Page 21 of When Morning Comes Around

She raised her eyebrows. “What do you think?”

He shook his head. “I think you’re a smart lady.”

She laughed. “Thank you.”

Chapter Six

As Dominic drove down Main Street in Summer Lake, Sadie stared out the window. The town hadn’t changed much in the years that she’d been gone. She’d always loved this place. She’d driven through herself yesterday, but riding as a passenger in Dominic’s SUV afforded her the luxury of being able to pay attention to what had changed.

She was surprised by how busy everywhere was. Main Street was bustling with pedestrians. She guessed that many of them were tourists – and that was a change. At least, in the winter. The resort had always attracted tourists, but she only remembered seeing them in numbers like this during the summer months.

Dominic glanced over at her, making her realize that she hadn’t spoken a word since they’d congratulated each other on putting up a convincing performance about why they had to leave the garage – leaving Savannah and Jake alone.

She turned to him with a smile. “Sorry I’ve been quiet, I’ve been taking it all in. It’s nice to be a passenger for a change.”

He smiled. “I know what you mean, I’ve noticed that when I ride over to the garage with Jake. You get to notice so much more when you’re not the one driving. What are you noticing? You grew up here, didn’t you? Is it very different now?”

“No, I’m surprised by how little has changed. And from what I can tell, the changes are for the better. There are more tourists than I expected but the town still feels the same – it hasn’t been overrun, or commercialized.”

“I wasn’t sure what to expect when Damon told me about this place – I didn’t imagine that I’d want to live in a little tourist town. That’s not how it feels, though.”

“It doesn’t, it still feels like the same old Summer Lake to me – and I’m so glad it does.” She turned to look out the window again when he turned off Main Street. “Where do you live?”

“You’ll see in a minute, we’re almost there. Did you grow up here in town, or were you always over in Hidden Valley?”

She laughed. “We’ve always lived in Hidden Valley, but I kind of grew up here, too. I went to school in town, and my best friends lived here. I spent as much time here as I did at home.”

“Are your friends still here?”

“They are. You know one of them – Nina. And since you know her, I’d bet that you know Terry, too – Teresa.”

“I do. In fact, you know the first time we met – in the grocery store? One of the two guys I was with – the biggest one – that’s Cal, he and Terry are together.”

She laughed. “Really?”

He gave her a puzzled look. “Yeah, why?”

“Sorry, it’s not funny – not really. It’s just… Oh what the hell, I might as well tell you. When I first walked in and saw the three of you standing there like that, I thought there must be some kind of big man convention in town.” She cringed, wishing that she could learn to keep her mouth shut.

She was relieved when he laughed. “Ah, right. I can see what you mean. I’m not exactly small, and Cal and Dalton are bothbigger than I am. For a second, I thought that maybe the sight of the three of us had scared you.”

She pressed her lips together. She hadn’t been afraid of them, but she wasn’t going to tell him how she had felt.

“No. You didn’t scare me.”

Her tummy flipped over when he shot her a quick glance and said, “Good, I’d hate that. You don’t ever have to be afraid of me, Sadie.”

She nodded, not sure what she could say in response.

He cleared his throat as he turned onto a residential street and said, “Here we are.”

She looked around as he pulled into the driveway of a neat little rancher. She didn’t know where she’d expected him to live, but this wasn’t it. Not that she had anything against the neighborhood; Nina lived on the next street over. And the house itself was adorable – it just didn’t seem to suit Dominic.

He turned to her with a smile. “Do you want a coffee or something? It didn’t occur to me, but we didn’t really need to come here – this was just our cover story. I have all your things in the back.” He jerked his thumb toward the back seat.

She chuckled. “Yeah, sorry. It didn’t occur to me either. I’d love to have a cup of coffee with you if you have time, but if you want rid of me, I can walk into town from here.”

He frowned. “No, come in and have a cup of coffee with me.”

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