Page 8 of Under the Mistle-Foe

“Alright, spill it. What do you plan to guilt trip me with today?”

“Well, when you put it like that…” His grin grew wider. “Just thought you’d want to get some fresh air and explore the fair with me. Heard a man named Hank was selling homemade dog treats, and the family sent me on a mission to buy some for the dogs we’re fostering.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You just don’t want to go alone.”

He gasped dramatically. “Why, I would never! How dare you accuse me of such blasphemy! I just want to hang out with my friend. I plead the fifth!”

I crossed my arms in front of me and stared him down. He seemed completely unaffected by my gaze.

“So, you gonna come with me?” he asked without missing a beat. His cheekiness had me barking out a laugh.

“Sorry, I can’t close up shop early today. Plus, we’ve been slammed all day, so I can’t just up and leave,” I said, then turned back to the pots and pans that still needed cleaning.

“Go explore town. I can spare a few hours to cover you,” Rory piped up. He glanced up at me, his eyes leaving the chopping board for a few seconds, but his hands didn’t stop moving as they chopped the onion into uniform slices.

“I can’t possibly let you do that. I’m sure you want to enjoy the fair with your family.”

This time, he did stop his actions long enough to wave me off. “It’s fine. Angie’s already there with the kids. I’ll just meet up with them for dinner.”

Then, without even waiting for my reply, he focused back on his ingredient prep like it was already a done deal. Discussion over.

Kaysen came to my side and bumped my hip. “You heard the man. Now let’s get out of here before he points that sharp knife at us.”

“We never play around in the kitchen,” Rory warned.

“Aye-aye, sir!” Kaysen saluted as he dragged me out of there. I barely had time to grab my jacket. Dad raised his gray eyebrow when he saw us. “I’ll make sure to bring him back mostly in one piece!” Dad’sguffaw followed us out the door at Kaysen’s remark.

“I’m guessing you’re not gonna let me grab a quick shower, are you?”

Kaysen leaned in close to me and took a sniff. “You’re fine. You smell deliciously like man.”

I pushed his head away from me. “Personal space, dude. And you should get your nose checked out, because I’m sure even my sweat is leaking out grease right now.”

He laughed and swung an arm around my shoulder,completely ignoring my comment. “So, I ran into Jett on his way out of the diner.”

“Oh, was he there?” I said, trying to sound clueless and not like I’d been hyper-aware of his existence in the diner since this morning.

Since this morning!

He was one of the first customers to walk through the door, ordering the breakfast special before retreating to a booth by the window that had the perfect view into the kitchen.

I swore I could feel his eyes on me the entire day, but whenever I had the chance to look over, he was focused on his laptop. I didn’t know what he did for work, but he’d been glued to that thing all day—not that I was checking up on him or anything.

Itotallydid not care what he was up to. It was just the fact that he was doing whateveritwas inside ofmydiner. His giant presence had led to me accidentally burning myself no less than two times. Thankfully, they were nothing major, and all they needed was a little time running the burn under cold water, butstill. The fact of the matter was, Jett Davis could scurry off to wherever the hell he wanted, yet he chose to circle around me.

And I wasn’t trying to be narcissistic. There was no reason for me to be. I’d never been super popular in school, and the few women I’d dated over the years lasted months at most, so when I said Jett Davis was circling around me, I wasnotbeing self-centered.

Ever since we ran into each other at the tree lighting, he’d been at the diner every single day like clockwork. Just sitting there, clacking on his laptop, and taking up space.

It was just like high school again when he’d hang out at the diner after school with his friends, leaving me with nochoice but to hide in the back and try my very best to ignore him.

It wasn’t like I could just kick him out either. First of all, Dad would kill me. He believed the diner was more than a restaurant; it was a community. And Jett was part of that community, probably even more so than me if all the people stopping by his table—chatting or even sharing a meal with him—were anything to go by.

Never mind the countless times I’d caught him chumming up to Dad, and okay, maybe I was a bit touched whenever he’d help Dad grab something he’d dropped or refill his coffee mug, but that was beside the point.

Not that I was keeping tabs on him or anything. He just so happened to be in my direct view whenever I looked through the serving hatch to check on my dad.

Yeah…that’s what I’m going to tell myself.

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