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“I am—or was—yes. But—”
Elyssa’s eyes warm as they touch on Bridget. It must click then that I’m standing in front of her, a total mess with two small children clinging to me, because she takes a step back and shakes her head with a sigh.
“Oh God. Here I am playing twenty questions with you and you have your family to take care of.” With quick feet, she moves to the door before I register what’s happening. “It was so nice to see you, Scott. Don’t be a stranger.” She smiles, giving me a saucy wink. “Mom will definitely want to see you.”
“Yeah, I’ll—”
“See you around.” And with that, she waves as the door closes behind her.
I stand there, stunned.
The urge to follow her, to continue our game of catch-up and fill her in on everything that’s happened, is almost overwhelming. I’m nearly to the door when I realize what I’m doing. I can’t follow her. Firstly, because she’s working. Secondly, because I have a small child strapped to my chest who I’m almost positive needs a diaper change.
Those reasons have me pausing, but my hand continues to the handle. Maybe if I just—
“Can we have cookies now?” Logan asks, seconds before the clatter of a pan hitting the floor sounds. The loud noise wakes Bridget, and her cry has me wincing.
“Christ,” I whisper. “Logan, don’t eat those!” I shout, running into the kitchen.
Maybe it’s for the best that I didn’t get another moment with Elyssa. This is my life now. Chaos and cookies.
As much as I wish there was room for me to pursue my all-time biggest crush, it wouldn’t be fair. I don’t even know if she’s single, so there’s no point in dwelling on it.
I had hoped coming back home would help in healing my heart and give Logan and Bridget a sense of belonging in the community. And it had. What I hadn’t factored in was seeing her again and having my heart ache for a completely different reason.
Chapter Three
Elyssa
I’ve been staring at my mother’s wine rack for who knows how long, lost in my thoughts.
It’s been four days since I ran into Scott’s smoky apartment, and I still can’t get him out of my head. If I thought he’d been hot as a teenager, it was nothing compared to the smoke show he was now. The man had taken attractive to a whole new level.
And sure, the fact that he had a tiny baby strapped to his chest may have contributed to that, but I needed to stop thinking about him. He was taken. A father. It couldn’t be clearer that he was totally off-limits.
“Tough choice,” Willa murmurs from beside me, giving me a fright. With her hands on her hips, she gives the wine rack a serious frown. Her expression has me bursting out in a laugh. “What are you laughing about? How are we to choose between these two bottles? It’s madness.”
“All right. You can stop teasing me. I got lost in my thoughts for a moment.”
I reach for both bottles—the only bottles in the wine rack currently—and head back into the empty kitchen. Mom has a lasagna in the oven. The heavenly scent of garlic lingers in the air.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Willa singsongs, following me and grabbing wineglasses.
“It’s silly,” I reply, getting to work on uncorking one of the bottles.
“Those are my favorite thoughts. Gimme.”
My brother’s fiancée is one of my favorite people. Not only is Willa kind, thoughtful and beautiful, she’s also a laugh riot. You never really could tell what would come out of her mouth. She and my brother, Davis, are the definition of opposites attract, but it really works for them.
My favorite part about my older brother finding love is that he is the town police chief and Willa is a psychological suspense author. The two of them could talk true crime all day. It was kind of scary how cute they were. And how casually they could bring up murder.
Running my tongue along my teeth, I debate whether I should tell Willa. I love and trust her, but I’m afraid if I say what I’m thinking out loud…I may be setting myself up for hurt. Once I voice the words, my crush would be this living, breathing thing again. Instead of just a secret I kept to myself.
Keeping my attention on the pouring of the wine, I hesitantly begin telling her.
“Has my brother ever mentioned his best friend growing up?”
Dragging her glass of wine across the table and taking a sip, Willa nods. “Scott? Yeah, he’s mentioned him.”
