Page 110 of When We Were Us
“What’s that smile about?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. Just happy, I guess.”
A little girl walks by with a caramel apple, and Wren’s practically salivating as she watches her.
“You want one?” I ask, tilting my head toward the girl.
“Like the air I breathe, Hayes.”
“Come on,” I say and grab her hand. She looks down as I lace my fingers through hers. “This ok?” So far, we’ve only shown affection for one another when we’re alone, and I want her to be comfortable. Especially since nothing escapes attention in this town.
The smile she turns on me hits me straight in the chest.
“More than ok.” She tugs me back in the direction of the food booths. “Now, how about that caramel apple?”
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
wrenley
Our next stopis Roxy’s beer garden, tucked into a copse of trees at the side entrance to town square.Hank introduces me to Trevor, who took over the bar after Roxy’s passing, and his wife, Tanya. Trevor is young, and according to Hank, he’s barely twenty-five. I know from years ago that his grandparents, Roxy and Clyde, opened Rowdy Roxy’s Bar & Grill in 1975, and that the couple had been friends with my grandparents for years.
I have more than one vague memory of my granddad having to pick my dad up from there when he’d had one too many after my mom left. And then, there is also the extremely vivid memory of Hank’s hands all over me behind that very same bar, which has my cheeks heating just thinking about.
After leaving the beer garden, we run into a petite blonde named Jessie when we stop at a churro stand a mere hour after I finished my caramel apple. Evidently, festival food is still one of my biggest weaknesses.
Jessie’s politely flirtatious, if that’s a thing. She talks Hank’s ear off the entire time we wait for our sugary confections. Mostly about work, as her family owns the butcher a few blocks over. She smiles politely and greets me when Hank introduces us, but I notice how closely she stands to him, how she looks up at him through her lashes, and touches his arm.
Hank takes it all in stride, just keeping his hand firmly tangled with mine as he talks to her. He either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care how blatantly she takes in his tall frame.
Once we’re safely out of earshot after getting our churros and a soda to share, I bump him with my shoulder. “Sooo…Jessie, huh?” I tease with a wiggle of my eyebrows at him.
His shoulders shake with laughter as he takes a big bite of his churro. “What about her?” he says around the mouthful of fried dough.
“I think your niece and Hudson got it wrong the other night.” I tip my head in her direction. “I think it’s Jessie who wants to get intoyourpants.” I grin over at him and take a bite of my own churro.
He looks slightly embarrassed, and I love it.
“She’s a nice girl.”
“Oh, I dunno, Hank,” I practically sing. “Nice girls don’t give fuck-me eyes like that,” I say and slide a glance at him, taking a sip of the soda we bought to share. There’s a sly smile on my face.
He almost chokes on his food when he laughs. “Fuck-me eyes?”
“Yep,” I say, taking a pull of soda through the straw. “That girl’s got it bad for you.”
“Yeah, yeah. So I’ve been told.”
A laugh bursts from me. “So, youareaware of the fuck-me eyes, then?” I tease.
He laughs and scrapes his teeth over his bottom lip, ducking his head a bit. Does he not know how hot he is? How good of a catch he is? Is that even possible?
“You want to know what I think?” I ask him, cocking my head slightly and watching him.
“I bet you’ll tell me anyway,” he says.
I hit him with my elbow and give him a saucy smile.
He laughs. “Ok, I’ll bite, Wren. What do you think?” he asks, taking another bite of his churro.
