Page 34 of Never Kiss Your Neighbors

“Thank you for that, and for cutting the lawn, too. I really appreciate it.”

“No big deal.”

Maybe it’s no big deal to them, and it’s just basic yard work, but it gives me a strange feeling.

No man has ever made me feel like he was taking care of me, not even my father or stepdad. Another wave of shyness hits me, along with some other kind of tender emotion I can’t quite name, and I have to look away from the men.

CHAPTER23

CAM

Stella doesn’t seem in any particular hurry to get back inside, so I keep the conversation going. “How are you feeling about what happened last night?”

Something hot flashes behind her eyes, but her smile turns playful. “You mean about the skunk? It was kind of scary.”

I slide my foot closer to hers, and tap the toe of her clog with my shoe. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”

She puts on a sweetly innocent face. “Oh, did something else happen last night?”

If it wasn’t blatantly obvious that she’s joking, I’d be hurt. That kiss was much too good to forget.

“I had a great evening, despite almost getting skunked,” Wyatt says.

I tap her foot once more. “Can I ask why you don’t date?”

She half shrugs and looks down at our feet, where mine is resting near hers. “I don’t know. It’s complicated as a single mom.”

I nod at that. I can’t imagine the amount of work that goes into raising another human, and Stella is obviously doing a damn good job at it.

“With Jessie and with work, I’m busy, and I’m just not interested in going out and having fun for fun’s sake.”

Wyatt and I both frown at that. “You deserve to go out and have fun,” he says. “In fact, I’d argue that it’s like the oxygen mask thing on planes. You need to take care of yourself first, so you can better take care of others.”

She shrugs again, looking everywhere except at us.

She’s interested. She wanted to kiss us last night, and I can tell she’d enjoy going out with us, too, or I wouldn’t be trying to persuade her.

“Surely you can take a few hours off from mom duty?” I suggest. “Can Marissa watch Jessie?”

“She could …”

I clap my hands together once. “Then it’s settled. When would you like to go?”

“Wait, I never said I was going.”

“Just one date, Stella. That’s all. Then you can return to your no-dating policy. Though I doubt you’ll want to.”

She’s looking at me when she asks, “Is this date with you, or both of you?”

“Both of us.”

Her eyes widen. “Where would we go?”

I shrug and grin at her. “A little mystery is part of the fun.”

“What he means is that we don’t know yet either,” Wyatt says.

“Yeah, he’s right,” I say. “The mystery is part of the fun for us, too.”

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