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“This is your place?” I’m impressed. She can’t be past her thirties, and plus, she’s hot. I know that shouldn’t factor into me being impressed, but it does. I’ve always suspected if I were truly stunning, I’d lack motivation. “I was kind of expecting an older lady with a beehive.”
Emma grins. “I’ve only been up and running two years—give me another twenty and that’s exactly what I’ll be.”
“This is my brother Jude.”
“Welcome to Grimstone!”
“I love it already,” Jude says, unsmiling. “This is my first hot coffee in three days.”
“He’s really been through it,” I tell Emma. “You could never understand his pain.”
Her laugh makes the whole day better. “God, I’m so glad to have somebody new in town for longer than a week. You’ve got to come out with me and meet everyone else—there’s a bonfire tomorrow night.”
“Sounds great,” I say before Jude can make a face or an excuse. He’s always nervous meeting big groups of people.
“Fantastic!” Emma scribbles her digits on her order pad and rips off the top sheet. “Text me something so I have your number—I’ll send you the details.”
“Can we also order?” Jude says plaintively.
“Depends on what you want.” Emma’s smile is saucy. “You’re way too late for my famous blueberry pancakes.”
“Good thing I would never put a blueberry in a pancake.”
“He’s such a charmer…” Emma winks at me, secure in her pancakes.
When we’re alone again, I tell Jude, “Knock it off. If we’re gonna be here awhile, we should make friends. The locals seem nice.”
Dane acted like everybody in this place would rip your head off and drink your blood come nightfall.
Jude is unconvinced. “You think everyone’s nice.”
“They mostly are.”
“No,” he says with seriousness. “They’re not. This is why you always get burned, Remi, because you only see the best in people. Like Gideon.”
“Okay, okay.” I’m sorry I even brought him up.
“There were a hundred signs before you’d finally admit—“
“Okay!” I cry. “I won’t think people are nice. Especially Emma. Look at her over there—“ Emma is currently laughing with a darling old man, and I’m pretty sure offering him a bag of free muffins to take home, “—she’s clearly awful.”
Even Jude has to snort at that.
“Alright, so Emma’s a saint. What about everyone else?”
I reach over to mess up his hair. “It’s sweet that you’re being protective.”
“Don’t get used to it.” He sips his coffee, pinky in the air. “One good deed per day out of me.”
“Wouldn’t want you to exhaust yourself,” I snicker.
* * *
Against my better judgement,I leave Jude to poke around Grimstone on his own and head back to the house to meet Emma’s cousin.
Turns out there was no need to hurry because Tom is two hours late. He finally rolls up in a truck even older and uglier than mine, looking distinctly rumpled and smelling of last night’s beer.
I can’t really give him shit about it, since he’s my one and only option.
