Half Moon Hill (15 page)

“Ah,” she said, still taken aback, now mainly by how normal he was acting—but she didn’t think it was so normal under the circumstances.

Finally, he looked up at her, but focused on the black capri pants she wore with a pair of strappy wedge heels. He appeared slightly perplexed. “Where are your shorts, Daisy?”

“In my drawer, Duke.”

When he cocked his head to one side, clearly perplexed, she explained, “I start my job today at Under the Covers. So I’ll be gone all day.”

He simply gave a short nod, then refocused on his work, pulling a tape measure from his tool belt—the same tool belt she’d been wearing the day she’d ended up hanging from the roof—and stretching it out alongside one of the steps.

Huh. That was it? He wasn’t going to acknowledge anything that had taken place between them yesterday?

Well, if
he
wasn’t,
she
was. “So . . . are we going to talk about what happened?”

He lifted his gaze to her again briefly, the glimpse she caught of his eyes reminding her of how close they’d been just over twelve hours earlier, and then he dropped it back to the steps again. “Is there something to talk about?”

“We had sex,” she reminded him pointedly.

“Yep, we sure did,” he agreed, then let the tape measure slide quickly shut with a
click
before looking back to her. “It was hot. And it was good. Is there any reason we can’t just leave it at that?”

Anna barely knew what to say. Though she held in the few things that came to mind.
You said I was beautiful. You said you wanted me more than you’d ever wanted anyone else. You felt something more than you’re pretending right now.

But her chest tightened uncomfortably when she forced herself to realize some additional truths. They barely knew each other. They hadn’t gone on a single date or shared a single kiss before falling into bed together—or onto the couch, as the case had been. And the fact that he was working on her house didn’t make it any more than a one-night stand. No matter how he’d acted or what he’d said.

“No,” she replied, trying to regain her usual cool confidence. Even if she’d told him it was fake sometimes. It hit her then what a huge confession that had been, what a personal thing to share. Why on earth had she done that? How did this man seem to draw out parts of her that she barely even knew existed? “I just thought maybe we should acknowledge it. Since we’ll still be seeing each other every day. But no, I guess we can just leave it at that.”

And with that she walked to the edge of the porch—thankful she didn’t fall through now that she knew just how unstable it was—and moved down the steps and past him, feeling his presence even more than usual. It was at once a relief and a disappointment to get in her car and drive away.

A
nna’s day at Under the Covers went well—the work was easy and even pleasant, and spending the day with Tessa and Amy turned out to be fun. She decided that was another good outcome of taking the job—somehow
having
to be with them made her feel more relaxed and less like a third wheel who didn’t fit in.

During a late lunch at Dolly’s Main Street Café, which Anna had learned soon after arriving in town was one of Destiny’s hot spots, Amy made a point of telling everyone they ran into that Anna was working at the bookstore now, and was soon opening a bed-and-breakfast, and how wonderful the place was going to be.

“That’s great,” Mary Ann Davis from the dress shop said, clasping Anna’s hand warmly between hers. “My parents will finally have a nice place to stay when they visit.”

And Betty Fisher’s face lit up as she said, “Now that my daughter has a family of her own, I think she and her husband feel a bit crowded at our house when they come for holidays. I can’t wait to tell her Destiny is going to have its very own inn soon!”

Since situations exactly like these had been the inspiration behind Anna’s decision to convert the house into a B&B, their responses had thrilled her and, without quite meaning to, she’d fallen into cheerful, open conversations with both women. Then realized that Amy and the whole town really
were
rubbing off on her since, while she always tried to be polite, she wasn’t that naturally chatty. Until now anyway.

“See? This job is getting you customers already, on your very first day,” Amy said after Betty departed.

And Anna couldn’t deny it. “You’re right. Thanks for talking the place up.”

“I can’t wait to get the grand tour when it’s all done!”

“Me too,” Tessa added. “And Lucky said—again—to just let him or Mike know if you need any help and they’ll be glad to come up.”

Anna just smiled. She really did appreciate her brothers’ willingness to pitch in—maybe more now that she knew she wasn’t going to have to take them up on it. “I will. But so far, so good.”

