He grinned and shrugged. “I promise, it’s really good. Or are you a vegetarian? I could make something else.”
The menu wasn’t the problem, her bruised heart was, and the fact that she’d be leaving Trappers Cove in a month or two. But Zora had assured her Jesse was a good man, and she wouldn’t be in town long enough to fall in love, so… “Okay. Why not? I’d love to taste your cooking.”And other things.
His brilliant grin fried her brain. Time to go. “I’ll see you Friday.”
She spun and returned to her Jeep on wobbly legs. What an emotional rollercoaster! As she drove back to town, the coastal fog swirling around her aged Jeep, she debated with herself—was dinner with Jesse a harmless indulgence or a terrible mistake?
Chapter Four
Thewintersunhunglow in the sky when Jesse spotted Ryan’s shiny blue Ram pickup bumping up the gravel road. That behemoth was his best friend’s pride and joy. No doubt, he’d stop by a carwash to clean off the dust on his way back to his brew pub on Main Street.
Ryan was a weird contradiction. He dressed impeccably to impress his customers but loved to sink his hands into the dirt. His apartment above the Salty Dog Brewery and Saloon only offered a tiny balcony, so he regularly visited Jesse’s farm for a little therapeutic gardening. Said it helped him think.
Ryan switched off his headlights, hopped down from his truck, and flashed a shit-eating grin. “So, did she show?”
“Come again?”
“The girl, dumbass. The hippie hottie. Did you scare her off?”
“Not quite.” Jesse wiped his dirt-smeared hands on his jeans. “She’s coming over for dinner on Friday.”
“Attaboy.” Ryan pounded Jesse’s back. “Way to get back on the horse.”
His jaw tightened. “I told you, I’m over Shauna.”
“Uh-huh. Keep tellin’ yourself that.”
Jesse and Shauna had dated for the past two years or so. A teacher at the elementary school, she was one of the few younger residents besides Jesse and Ryan who grew up in Trappers Cove and actually stuck around. Unlike most of their classmates, who left for wider pastures, Shauna had seemed to love TC as much as he did, and until recently, he really thought she was the one. Not that he burned for her or any such nonsense, but they fit comfortably together to the point where he’d started envisioning a family of his own in this old farmstead.
But Shauna neglected to tell him she’d applied for a job in Seattle, and as soon as she got an offer, she booked it out of Trappers Cove without a backward glance. The memory of her parting words still stung.
“I just feel like what we had has run its course. You’re a great guy, Jesse, but we each want a different kind of life. I need more than this.” Her limp wave had taken in all he held dear—the house, the farm, the town.
He picked up a stone and chucked it across the field of sage, thyme, and rosemary, watching it sail end over end into the sunset. “Shauna wasn’t the one for me. Neither is Gemma, most likely.”
“Why’d you ask her out then?” Ryan dragged his ostrich-skin boot through the dust, dislodged a stone, and spun it expertly toward the horizon.
“Dunno.” He bent to find another projectile. “There’s something about her that’s just—exciting, I guess. But she’s so freakin’ woo-woo. Asked my star sign, for God’s sake.”
“And she comes and goes, right? Probably not the best choice for a homebody like you. You tend to stay in your comfort zone.”
Jesse executed a slow turn, drinking in the familiar beauty of his homestead. The greenhouses glowed in the gathering twilight. Heather bloomed in flower boxes on the porch railing, and Gramps’ well-loved rocking chair waited for Jesse’s evening drink and contemplation. He cherished this place, and maintaining it took his full attention. So why were stupid thoughts of a future with Gemma tickling his imagination? He hadn’t even kissed the woman—at least, not properly.
But he really wanted to.
Staring into the distance, Ryan rubbed his chin. “On the other hand—”
With Ryan, there was always an “on the other hand.”
“How many available women are you gonna meet in Trappers Cove in winter? Most of the locals are paired up, and the single ones don’t stay.” His smile slipped sideways. “Like Reese.” A massage therapist at the Sea Queen Spa, she’d kept Ryan enchanted with her flirty glances and magic hands—until she got a better offer from a spa in Bellevue and flew the coop.
Jesse picked up another stone, flat and smooth, and pitched it toward the tree line. “Yeah, the good ones always leave.”
Ryan bumped Jesse’s shoulder with his own. “Sorry, man. You still hurting?”
He heaved a sigh that emptied his lungs. Ryan had an uncanny way of teasing the truth past his defenses. It hurt sometimes, but he always felt better afterward. “If I’m honest with myself, I don’t miss Shauna as much as I miss the future I imagined for us. That’s what I get for assuming.”
“Well, good on you for asking out the hippie chick. You need to exercise your dating muscles.” He gave Jesse’s arm an affectionate punch. “You used to be charming, you know.”
