands coming out at his sides. “What? Did you see something?” He looked down at his feet and his gaze searched for what he could only assume was a rodent or some equally offensive pest.
The opportunity was too good for her not to take. She squeaked in alarm and grabbed onto him suddenly. Elijah jumped and sputtered, still looking for the offensive reason she would have done that.
There was no holding it back now. She released a laugh that drew the attention of several people nearby. Their looks of concern quickly shifted to disdain, but she didn’t mind. It was the confusion on Elijah’s face that filled her with glee.
“What was it?” he demanded.
“Nothing.”
“You gasped. Like you saw something.”
She shook her head, chuckling still as she made it to the end of the aisle. “I gasped because you were actually agreeing with me. You were the one who took it to another level.” When she looked back at him, she wasn’t surprised to see the glower on his face.
“You can’t be serious,” he muttered. “We’re in a public place. You shouldn’t do that.”
“Oh, come on.” She nudged him with her elbow. “Life isn’t worth living if you can’t have at least a little bit of fun.”
He stopped again, staring at her like she’d sprouted wings from her shoulders. “Oh really? That coming from you?”
“What?”
“The whole life isn’t worth living if you can’t have at least a little bit of fun. The Scarlett who used to hang around our house left that thinking behind when she got all serious and went to college. It was one of the reasons Annabel got so—” He cleared his throat and grabbed the spark plugs from the shelf beside him. “Come on, let’s go.”
Annabel? What about her? Scarlett hurried after him. “You can’t just say that about Annabel and expect me to let you change the subject. What about Anna?”
“Doesn’t matter. Things happen. Life changes. It’s hard, and then it’s not.”
