Page 22 of The Perfect Putt

“He dropped me off last night after we got back from Cape Alamanda. I was too tired to drive home. The drink is a simple thank you.”

“That’s nice of him. How was yesterday?”

“It was…” I trail off, looking for a word to describe it. “Concerning.”

Molly’s brow furrows. “Did he do something?” She sets the cup down and looks at me. “I’ll kill him. Mr. Wilkins has a boat. We can ride out a couple hundred yards and feed him to the sharks.”

“Woah, slow down,” I say with a laugh. “That was poor word choice on my part. Maybe disconcerting is better? I don’t know how to feel,” I tell her and she relaxes some.

“You can’t scare me like that,” she scolds me as she pumps caramel sauce into the bottom of a clear plastic cup.

“You threatened to murder him, that doesn’t read as scared to me.”

“I get stabby when I’m scared,” she says and I shake my head at her. “Why don’t you know how to feel? Did you kiss him?” Her voice rises an octave.

I shush her, looking over my shoulder to see if anyone is listening. There’s an older gentleman eating a croissant while reading the paper near the door, and a woman in a hoodie with her headphones on. Hopefully neither of them heard her. I can’t have it going around that I kissed Miles Day. The gossips would have a field day. Mrs. Diane would be at my door, demanding to know why I didn’t tell her.

“Someone is going to hear you,” I hiss. She rolls her eyes. “We did not kiss. He’s practically a stranger.”

“People kiss strangers all the time. Especially when they’re in Cape Alamanda.”

I give her a flat look. “Yes, and after knowing me for two years, I’m sure you think I’m the kind of person who goes around kissing strangers.”

I haven’t been on more than a handful of dates since moving to Coastal Cove, but even before that I wasn’t much of a dater.

She laughs. “I’m only filling in the blanks because you’re taking too long.” She pours the espresso shots into the cup, then gets a scoop of ice from the cooler and dumps it on top.

“I don’t know what’s worth telling because I don’t know how to feel about any of it. We had a great day as far as work is concerned. I shared a little bit about why I moved to Coastal Cove.” Molly glances over at me with a surprised look. “Then we went to dinner with some executives, and afterward I fell asleep in his car underneath his jacket.”

“I feel like you’re leaving something out,” Molly says as she pours milk over the coffee and syrup mixture.

“There was this moment of–I don’t know.” I sigh. “I felt like he gave me a look?”

“What kind of a look?”

“Like he wanted to kiss me.” I almost laugh at how ridiculous I sound. “But I know that’s not possible. We barely know each other and he’s my boss. One night out in a nice dress isn’t going to make him see me differently.”

“Have you seen you in a dress? His brain probably short-circuited the moment you walked through the door.”

I roll my eyes. “I don’t think so. He seemed perfectly fine throughout dinner.”

“So if you think it’s nothing, why are you all worked up?”

“Because I can’t stop thinking about him,” I say, regretting the words as soon as they come out of my mouth.

Molly grins and points a straw at me. “I knew this would happen! There was so much tension between you two at the diner. I thought the counter was going to catch on fire from all that heat.”

I gape at her. “There was–is–nothing between us. No heat or fire or anything like that.” Except for the time he was shirtless. And maybe a few other times, but those were just little sparks. Not a whole fire like Molly is implying.

“Then why did you think he was going to kiss you?”

“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.”

She starts on Miles’ drink, humming So This Is Love under her breath.

“Don’t even start!” I chastise her. “There is nothing close to love between us. And there isn’t any kind of heat either. We’re ice. Antarctica, cold plunges, a New York snowstorm,” I say and Molly just grins.

“Whatever you have to tell yourself.” She looks over my shoulder with a sly smile. “You should bundle up though, because Miles is about to walk in. Wouldn’t want you to catch a cold from all that ice.”

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