“Sort of,” Nick hedged. He knew Kelsey wouldn’t let this go.
“Hm… sort of?” Then her eyes widened. “Oh, you’vegotto be kidding me! You andWinnie Snowberry?”
Nick couldn’t stop his grin from widening. “Taking the fifth,” he reminded her.
She blew out a breath. “Finally! You’ve been obsessed with her for years.”
“I’mnotobsessed with her!” Nick protested and caught himself. Too late.
Kelsey smirked triumphantly at him. “Uh-huh,right,” she said skeptically. “Like you didn’t watch every episode of her show? Several times?”
“Because I was writing reviews,” Nick said, doing his best to sound affronted. “I had to rewatch, uh, certain sections of the show to get my details right.”
“Yup,” Kelsey said with satisfaction. “Totallyobsessed. Maybe even stalker-ish.”
“Daddy, what’s a stalker?” Kegan asked brightly as he entered the kitchen.
Nick groaned and began carrying plates of blueberry pancakes with a side of scrambled eggs over to the breakfast nook table. “Nice work, Kel.”
To Kegan he said, “It’s a long story, son.”
Kegan brightened as he caught sight of the plates. “Blueberry pancakes! Yum!” He forgot about stalkers and eagerly grabbed for the pitcher of purple huckleberry syrup already on the table.
Kelsey intercepted him and deftly lifted the pitcher out of the little boy’s reach. “Whoa, there, sport. Why don’t you let me pour that while you tell your dad what you’ve got planned for today?”
“Mr. Spring is gonna give me a riding lesson!” Kegan began bouncing in his chair. “He said I can ride Freckles because Freckles likes me after I gave her apple slices. And Abby and April are gonna ride with me, too. They’re going to ride Sneezy and Doc.”
“That sounds like a great day,” Nick said, smiling at his son. “Wear your helmet and don’t forget to thank Spring after you finish riding.”
∞∞∞
Nick arrived at the job site an hour later and completed the daily ritual of makeup for filming.
Then, instead of meeting up with Winnie and filming the restoration process of an original double-hung window as scheduled, he found himself on the phone, wrangling with a flooring vendor over a delayed shipment of replacement floorboards for upstairs.
When Nick had ordered the flooring a couple of weeks ago, the sales guy had assured him that the flooring was in stock and would arrive tomorrow. Now, suddenly, the vendor was claiming delivery might take as long as eight weeks. It was frustrating as hell, especially since the vendor then tried to push alternatives that were all the wrong width, material, or color for this house.
Meanwhile, he caught frustratingly elusive glimpses of Winnie working elsewhere in the house.
He didn’t think she was avoiding him on purpose, though. Karla pulled her away to film a segment with the town’s building inspector as he arrived to examine the building’s new wiring and plumbing. The inspector would have to sign off on the work before the construction crew could close up the walls with drywall.
At lunch break, Nick saw Winnie sitting on the porch. She looked adorable in a homemade knitted pink wool hat and scarf, with matching fingerless gloves.
She was reading something on her phone, ignoring the cold while the rest of the construction crew grabbed their soups and sandwiches from the Jenna’s Java catering truck and dashed back inside the house, where space heaters kept the interior comfortable.
“Hey,” Nick said, seating himself next to her. The old bench creaked alarmingly under his weight.
Winnie looked up briefly. “Hey,” she murmured, before returning her attention to the device in her hand.
Her demeanor wasn’t unfriendly… just preoccupied.
Okay, thought Nick. After last night’s fireworks, he’d been hoping that she’d be more excited about his presence today.
“Do you have any plans for tonight?” he asked, deciding to plow on.
She shrugged.
That irritated him. Was she trying to pretend that she hadn’t enjoyed last night as much as he had? Because he had the finger-shaped bruises on his shoulders to prove it. “Are you mad about something?”