Page 33 of First Love, Second Draft

“What?” She lifted her gaze from his bare finger. At some point she’d gone from side-eyeing to full-on staring.

“The stairs?”

“What about them? Oh. The stairs.” She shook her head.Focus, Gracie.“Right. Yes. I mean, no. I’m okay. I won’t need you. I made it up them without any issue.”

Ifwithout any issuemeant taking a good twenty minutes to clear three steps, then probably never making it any further if the FedEx delivery woman hadn’t just happened to see her through the window while dropping off a package and assumed—rightly so—that Gracie was going to fall, and rushed through the front door to help drag her up the remaining steps while swearing she’d never report anything she had seen in exchange for an advance reader copy of Gracie’s next book.

“I’m good, Noah.” Or at least hopefully she would be. One day. When her ex-husband stopped living right next door to her. Which reminded her... “Don’t you think it’s about time for you to move out of the cottage and head back to Seattle?”

“Why? Want me out of the way before Luke gets back to town?”

Gracie couldn’t help it. She snorted. “Sounds like you got more than a shave and haircut from Bobby.”

He gripped the edge of her special writing desk. “Can’t help wondering why you didn’t tell me.”

“Because there’s nothing to tell. Besides, you didn’t exactly consult me when you started playing patty-cake with Piper Green, you know.”

“Patty-cake? Really?”

“Well, when she looks like a little girl playing dress-up, what else would you call it?”

“Not patty-cake. And I already told you, she was never my girlfriend. We were photographed at one event together. One. That’s it.”

“So that’s why she was wearing your jersey on her little YouTube channel last month? Because nothing’s going on between you?”

“I’m not in charge of her wardrobe. It’s not like I gave it to her. What do you think this is? High school? You think I gave her my class ring, too? Wrapped it in that argyle string you girls always used?”

“Angora. Not argyle.”

“You’re acting just as jealous as you did back when you thought I was taking Patti Sinclair to prom.”

“Youweretaking Patti Sinclair to prom.”

“Because you broke up with me after I’d already rented a tux and paid for the flowers. I had to takesomebodyto prom that night just to get my money’s worth.”

“I didn’t break up with you. I just said I didn’t feel like we were on the same page since I was off at college and you were still a senior in high school. You were the one who made it into something it didn’t have to be. All I wanted was for you to talk to me.”

“We talked all the time.”

“But never about anything important. Never about you.”

“Are you kidding? We talked all the time about me.”

“We talked about baseball. That’s not the same.”

“Baseball is me, Gracie. I don’t know why you never got that.”

“Because maybe you never got me.” Gracie pressed the headache building in the space between her eyebrows. Trying to be an ice queen around Noah was giving her a brain freeze. “Look. I don’t want to fight. We’ve both moved on. Let’s just leave it at that.”

“When does Luke get back? I’d like to meet him.”

Gracie focused her gaze out the window, Noah obviously not ready to leave it at that—or anything else. The maple tree in the front yard waved, its branches growing thinner each day. “There is absolutely no reason for you two to meet.”

“Why not? Is he too busy being rich and handsome? I just want to have a chat with the guy.”

“Let’s not do this.” Gracie would rather go outside and rake leaves in her robe the rest of the day than continue this conversation.

Noah braced his hands on the desk, stretching his back like a cat. Then he peered out the window, the lines around his eyes more prominent in the sunlight. “Why the rush to move on, Grace? What’s this really about?”

---