“I don’t see how you’re managing the exterior yourself,” Tessa added. “I mean, that’s a lot of work.”

And part of Anna wished she could tell the girls the truth about how the outside was getting done—but she’d promised Duke. Even if he
had
made her feel lonely and forsaken last night. “True, but . . . it’s all coming together.”

She smiled tightly as the words left her, since she wondered if she was talking about the restoration project or her and Duke’s bodies. Since, try as she might, she was having trouble getting that off her mind. Even as she spent the day concentrating on shelving books and how the cash register worked, yesterday’s amazing sex with Duke stayed with her.

But that’s normal. You haven’t been with anyone in a while. And you’ve been so strangely drawn to him since you met.
Well, not since last summer, but since they’d met in the woods on that now-momentous day. She suddenly wondered—if she hadn’t gone out picking berries, when would she have discovered Duke living in the shack? Or would she have discovered him at all? The questions suddenly made her desire to bake a blackberry dessert seem downright fated.

But even as she remembered how good things had been with Duke yesterday afternoon, the memories of his leaving were equally painful, too. So it would be best if she stopped remembering yesterday so longingly and lustfully. It would be best if she forgot all about the more tender moments and saw it the way he clearly did—as just good sex.

So upon returning from lunch, she tried much harder to concentrate on books and people and her new job. More than once, that led to thoughts of Cathy’s copy of
The Phantom of the Opera
, and somehow that led back to Duke in her mind—but even so, she kept trying to push it all away, at least for right now.

At the end of the day, after Amy had taught her how to balance the register, Anna thanked her for making her training day so enjoyable. In fact, all things considered, she thought she was going to like working at Under the Covers—for far more reasons than she’d originally taken the job. “I already feel more . . . a part of things, a part of the town,” she admitted, “than I did even this morning.” Because yes, she’d been back in Destiny for a year now, but it had taken her this long to inch forward into truly
wanting
to be here, and wanting to be a part of the community. And now she knew this job was going to be a big help in continuing on that path.

“I’ve never lived anywhere but here,” Amy said, “so I don’t know what it’s like to go someplace new. But I can only imagine what a culture shock this place has been to you, especially under the circumstances.” Anna knew Amy meant coming home after being abducted so long ago.

Just then, Amy’s cell phone made a meowing noise that caused Anna to flinch. “That’s my text alert,” Amy said with a smile. “Isn’t it adorable?”

In truth, it creeped Anna out a little—sounded like a cat was trapped in Amy’s phone—but she kept her
own
smile firmly in place. “Sure. Definitely.”

Amy checked her phone, then called to Tessa, who was in the back of the store straightening books. “Logan says the game’s been moved to six-thirty, so we’d better step on it.”

A glance at her watch revealed to Anna that it was almost six-fifteen now. “What game?” she asked, mildly curious.

And when Amy looked up at Anna, her eyes brightened. “You should come with us. There’s a softball game at Creekside Park against a big rival team from Crestview. I don’t know why I didn’t invite you sooner. Why don’t you come?”

Anna thought she actually
did
know why Amy hadn’t invited her sooner—because she usually turned down such invitations. Though she’d gone only once last summer, Mike and others had invited her many times.

As Tessa emerged from between two bookshelves, she raised her eyebrows in Anna’s direction. “What do you say? I’m sure Lucky and Mike would both love to see you there.” Lucky didn’t play on the team, but Anna knew he often came to watch.

And she was actually tempted. Not only because she was suddenly warming a little to the idea of being more social, but also because of all the good-looking guys at the ballpark. After all, hadn’t Duke let her know this morning that he didn’t want anything more with her than the sex they’d had? And hadn’t she been telling herself he wasn’t her type anyway? And weren’t the kind of guys who hung out at the ballpark—friends of Mike’s and Logan’s—a lot more likely to be her type?

But then she bit her lip, glancing down at her platform wedges. “Am I too overdressed?”

Though Amy instantly shook her head. “We’re dressed for work, too, and you look great. And we can sit low on the bleachers so you don’t have to climb in those things.”

So Anna decided to cast any doubts aside. She needed to keep her mind off Duke; what better way than to find some new, and more compatible, guys to focus on. “Okay,” she said, “I’ll go.”

