And then quit.
She hesitated in his arms. “Noah, I don’t…we can’t make another mistake.”
* * *
Noah had been wrong—about a lot of things, and especially about whatever mess Trish had tried to create. But holding Elisa felt like righting every wrong he’d ever made.
Yet her comment about a mistake rang true.
Noah loosened his grip, struggling to decide who had just rejected whom even as he kept his hands on her waist. He couldn’t reel her in, but couldn’t let her go.
And hadn’t that been the case for twelve years?
Elisa allowed a few inches of space between them as her eyes searched his. What did his gaze reflect back? Did his face match the worry sketched across hers?
“I guess we still haven’t technically talked.” He eased back another inch and Elisa didn’t protest, gently sliding free of his arms until she rested both hands against the sink.
The moment had officially passed.
“Guess not.” She grinned half-heartedly, and his eyes followed the movement, a piece of him already missing the imagined contact with her lips.
But he had no business going there again with Elisa. The sheriff had a point about Hebert men. Wasn’t Noah living up to his lineage already? Now there were inappropriate rumors circulating around town, and while in this case they weren’t true, people wouldn’t notice that. They’d only remember how they were true about his father.
“I’ll start.” He drew a breath. “The kiss at the courthouse…” He shook his head. “Maybe I don’t have the words.”
“I’ll agree with that.” A shy, cautious smile edged across her lips.
“But the facts are…” He swallowed. “You’re probably right. Anything else would be a mistake. I’ve got my hands full with the inn, and I live in Shreveport now.”
Her smile sobered.
“I don’t want history to repeat itself.” If it did, he couldn’t blame anything on being a naïve teenager.
He could only blame his legacy.
“You mean, the part where you left? Where summer ended as you walked away from me with a sunburned neck?”
“Yeah, that part.” Noah released a sigh. “We were kids.”
“We were in—” Elisa rolled in her lip.
“There’s more to that ending scene than my sunburn.” Noah crossed his arms over his chest.
“Maybe so. But it doesn’t matter, if you’re still moving back to Shreveport, does it?” Her eyes glistened. “When you finish fixing the inn, you’re leaving. Right?”
“That’s the plan.” He hesitated. “I don’t know that I could do anything differently.”
“I understand.” She offered a stiff nod. “I guess neither of us are in a good place for anything more than what it was. Just a kiss for old times’ sake.”
That landed like a gut punch. It was way more than that to him, but how could he express that to her without getting her hopes up for more?
He didn’t deserve her, and Magnolia Bay reminded him of that at every turn.
Noah’s phone buzzed in his pocket, but he didn’t dare wrench his eyes from Elisa’s to check it. He reached to touch her hand, then thought better of it. “Do you need to say anything else?”
“No. I didn’t want to fight, anyway.” She pressed her fingers against her temples and massaged, and his arms ached to wrap her back up. To fight the reality they both knew was true. “But I will say thanks again for helping out. You’re quite the hero lately.”
“I don’t know about that.” Her words, obviously meant to encourage, to put them on calmer waters, only shone a light on the dark corners of himself he wanted to keep secret. “And for the record, I don’t want to fight either.”
