Chapter 2
WALKER
“Are you fucking kidding me, Walker?” Lacey snaps, her hands on her narrow hips as she stares at me.
Her blonde hair is still naturally wavy and hangs just over her shoulders.
I can’t see what she’s wearing behind the car, but that doesn’t matter because my best friend’s little sister is pissed and my day just got a whole lot better.
“You’ve really added a certain ambiance to the yard. What do you think about adding some Christmas lights around the windows?” I mention, pointing with my free hand in the general direction of her car as I cradle a cup of coffee in the other and lean against the porch railing.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she asks, ignoring my joke.
“I live here.”
“Since when?”
“Ouch, Lace. It’s been like three years.”
“Shut up. No, it hasn’t.” I lift my eyebrows and wait as her mouth forms the perfect little O. “Now that you mention it, I think I remember Murphy saying something about that.”
“I just bet you do.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she fires back, and I grin because teasing Lacey Brock has always been one of my favorite pastimes. Seems like adulthood hasn’t changed that.
“You wanna come inside?” I ask, taking a sip of my coffee, the steam rising off the surface in the cold December air.
“And just leave my car?” She’s exasperated and I’m not ashamed to use that to my advantage.
“I made coffee.”
“Walker…”
“And there’s donuts,” I muse, stepping off the porch and down the snow-covered sidewalk. “Here.” Handing her my coffee mug, I step around her and snatch the keys from the ignition before grabbing her purse and a duffle bag from the backseat.
Everything else will have to wait.
“This is good coffee, Walker, and almost makes up for you being so bossy,” she snarks even though she’s cradling the mug like a lifeline.
“I’m sorry. Did someone crash into your front yard this morning?” I fire back, watching her spine straighten as she sniffs.
“I was having a moment.”
“Obviously.”
“I’ll just call a tow truck and everything will be fine,” she says with a hopeful note I’m about to crush.
“Lace, this storm is only going to get worse, and this isn’t Chicago—it’s Starlight Bay. Unless it’s an emergency, no one is going anywhere for at least forty-eight hours.”
“My car in a snowbank isn’t an emergency?”
“No, you did too good a job parking it. Next time keep the back end in the road so you can be sure you’re obstructing traffic.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she says wryly as I hold the door open for her, letting her into my house.
Into my space.
It shouldn’t be weird, but it is.
Because Lacey Brock is all grown up, and for the first time she doesn’t look like my best friend’s little sister. No, right now she looks like this snowstorm just got a lot more fun.