Page 22 of Second Chance at Sunshine Inn

“How’s unpacking?” he asked, still walking toward her.

The tone in his voice seemed different, so she was silent for a moment as she tried to read his face. Why was he suddenly being friendly? This expression seemed to be his “curious frown,” and it was more approachable than the ones she’d encountered so far. Were they making progress toward something?

He lifted an eyebrow, and she realized she hadn’t responded to his question.

“Fine.” She rested her hands on her lap and smiled. “I went through Alana’s clothes, and now I have a few bags to take to the donation place in town. My mom asked me to finish going through her stuff since yesterday was difficult for her.”

“Understandable,” Cade said. The cat appeared at his feet and started walking circles around them. He crouched down and brushed his hand over the kitty’s back.

She nodded toward the garage. “Are you working on your bike?”

“Yeah.” He set the bottle of water on the ground beside the cat.

“What are you doing to it?”

“Tune-up.”

She studied him, and all at once, she wanted to know everything about him. “Where are you from?” she asked, resting her back on the step behind her.

“Here.”

“You grew up here? Went to school here?”

“Yup.”

“How old are you?”

“Is this an interrogation?”

She laughed, but he continued to watch her with the same expression. “No, I’m just curious.”

“Thirty-three.”

“Then you’re two years older than my sister,” she said. “Do you remember her from school?”

“Can’t say I do.” He dropped to the ground and folded his long legs under him. When Bryant came to sit in his lap, Cade continued massaging the cat’s back. Tenderness flickered over his features so quickly that she almost missed it. Still, his affection for the cat was apparent, and it seemed mutual. The scene warmed her heart.

“And you’ve lived here all your life?” she asked. She was surprised she hadn’t run into him, but she’d left for college and then hadn’t returned. Also, he was six years older, and Mom had mentioned something about him joining the military.

He shook his head.

“Where have you lived?”

“Here and there.”

For a moment she’d believed he was going to open up to her, but clearly she was wrong. She tried to mask her disappointment by fidgeting with her water bottle.

“I joined the military right out of high school.”

She set the bottle down. “Which branch?”

“Army.” He kept those dazzling eyes focused on the cat. “College wasn’t an option. So the military made sense.”

“What did you do in the army?”

“This and that.” A cloud of cat hair floated away from him, and he brushed his hands over his shorts. “I was stationed all over—the West Coast, Europe, the Middle East—and then I landed in Alabama. Lived there for a while and came home a couple years ago.”

“How’d you wind up working here?” she asked, hoping to keep him talking.

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