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Had I known that before, I might’ve gone easier on the questions from the start. There was no way he’d be cutting me any slack about this now.
“I walked her home,” I said.
“That must’ve been after you had your tongue down her throat in the back hall.”
“My tongue wasn’t down her throat.” As far as I knew. Although I’d been intense. I could admit, if only to myself, Breckenridge had gotten to me. I hadn’t planned to kiss Ava. Hadn’t known what I was going to do until she walked out of the ladies’ room looking so fresh and pretty and kissable. Hell, I hadn’t planned to nearly attack her until my lips were on hers.
“I heard differently,” Jake said.
“You know better than to believe what you hear in this town.”
“So you didn’t kiss her?”
Fuck, it was hot out here already.
“That’s what I thought,” Jake said. “Then you walked her home. Did you spend the night?”
“I didn’t spend the night,” I snarled.
“What are you doing getting involved with your ex?”
“We’re not getting involved.” I sounded defensive and I knew it, but it was nobody’s damn business about Ava and me. Weweren’tinvolved.
“Keep telling yourself that,” he said, as if he could hear my thoughts.
“She’s only in town for a couple of weeks. Her dream job is knocking at her door, and it’s in Los Angeles.” I told him about her TV series and how she had to fly back for a meeting next week.
“That’s pretty fucking cool,” he said.
“It’s what she was meant to do. She was talking about writing screenplays even back when we were together.”
He blew out something between a breath and a whistle. “I don’t know much about the TV world, but head writer sounds like a big deal.”
“It is.” I’d googled it, the streaming company, and how to get a job as a head writer. It sounded like a snowball’s chance in hell for most people, and Ava was more than halfway to attaining it. “Like I said, her life is fully anchored to California. I’d never want to hold her back.”
“Which brings us back to the question of what the hell are you doing?”
“Spending time with her while she’s here. She doesn’t have a lot of friends in town.”
“She was with Magnolia last night, and that’s after only being here a week. Seems like she’d be okay without you.”
“What difference does it make to you if I spend time with Ava?” I asked, more than a little annoyed. We turned the corner onto the shoulder of Honeysuckle Road to do the last leg, as usual, with a lake view to our right. We had about a mile until we reached Henry’s and the intersection with Main.
“I just don’t think it’s smart to get friendly with someone you have history with,” Jake said. “There’s too much kindling there and not just the physical kind.”
I scowled at him, trying to make sense of his metaphors. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You used to love each other, the way I remember it,” he said. “It’s not going to take much for one or both of you to slip back into that. If she’s not staying, somebody’s going to get their heart crushed like a bug.”
“It’s not like that,” I said automatically. Ava and I were just spending time together, reconnecting on a harmless level for another couple of weeks. Maybe less. I didn’t even know how long she planned to stay when she returned. “I like her. That’s all. Completely harmless.”
I could feel him staring me down from the side, looking for something on my face that went against what I was saying. I blanked my expression, focused on my feet hitting the coarse pavement, even as a hint of unease buzzed in my head.
As we neared the intersection of Honeysuckle and Main, a siren sounded and seemed to be getting closer. Sure enough, the big fire truck came down Main Street toward us. My first reaction was to glance at my restaurant and Holden’s brewery, remembering the fire in the brewery building a few months ago, before Holden opened it. There was no sign of smoke or any other problems in the two lakeshore buildings on the other side of the street, though, thank God.
The truck backed that up when it signaled a left turn onto Honeysuckle, heading out of town. There were houses a couple miles up that way…and Ava’s inn. Ava, who’d planned to bake this morning. Ava, who’d been able to scorch a toaster pastry like nobody’s business.
“Shit,” I said as I took off at a sprint before the truck even turned onto the road that went to the inn.
