Chapter Four #2
“Is that so?” Hunter asked with interest.
“I mean, there’s the crafting club.” She tipped her head toward the café, where Abby and Hattie weren’t even pretending not to be watching her and Hunter, even as they continued making small talk with Mayor Thompson. “They tried to talk me into a line dancing class.”
Hunter’s mouth pulled to the side in mock horror. “Yikes.”
Emma started listing off other events that had been floated her way. “Apparently there are also cooking classes at the diner, plant-and-sip nights at the houseplant store, cheese tastings, Tupperware parties, a disc golf league, a golf golf league, pickleball. It’s endless.”
“I had no idea.”
“That’s because you’re a hermit,” Granny interjected.
“Thanks for that,” Hunter muttered. He stood up straighter. “Well, seems like your calendar is packed, then.”
He snagged the book off the counter, and she automatically handed him his change and his receipt. But it was only as he took a step backward that it occurred to her—wait, had she just shut him down?
She’d been partnered up for pretty much her entire adult life. She had no idea how getting to know someone new even worked.
“I mean, I have free time,” she babbled. “Plenty of it. Loads.” What was she saying? “You know. If you have any suggestions?”
That was a decent opening, right? She didn’t dare look in the direction of Granny or her new friends over in the café for fear of their reactions. They must think she was a bumbling fool.
“Like I said. I don’t get out much.”
“Looking for ideas of things to do?” And there was Mayor Thompson again, randomly inserting himself into a conversation. She was starting to get the impression that might just be a thing he did.
“Hunter and Emma were discussing possible activities. They really hit it off when they met outside the shop the other day,” Granny intoned meaningfully.
Hunter pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered something under his breath.
But Mayor Thompson’s eyes lit up. “Right outside, you say? On the corner, even?”
“Yep.” Emma darted her gaze from Mayor Thompson to Granny to Hunter and back. Hunter wasn’t quite meeting her eyes.
“Well, why didn’t you say so?” Mayor Thompson said, rubbing his hands together. Was Emma missing something here? “What sort of thing were you two looking to do together, then?”
“Maybe something outdoorsy,” Granny encouraged before burying her nose in her book again as if she still wasn’t paying them any attention at all.
Mayor Thompson tilted his head to the side. “Oh, you’re an outdoorsy type. Not a city girl at all, then.”
“I mean…” She liked getting outside, but in all those years that Brock resisted touching grass, it wasn’t as if she’d pushed very hard for the chance to do so herself.
Mayor Thompson talked right over her, though. “No better view in the whole Northeast than the one from the top of Mount Darcy—isn’t that right, Hunter?”
As if he hadn’t been expecting to be put on the spot, Hunter cleared his throat. “It’s nice. Lots of good fall foliage coming into season soon, too.”
“You both sound like tourist brochures,” Granny chided, giving up any pretense at not being involved.
“Well, how could we not, living in a beautiful bit of country like this?” the mayor asked.
“And it’s literally my job—and Hunter’s, too.
Aren’t you rangers always trying to get more young people off their phones and out on the trails?
And with the state funding situation, you could certainly use some new visitors. ”
“That’s true,” he allowed. To Emma, he asked, “Are you much of a hiker? There are a couple of good trails up to the peak that are beginner-friendly, but some of them get pretty intense.”
Emma chewed the inside of her lip. She was fairly fit, but she wouldn’t call herself an experienced hiker. “Beginner-friendly sounds good.”
Granny let out a sound of exasperation. “You should take her up.” When Hunter shot her a glare, she backtracked. “As part of your duties, of course. Educating the public, and all.”
“That’s not exactly how it works,” Hunter grumbled.
“It’s fine.” Discomfort tightened Emma’s chest, and she darted a warning glance in Granny’s direction as well. Why was she pushing this so hard? If Hunter wanted to take her on a hike, then great, that sounded fun, and if he didn’t, then that was okay, too.
And yes, maybe she was a little disappointed that he wasn’t exactly jumping at the opportunity, but it was like she’d thought to herself earlier: They barely knew each other. It was no big deal.
“But…” Hunter scrubbed a hand through his thick hair. He quirked up one brow and let his gaze fall on hers. “I do have to go up and check on some of the new boardwalks those Eagle Scouts installed this summer. If you wanted to come with me, I don’t think there’d be any harm in that.”
Warmth flickered behind her ribs, but she teased, “Well, only if it wouldn’t cause any harm…”
He smiled, and it made her a little weak in the knees. “Are you off any days this week?”
She consulted the mental calendar in her brain. “Wednesday and Thursday, I think?”
“If the weather’s good either of those days, we could go then?”
“Get her number,” Granny hissed.
He heaved out a rough breath before refocusing on Emma. “She’s not wrong. If you don’t mind?”
He passed over his phone, and she typed in her number. As soon as she returned it, he sent a text, so she had his, too, and that sure seemed like progress.
“Fingers crossed for sunny skies,” she said, literally crossing her fingers, because she was an absolute dork.
But the weather didn’t matter. Her outlook hadn’t looked this sunny in weeks.