Noah opened his mouth, closed it. “Elisa and I are getting married in a month. So—a lot of difference.”
Time for a subject change. “You know whatIdidn’t realize?” Linc finished the contents of his can in one big sip. “You’re running for mayor.”
“What?Moretea I didn’t get?” Owen shut the cooler with a thump and a frown. “Guys, come on.”
“For the record, I didn’t know this one either, Owen.” Cade shifted to face them. “Does my dad know yet?”
“It’s not official, hence my lack of telling.” Noah shot Linc a pointed look. “Apparently Zoey took that liberty for herself.”
For good reason, but it was fun watching Noah squirm. And at this point, anything to get the spotlight off his kid. Linc smirked. “Need any campaign posters?”
“Are you good with this?” Noah asked Cade, brow furrowed. “I mean, the town did essentially vote for younotto run a month ago.”
“Yeah, on the same night I went to tell them I resigned from running.” Cade laughed. “Of course it’s fine. The town needs someone to step up, and right now I’m focused on passing the bar so I can get my freelance business started.”
“And busy spending time with Rosalyn.” Owen grinned. “Thattea I have.”
Cade groaned. “Can we get back to Linc and his problems? Before Owen starts trying to pour cream and sugar on me?”
The guys’ banter continued, but Linc tuned it out as he absently dug around his tackle box. Noah’s words cycled through his mind—similar to the warning Mama D had given him.Playing house.
A hook snagged a callus on his finger, and he winced as he tugged it free. He’d dismissed the idea when it was just him and Zoey. They were adults, they could handle whatever. But what about Amelia?Werethey giving her a bad impression? He couldn’t ask Zoey to leave. She had nowhere else to go—and he’d be lost without her. He didn’t know how to do this dad thing, would screw it up worse than he was already doing alone.
Linc rubbed the sore spot on his hand. But what if Mama D and Noah were right? What if he was already messing things up with this living arrangement? He plucked a lure from the box and began wrestling it back on his line, imagining Amelia’s scowl. Her glare, the rigidness in her back as she stalked away from him earlier that day.
Maybe at this point, things were just meant to be worse. Maybe there was nothing he could do.
“You know, there is one solution to this whole household thing.”
Linc jerked his head up at Noah’s quiet voice echoing over the water, seemingly reading his mind. “What’s that?”
“Ask Zoey to marry you.”
Owen choked on his drink as Cade burst into laughter. “What?”
Linc’s throat went dry. He swallowed, narrowed his eyes. “Careful with those crazy ideas, or I won’t have any confidence in you as mayor.”
“I’m serious.” Noah lifted one shoulder in a shrug as he recast his line. “Sort of checks the boxes you need, you know?”
“Linc, married? That’d be the day. Mr. Permanent Bachelor here.” Owen clapped Linc on the shoulder, then dropped his arm at Linc’s responding growl. “I mean, whatever you want, man.”
Whatever he wanted? Linc dug through the ice chest and swapped his water for a beer. What hewantedwas for things to stop changing.
And marrying Zoey would be the biggest change of all.
He guzzled half the can in a gulp. There was one other thing to consider…He stared across the water, stomach churning and not from the drink.
If his friends were already guessing at his shifting feelings for Zoey…how long was it before Amelia would notice too?
* * *
One of Zoey’s favorite movies growing up had always been Disney’sBeauty and the Beast.
Unfortunately, she seemed to be living it out in real time.
“What do you mean, you need to move out?” Linc growled as he dragged oars through murky pond water, his hair free of its usual tied-up knot, making him look extra beast-like. When he got home from fishing at sunset, Zoey had requested to speak to him privately. With Amelia in the house watching TV before bed, out in the middle of the pond in a canoe seemed to be the safest place. “That’s ridiculous.”
“This doesn’t work.” Zoey gestured between them, adding a swoop of her finger to include Amelia inside the house thirty yards away on the shore. She really wanted it to, but…“It was one thing for me to crash for a week while I got my ducks in a row, but those ducks are now, like, rabid squirrels.” She shuddered. “And thereisno row. There’s just a frat party.”
