AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She ignored Han. “Devin?”
“Nah,” Devin said carefully. “I’m good.”
“Great, well, anything you need, you just let me know.” She smiled at him way too sweetly.
He swallowed hard, his heart pounding. The full force of her attention on him affected him way more than it should. He didn’t want Han getting a whiff of him being interested. He didn’t want her getting an inkling about it, either.
Maybe her earlier flirting had been genuine. But her being sunshine and roses to him now?
Yeah. That was definitely for Han’s benefit.
Which cast everything else in doubt, too.
Chapter Four
Stop.”
Zoe screeched to a halt with her hand mere inches from the knob on her family home’s back door.
So close.
Her mother cleared her throat, and Zoe prayed for strength before turning around. “Yes, Mother?”
Her mom stood in the kitchen, brows raised, arms crossed. Ling-Ling, the shepherd mix Han had adopted after Zoe left home, sat at her heels. If it was possible, the dog bore the same judgmental glare. “How many résumés did you send out today?”
“Mom—”
“How many?” her mother repeated, firm.
Zoe blew out an exasperated breath. “I didn’t, like, count.”
“And why not? We paid for a degree inaccounting, did we not?”
“Would you like me to send you a spreadsheet?”
Her mom scowled, and Ling-Ling made a little growling sound. “No need to take that tone.”
Zoe could say the same herself. “Look—”
“You remember what we talked about earlier, right?”
How could Zoe forget?
“Yes, Mom.” Zoe wasn’t applying herself enough, wasn’t taking her future seriously, wasn’t considering enough options, blah, blah, blah. “Can I go now? I promised Uncle Arthur I’d open up Harvest Home for him.”
The severe line of her mother’s frown finally softened. “Fine.” She made a little shooing motion with her hand. “Go, go.”
Zoe turned to leave. “I just fed Ling-Ling, so don’t let her con you into a second dinner.”
Her mom never cut Zoe an inch of slack, but the dog walked all over her.
“You send me that spreadsheet tomorrow,” her mom called.
“I wasobviouslykidding about that,” Zoe cast over her shoulder, opening the door.
She kept walking right on through it, too, blocking out any further replies from her mother by swiftly—but gently!—closing the door behind her.
Still annoyed by the whole thing, she got into her sensible pre-owned Kia and started it up. Her fingers itched on the steering wheel, and the urge to put the pedal to the metal as she pulled onto Main Street tugged at her. She mentally shook her head at herself. The last thing she needed was Officer Dwight pulling her over and giving her a lecture, too.
