Chapter 17
Tess
I think the fatal flaw of avoiding someone is that the universe always seems to want to be a bitch about it.
Because of course when I come down the main staircase to meet the boys to head to the bar, Hunter is waiting at the front desk, flipping through a notebook of some sort.
I pause at the last stair right as he looks up at me, not missing the way his eyes travel from my knee-high boots to my red sweaterdress, all the way up to my face.
“Hey” is all he says.
I try to appear casual even though my heart rate has quickened considerably. “Hey. Hanging out?”
“Just going over some invoices,” he tells me.
“You know, Excel would make that a whole lot easier.”
“I like pen and paper.”
I smile even as I roll my eyes. “Of course you do. Probably reminds you of better days when we used oil lamps.”
His mouth twitches but only slightly. “You look nice.”
I tuck my chin to my shoulder and bat my eyelashes exaggeratedly. “Oh, do I?”
“It’s a far cry from the coveralls you were wearing yesterday.”
Talk of yesterday only hurtles me back into hot tub hijinks that make my face flush, and I shift my weight from one foot to the other, hoping Hunter doesn’t notice.
“We’re meeting Cat and her boyfriend at Fred’s tonight.”
Hunter raises an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“Apparently it’s the only bar in town.”
His mouth quirks. “Does that shock you?”
“Not really,” I laugh. “But I was promised the best cheese fries in the state, so…”
“Just don’t ask how they make them,” Hunter warns me, still smiling a little as he turns his attention back to his papers. “Your arteries might shrivel up.”
“Do you ever go?”
He peeks up at me inquisitively. “To Fred’s?”
“No, to Disneyland.”
He rolls his eyes. “It’s been awhile.”
“Well, how can I trust your opinion on cheese fries if you haven’t even been in a while?”
“Those things are pretty hard to forget.”
He’s reading again, not looking at me, and I bite the inside of my cheek as I consider asking him to go. That wouldn’t be weird, right? I mean, with everything that’s happened between us…it would be almost rude not to at least invite him. The worst he could do is say no, so what’s the harm?
He could say no.
Right. That might be a bummer.
Come on, Tess. Don’t overthink it.
“You could come with us,” I say as casually as I can. “Give those cheese fries another try.”
Hunter’s expression is unreadable when he looks back up, eyes locking with mine for a few seconds as he (at least I hope) considers.
I can tell the moment he decides to shoot me down. “I’ve got a lot of stuff to do around here tonight.” He’s nice enough to give me a teasing smile so I don’t completely want to disappear. “We don’t have Excel, after all.”
I try to smile back, but I’m not entirely sure it hides my disappointment. “That would be too easy.”
“I like doing things the hard way,” he tosses back with a laugh.
Now why does that make my stomach flutter?
Am I actually a horny cartoon wolf and simply unaware?
“Just thought I’d ask,” I tell him breezily. “No big deal or anything.”
There’s a stretch of silence as I fidget, trying not to be embarrassed about being shut down.
I bite at the end of my thumbnail absently while I try to appear as if I’m not watching him work.
It’s only that his dark curls sort of fall into his eyes with his head bent like it is, and the way his flannel shirt (green this time) is rolled at the sleeves…
I’m just saying. Forearm porn could be a thing if we believe hard enough.
“So, um,” I start nervously, averting my eyes to my lap as I attempt a casual tone. “I called my friend today. The one from Travel Quarter.”
Hunter tenses, his hands going still on the paper as he looks back up at me. “What?”
“I thought…I don’t know. I just wanted to reach out to him. It really stuck with me, what you said last night, and I know that this place could do well if someone gave it half a chance.”
His expression remains blank, eyes flicking down to the wooden countertop as if thinking. “Huh.”
“Are you mad?”
“What?” He seems confused when he looks back up. “Mad? I mean…” His mouth opens and closes briefly as if considering his words. “I’m not mad. I just…Why do you want to help so much? Or I guess I mean…more than you already are.”
Don’t start asking questions that I don’t even know the answers to myself, buddy.
I shrug as nonchalantly as I can manage. “It’s not a big deal,” I say weakly. “It was just a phone call.”
“Uh-huh.” I can feel him looking at me even when I’m still too afraid to look up. “And what did your friend say?”
