A string of unintelligible cursing came back at him, followed by a yelp of, “Who is she?”
“Look, Chelsea, I told you before, this thing between us is over. I’ve moved on. You should too.” With that, he ended the call. His delivery could have been less brutal, but it felt like blunt force was the only way to get the message through to her that there was nothing there.
He held his breath and waited, daring to hope she wouldn’t call back with each passing minute. After ten ticked by, he closed the cat in the room and padded down the hall to the kitchen. Neve had her back to him, chopping fresh herbs as she hummed and swayed in time to soft music coming through a speaker on the counter. The aroma filled his nose, and his stomach rumbled. He hadn’t had anything since their Vegas breakfast, and his stomach had been tied in too many knots to fill it with anything substantial.
The dark blue so typical of late afternoon this time of year had fallen into place, cloaking the world outside. Without his permission, his mind wandered to whether anyone was in trouble out there and needed rescue. He should be on call. He should be ready to go. If it weren’t for Chelsea …Damn it!
He drew in a calming breath and inched closer to Neve. “Can I help?”
Seemingly unsurprised he stood there, she cast her eyes to the side. “Can you cook?”
“Yeah, but I don’t do it often, so I’m a little rusty.”
“Well, let’s see if we can sharpen your skills. I’ll start you out with something simple.” She pointed the knife toward an empty wineglass within her reach; an open bottle of red stood beside it. “In the meantime, pour yourself a glass of merlot and keep me company. Glasses are up there.” Waving the knife, she gestured toward a row of pristine wineglasses lined in a perfect row on a dustless open shelf. “And before you say anything, I know it’s only four o’clock in the afternoon, but after last night, it feels like it’s midnight.”
With a mild chuckle, he helped himself. “I’m surprised you can drink anything after last night.”
“Hair of the dog.”
“Amen.” He raised his glass to her profile and took a sip. “Any updates from Shane?”
“Only that he and Charlie took care of the front door, sothatworry is out of the way.” What should have been good news left Reece disappointed. Fixing her door washisjob, and he hadn’t moved quickly enough. “Sometimes I get annoyed that everyone knows your business in this town—case in point, Dixie saw my ring and put two and two together to get six, which is probably why Luanne looked like the cat who got the canary. But at other times, it’s incredibly nice to be surrounded by people who care what happens to you and will fix your door even though you didn’t ask them to.”
“I took pictures and made notes while we were there. I was planning to fix it myself.” He came off sounding like a pouty six-year-old. Silently, he admonished himself for his selfish reaction. At least the damn door was fixed—that was what mattered, not his itty-bitty feelings.
“See? If they hadn’t done it, you would have. And if not you, probably Dewey or someone else. That’s the nice part about small-town living.”
And definitely something he would miss. He could already feel the ache. How long would it take him to form friendships in Vermont? He wasn’t like Charlie, the golden retriever of the family, or Noah, who enjoyed the people side of bartending. Reece was private, a loner. Not the kind of guy who made friends easily, though he valued having a few close ones. And if he did form a friendship or two, would the bonds become as strong as the ones he already had here in Fall River?
Doubtful.
Oh-so-casually, Neve dropped a mini-bombshell. “So … sounded like a pretty tense conversation in your room before your butt strolled out here.”
He nearly spewed the wine he’d just swallowed. “You heard?”
“I should have warned you. These walls are paper-thin.”
“Huh. I’ll have to remember that in case I snore.”
“Thought you didn’t snore.”
“You would know,” he quipped. “Did I snore last night?”
“I have no idea because I was passed out. I think I could have slept through an earthquake. But you’re evading, which is fine if that’s the route you want to go. I won’t push, but I just wanted you to know I’m here if you want to talk about it.” A mild chuckle jiggled her shoulders. “I won’t hold my breath, though. Knowing you, Mr. Stoic, you’ll keep it locked away in your vault with the rest of your emotions.”
He leaned against the counter and watched her work. Something about the domestic scene caused his muscles to uncoil and his tongue to loosen. “In case you didn’t figure it out after eavesdropping, that was Chelsea.”
“I wasn’t eavesdropping. You were barking, and it was hardnotto hear. But seriously, she’s still calling you?”
He bobbed his head. “I know, right? She’s not taking no for an answer.”
“Sounds like she’s got an incurable case of Reece Rescue Syndrome.”
He sipped his wine, filling his mouth with cherry jam and a hint of oak. Damn, that was good.
His mind whirred with ways to redirect the conversation, but Neve got there first, taking them deeper in the direction hedidn’twant to go. “We might have touched on this before, and I get that Chelsea wasn’t your ‘one,’ but why haven’t you ever been in a long-term relationship?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. For a long time, my priorities were elsewhere, and they were at odds with a relationship. Then I went through a phase where I just wasn’t interested.”