A
nna sat between Rachel and Sue Ann on the metal bleachers behind home plate, watching the game and listening to the other girls cheer on the team. Sue Ann’s handsome, dark-haired boyfriend, Adam Becker, who ran a local landscaping business, guarded first base while Logan played shortstop. Mike was the pitcher, and though he claimed to enjoy this game, Anna thought he seemed even more on edge than usual. Behind her, Amy played patty-cake with Sue Ann’s daughter, Sophie, and Tessa and Lucky sat a few rows higher up with Jenny and her husband, Mick.

As Amy had predicted, both Romo brothers had indeed been happily surprised to see Anna at the game—though even then she’d thought Mike’s hug had felt stiff and he’d seemed quieter than usual when greeting her. Now he was the
opposite
of quiet—bellowing at his teammates for errors, and cussing at himself for throwing a wild pitch. And watching Lucky talk with Mick reminded Anna of his friendship with Duke, something she felt she was almost impeding in some way by keeping Duke’s whereabouts from her brother.

After all, wouldn’t Lucky want to help Duke weather whatever he was going through that had him living in that shack? At moments, the isolation of Half Moon Hill made it easy to believe she and Duke were the only two people that existed—but seeing Lucky reminded her that she wasn’t the only person here who cared about Duke.

But stop. Caring. About. Duke. In that way anyway.
It just seemed like a losing proposition, leaving her angry at herself for allowing the emotion to sneak up on her, and further, for letting herself be so open with him yesterday—both physically and emotionally—since she knew that was the reason she was feeling overly attached right now.

And besides, you’re supposed to be here looking at guys.

And there were plenty to look at. A couple of other local firemen played on Mike and Logan’s team who were none too shabby in the hot department, and more than one guy on the opposing team caught her eye, as well.

The only problem was that she kept thinking about Duke anyway. Watching them sweat made her remember watching
him
sweat. Watching their muscular arms as they swung bats and threw balls reminded her of the way Duke’s arms and shoulders had looked when he’d been sawing that wood yesterday. Or, really, when he was doing about anything with them—and at this point she’d seen those arms do quite a lot of things.
I should have let myself enjoy it more when he was carrying me through the woods.

Just then, Mike walked the other team’s pitcher, creating a bases-loaded situation. He looked as tense as she’d ever seen him.

“Come on, Mike—get it together, dude,” Logan called encouragingly from behind him.

And Mike spun to face him. “You wanna pitch the damn game, Whitaker?”

Logan just gave him a matter-of-fact look, relaxing his ready stance only slightly. “No, I just want you to calm down a little, that’s all.”

One of the things Anna had most admired about Logan when she’d had that crush on him last summer was his ability to remain unruffled by Mike’s theatrics. In response, Mike just drew in a deep breath and looked like he was trying to do as Logan had advised.

“Does Mike get like this at every game?” Anna asked Rachel.

Rachel kept her eyes on him, though her expression struck Anna as being a bit distant. In fact, now that she thought about it, Rachel seemed quieter than normal tonight, too. “No, not usually.”

“Maybe I picked the wrong game to come to,” Anna remarked.

And Rachel merely replied, “Could be,” her voice still sounding far away, and like her thoughts weren’t entirely on the conversation at hand.

Anna hoped nothing was wrong, but decided not to ask. She’d endured a lot of prying questions herself upon her return to Destiny—even if they were well-meaning—and despite her sudden and inexplicable penchant for being all open and talkative the last twenty-four hours or so, that didn’t mean
everyone
felt that way.

So go back to watching hot, sweaty guys.

She tried. She really did. And it was even enjoyable in certain moments. But it was hard to concentrate on them with Mike’s grousing—especially when the next two batters hit home runs—and she just kept remembering being in bed with Duke anyway.

R
achel’s body felt heavier than usual as she got out of Mike’s truck and walked up to the Whippy Dip, the local dairy bar where the whole gang was meeting for post-game ice cream, despite the loss. Mike hadn’t said a word on the ride from the ball field, and she hadn’t tried to cheer him up. She’d never seen him play worse, and she couldn’t think of anything cheerful to say anyway.