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I’m torn between immediate acceptance because I want to spend more time with him, and immediate rejection for the same reason.
“You have to let me pay you.”
He shakes his head. “No way.”
“If you won’t take money, I can at least owe you one.”
Why didn’t you call?
The words are there, tickling my tongue. But the answer is obvious. He came here tonight with Eve, clearly on some kind of double date. The way they were talking, the way she touched his arm before she left... I shouldn’t care.
Except when they walked through the door and sat together, their heads bent toward one another, her blond a bright contrast to his dark locks. They looked so good together. I thought my stomach was going to squeeze itself into knots and then leap out of my body.
But are they together? Maybe they are just close friends. The need for answers burns in my chest.
I put on a false smile. I shouldn’t want him so much. He doesn’t want me the same way.
He rubs the back of his head. “If you really want to help me out, I have to check out the hike to Mayberry Falls next weekend. Make sure it’s hikeable for a group of teens and that the melting snowpack didn’t make any of the trails impassable.”
“What day next weekend?”
“Saturday. We can leave early if you need to be here for the later shift. Unless you have to work late the night before, and it’s too much.”
“I thought you were going with Jake.”
He spreads his hands on the bar top between us, leaning in. My skin tingles at the memory of those broad fingers caressing my skin.
I imagine those same fingers touching someone else and jealousy twists my gut.
I’m not meant to be the one he touches.
Before I can second-guess the decision, the words burble out. “I’ll go on the hike with you.” I can figure it out. I am making the schedules here, after all.
He smiles. “Good.”
I take a step back, my eyes still locked with his. “I just have to take out those.” I tilt my head toward the trash stacked up at the end of the bar.
He waves a hand. “I’ve got it.”
“Thanks. I’m going to make sure the lights are out in back.”
My eyes follow as he hefts the heavy bags up, his arms flexing. How is taking out trash sexy? Who am I kidding? He would make cleaning toilets sexy.
I head toward the back rooms, welcoming the excuse to take a breath without the force of Atticus’s presence and the attraction winding around us like fog.
When I finish, all the lights have been shut off except the overhead lights near the front. Atticus is waiting for me by the door, leaning with his back against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest.
I pull out my phone to kill the song playing from the jukebox, plunging us into silence.
He holds open the door for me, flicking off the lights before following me outside.
I lock it up, and then we cross the parking lot together. I take a deep breath of the night air, cool against my face after the heat of the bar. The mountain sky is showing off, the stars glittering like a sparkling blanket over our heads.
We reach the Jeep and Atticus turns to me. “Do you want me to drive?”
“That would be great.” I toss him the keys.
It’s only a few minutes to home, but I’m exhausted. I could use a second to relax, decompress, and not think about anything. I climb into the passenger seat and immediately plug my phone in. “Is this okay?”
