I needed to talk to her myself about it. Subtly. Less pressure than that first reunion with all three of us—just me, calmly explaining the situation and asking Allie for the ring I’d givenher by mistake. At least to figure out where things stood. And I knew exactly where to find her.
Grabbing Gavin’s car keys, I slipped out the door to the beach house without a word to Gavin or Luca, who were busy with their own stuff in the other room. They’d only give me shit for this, and I wasn’t in the mood to justify myself.
Marv’s Diner wasn’t far. The bell above the door jingled as I stepped inside, and the smell of coffee and fried food wrapped around me like a familiar embrace.
Allie was behind the counter, laughing at something one of the cooks said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. And just like that, I felt all of my stupid romantic tendencies struggling again for control of my brain, my life, my heart.
“Hey, Allie,” I said hoarsely, and she turned to look at me.
7
ALLIE
“What are you doing here?” I asked Cade through gritted teeth. All of these interruptions to my regular life were grating on me. The spontaneity was the worst part—they gave me no time to prepare. Hell, all three of the guys had my phone number now. Couldn’t they call before they showed up at my workplace on a whim?
“I was hoping we could talk,” Cade said flatly, not seeming fazed by my clear frustration. “Me and you. If you have a minute.”
“A minute? Or is this something big again? Because some topics need more than a minute.”
“Not the way I do it,” he proclaimed. I almost wanted to laugh, though he said it in a deadly serious tone, not a hint of a joke. I wasn’t sure if this man ever made jokes—had he made any in Vegas? I had no way of remembering, details like what we had talked about or the guys’ names were the first ones to disappear from my memory. He did seem like a man of few words, to be fair.
“Alright. You want coffee?”
He gave a sharp, perfunctory nod and I turned away. I made sure to grab a carafe and a to-go coffee cup before I met him back out in the dining room again.
I slid into a booth in the furthest corner of the diner. Cade followed, taking his own seat across from me, and I finally had a second to take a good look at him, which was a bad idea. He was gorgeous, that clean-cropped beard the very picture of masculinity, his body built strong and broad, his well-muscled arms on display thanks to the short sleeves of his gray T-shirt. Somehow, the cool tone of the top brought out a glint of near silver in his blue eyes that I didn’t want to notice. It was too pretty. It wasn’t fair.
Or maybe it was an opportunity to get my mojo back. The old Allie would have taken any chance she got to flirt with someone as hot as Cade, and since he seemed pretty impenetrable, this felt like a low-risk way to try. Even if he wanted to flirt back, I wasn’t sure he’d follow the urge. If he even knew how. Hadn’t he been reserved in Vegas too? At least outside of the bedroom.
And if I was honest, a big part of me was hoping I could at least get something good out of the three of them being back in my life. I didn’t see another foursome happening, but if I could get at least one of them to sleep with me again, break my dry spell, all of the stress would be more than worth it.
“We’d better make this quick, or else Marv is gonna get suspicious about all of this time I’m spending not slinging hash browns.”
“How are the hash browns here?” Cade asked awkwardly. Was this his attempt at small talk? It was clear he hadn’t mastered the art. As a born social butterfly, these kinds of people always intrigued me.
“Oh, they’re great. Appropriately greasy,” I answered. “Are you here to ask me about the menu? Because we’re pretty oldschool in this place, but itisavailable online, so I hope you didn’t come all the way here just for that.”
“No,” he said. He cleared his throat, adjusted his posture in his seat. “No, of course not. I had a sort of…well, a question.”
“You are allowed to ask those,” I reassured him with a half smile I hoped he’d see as flirtatious. “Coffee?”
“Thanks,” he confirmed, and I poured his cup, handing it back to him with more care than was necessary. His hand brushed mine, a touch that seemed accidental. It wasn’t a surprise, exactly, that his hands were calloused, but it was curious anyway. I raised an eyebrow, meeting his eyes.
“I, uh, do a lot of woodworking,” he explained. As if he was self-conscious, his hand slid under the table, probably rubbing nervously over his pant leg. “Artistic stuff, mostly, but also housewares. Not that housewares aren’t artistic.”
“That’s really cool,” I said, trying not to sound too surprised. “Do you sell your stuff at all?”
“Yeah. Mostly at art fairs and sometimes at shops, when I can find the right place for my pieces.”
I couldn’t stop myself asking more questions, finding this side of him genuinely fascinating. “What’s the biggest thing you’ve ever made? Or…like, the most elaborate?”
He blinked. Like he didn’t expect me to ask questions, or maybe like he didn’t know how to carry on such a conversation. But he answered me anyway, his quietness fading into the background behind a clear passion for his art. “I built a toy box for my niece once.” He held out his hands to show the size—close to the width of this table, deep enough to hold as many toys as any child could want. “Carved the lid of it with all kinds of fairy-tale creatures for her. Unicorns and stuff, you know. Not my personal style, but it was a fun project to try out. A good challenge.”
“I bet she loved it,” I practically breathed, and he nodded again, taking a slow swig of his coffee. Something compelled me to say, “I guess you’re pretty passionate about it. The woodworking thing.”
“It’s my art,” he answered simply, and I nodded along instinctively. I really did understand. That commonality felt like a way in, albeit a small one.
“I’m that way too. With music. Singing, mostly, but I play guitar too. And I’ve written a few songs.” A few dozen, more like, but it’d been ages since I’d picked up a pen for something other than taking orders at the diner or filling out the various bits of paperwork they never warn you about when you become a mom.
