Page 39 of Boston
“Mm, my sweet feline,” he said, moving into her. “I’m with you. No matter what we do, I’m going to have a good time.”
He said the sweetest things on the planet, and Cora didn’t think he had an ingenuine bone in his body. She nodded and wrapped her arms all the way around him, holding him tight right there in the employee parking lot where anyone could see them.
No, she hadn’t spoken to her mother or sister about dating Boston yet. She’d seen him every day this week, and not one person had brought up her lunch with him at Shanghai’s, or the late afternoon picnic they’d had on Monday, or the fact that his truck had been parked in her driveway again last night. She’d gotten soup and sandwiches from their deli bar in the lodge, and they’d sat on her back porch, talking and watching the stars come out.
She had no idea if he told anyone she’d be going with him on this bird watching expedition, and when he stepped back, she asked, “Did you tell Ernie I was coming with you today?”
“Yes,” he said. “Didn’t you?”
She shook her head. “I don’t really have to account to anyone but Momma. And well, she knows that I’m shadowing you and learning from you, so she probably just thinks this trip has to do with that.”
“Well, she’s not wrong, right?” Boston asked.
“No,” Cora said. “She’s not wrong.” But there was definitely more to this trip than just learning from Boston.
“I take it you haven’t told anyone about us,” he said.
She shook her head. “I’m not exactly keeping it a secret.”
His jaw tightened and he nodded. “Well, let’s get going.”
Cora grinned as she fell into step beside him. “I really like that I know exactly what you’re feeling,” she teased.
He cut a look at her out of the corner of his eye. “What does that mean?”
“It means you react to everything, and it shows on your face and in your body. You’re mad I haven’t told anyone about us.”
“I’m not mad,” he said.
“Frustrated then.”
“I’m not frustrated,” he said.
“Then what are you?”
“I don’t know,” he said, clearly frustrated.
“Have you told anyone about us?”
“I mean, Harry and Belle and Joey and Adam and my stepsister, Beth.”
“So not your momma or daddy.”
“No,” he said.
“Why not?” she asked.
Boston took a couple of long strides in silence. “I guess it’s still a little too early,” he said.
“Maybe that’s how I feel too,” Cora said.
“I get that. But Cora, you’rethe bosshere, and I’m worried that people are going to think I’m taking advantage of you, or that you’re giving me unfair opportunities because we’re together. I don’t know.” He sighed, and it definitely sounded frustrated. “I just want people to know, that’s all.”
Something tightened inside Cora’s chest too, and she nodded in short little bursts. “I understand,” she said. “I’ll talk to them as soon as we get back, okay?”
“Okay.” The mood shifted then, and Boston pointed out the area where he usually rendezvoused with groups and parties.
“We meet at the stable if it’s a horseback riding expedition,” he said. “Hiking expeditions, we meet right here.” He thumped a single picnic table with his fist a couple of times. “I go through achecklist and make sure everyone has what they need. Do I need to do that?”
