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Dad looks that way.
“Will everyone quit staring at them?” I stage whisper.
Dad strokes his chin. “Now, am I gathering that his choice of partners is a problem?”
“It’s one game!” I protest.
My grandmother shakes her head. “As I was saying, time to fight.”
“Yes. Lottie’s right,” my mother seconds. “Maddie, when it comes to a man like that Nicholas, you’re going to be up against quite a few ladies who also want to take a spin on the dance floor with him. He’s this town’s most eligible bachelor, and that’s for sure.”
“No one spins on dance floors anymore,” I grumble.
“Why don’t you go up to him and ask for the next game?” my grandmother suggests. She captures one of Grandpa Bertrand’s pieces and sets it to the side. “That’s what I did at the town Christmas dance, when I had eyes for this one.” She smiles lovingly at my grandpa. “Remember that, honey?”
“How could I forget? There I was, with Shirly Von Kemp in my arms, and this firecracker comes up and taps me on the shoulder.”
Roxie props her chin in her elbows. “Were you nervous, Gran?”
“Course I was! I felt like I was about to faint. But I knew if I didn’t do something—and fast—he’d have another woman in his arms for the whole darn dance. And I just couldn’t let that happen.”
“See?” Roxie says, this time to me. “Even if you feel all jacked up with nerves, you’ve gotta go say something. If you don’t, they’re going to play all night. She’s flirting with him. Believe me. I’m watching it as we speak.”
“Ugh. I’m going to go check on the pies.”
My dad checks his watch. “They’ve got another twenty on the timer.”
I nudge Mom. “Can you let me out? Seriously. I’m checking them. Who knows, they might have baked fast.”
“That’s not how baking works,” my little sister teases.
My mother gives way to my prodding and stands to let me free.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to get out of a booth.
I can hear them whispering as I hurry away.
Probably more gossip about my love life. With a dramatic pushing motion, I part the kitchen’s double doors. In the steamy, pie-scented kitchen, I close my eyes, tilt my head back, and let out a frustrated sigh.
“Pie problems?”
I turn…
And there he is.
Nick.
“This is sort of an employees only zone,” I say.And I need a minute, alone, to clear my head.
The kitchen doors settle closed behind him. “Roxie said that tonight, I’m family.”
“She said that?”
Darn my sister. There is nowhere I can go tonight to escape.
And, to make matters worse, all that talk about how he’s Stillwell’s most eligible bachelor must be getting to me. Nick practically looks like a knight in shining armor right now, even though he’s in jeans and a snug-fitted T-shirt.
It’s his broad chest and shoulders, plus those irresistible classically handsome features.