“After he saw the photos, he said he thinks this place has real potential. He’s talking to his editor about getting it a page in the next issue for this ‘Secret Getaways’ segment they’re doing.
” I realize how presumptuous I sound. “I mean…that is…if you even want that. It would mean we’d have to do an interview.
Plus, we’d have to really speed up the timeline to get the foyer done next week.
And then we would need to make sure you own something that isn’t flannel.
Actually, maybe people would dig the flannel.
We could—” I do look up then, catching the strange expression on his face. “What?”
“You keep saying ‘we,’ ” he says, almost like a question.
“Oh.” I feel my neck heat. “Well…of course I wouldn’t mind helping you get ready for it. You’ve been helping me out—”
“I didn’t offer to help you to get anything in return.”
“—and Jeannie has been cooking for me this entire time—”
“That’s part of your stay.”
“—and I just want to help, okay?”
He looks at me again with that expression I can’t make heads or tails of, causing me to question everything I’ve done as I start to worry all over again that I’ve overstepped.
He doesn’t say anything in response to the things I’ve said, and I can feel myself about three seconds from beginning to squirm before I blessedly hear the horn honk outside.
“Oh shit. That’s my brothers,” I half sputter as I push up from the chair. “Just…think about it, okay? He’s supposed to call me back soon, but if it’s not something you want, I totally respect that. But I thought it couldn’t hurt to call.”
Hunter nods as he watches me go, and still I can feel his eyes on me, even when I don’t look back.
Outside the cold air seems extra icy as I shrug into my coat, and I can only imagine that it’s because my face is most likely as red as my lipstick.
Thomas is leaning out the window of his jacked-up Chevy, waving me over, and I pick up the pace as I try not to think about the innkeeper I’m leaving behind.
Mostly trying not to be embarrassed about the way I just railroaded his life and, even worse, the way he flat out rejected my attempt at sort of somewhat asking him out.
Told you he could have said no, my brain mocks.
As I climb into the truck, I think to myself that it really is a bummer.
“—and I was telling Jarred about the time you renovated that cabin in Wyoming,” Cat is rattling off as we step inside the bar, tapping snow off our shoes. “That kitchen lives rent free in my brain. Not to mention flooring! One day I definitely want to—”
“Babe, take a breath,” Jarred laughs. “You’re going into overdrive.”
Cat looks sheepish even as her boyfriend throws an arm around her. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine,” I assure her as I follow them toward a booth against the wall. “I really loved that project.”
Fred’s is both everything and nothing like I expected—scuffed wood flooring that’s seen better days, a massive hand-carved bar that stretches down one side of the entire room parallel to a line of red leather booths on the opposite wall, and an array of sometimes-cracked neon signs that range from beer brands to half-naked ladies.
It’s sort of amazing, actually.
Cat and Jarred pile in on one side of the booth as I take the other, his head coming a good foot above her petite frame even when sitting.
His hair is tied back with an elastic, and his light brown skin complements her olive tones in a way that has them looking like some sort of model couple.
He throws an arm around her shoulders as he stretches out, scratching at his neat beard absently as he turns to crane his neck toward the bar in search of a waitress.
It strikes me how good they look together, but it also makes me more painfully aware of the fact that I’m a third wheel here, since my brothers immediately disappeared into the crowd.
I lean forward on my elbows right as Jarred is waving over a waitress. “So how long have you been dating?”
“Almost…eight years now?” Cat looks over at Jarred slyly. “Took him awhile to notice me.”
“Probably couldn’t see your short ass until then,” Jarred quips just before she elbows him in the side.
“I had the biggest crush on him in high school,” Cat barrels on. “But then again, everyone did. He and Hunter sort of had a monopoly on dates back then.”
“Wait, Hunter?” I have a hard time keeping the shock from my voice. “Hunter had a monopoly on dates?”
“Right?” Cat laughs easily. “I know it’s hard to imagine now since he’s constantly playing the quiet game with himself, but he used to be sort of a flirt back in the day.” She makes a face at her boyfriend. “Not as much as this one, mind you.”
Jarred rolls his eyes. “I didn’t date that much.”
“Do you know how many girls I had to watch you and Hunter bring through the movie theater? My poor little teenage heart was just wishing you’d look my way when you bought your popcorn.”
Cat sighs heavily, and Jarred simply shakes his head, smiling. “Did she tell you she was head of the drama club back in school?”