Page 75 of When It's Us
“Well, it looks like you survived the trip with my brother.” She pulls back and her eyes sparkle as she looks me over with a chuckle. “Hopefully it wasn’t too painful.”
“Yeah, it was good actually.” I shake my head, with a light smile, and hope the blush I feel creeping up my neck isn’t obvious. “Very eye opening.”
Her eyebrows lift and she gives me an amused grimace. “Oh, God. Do I even want to know?”
I hadn’t meant the comment like she obviously took it. I’d been talking more about my own experience, and I can admit now that I greatly underestimated Hutch. Before this trip, I’d thought he was nothing but a shallow asshat. But I was wrong, and judging by Nat’s reaction, I have a feeling his siblings don’t know him as well as they think they do, either.
“Actually, Hutch was great. I really appreciate him detouring to get me here.”
She looks surprised a bit but nods and then turns halfway to the counter. “You’re staying at Hayley’s, right? My little sister isn’t the best at keeping her fridge stocked when she’s actuallyintown. You must be starving. Can we make you something? Coffee, maybe, or a muffin?”
“Coffee and a BLT? Wren says they’re amazing.”
“Best in town,” she says, throwing me a wink. “You want it to go?”
I shake my head, reaching into my purse for my wallet. “I was thinking of getting some work done here, if that’s okay?”
“Oh, yeah, totally fine. Of course,” Nat says, walking back behind the counter, grabbing her apron, and tying it back aroundher waist. “You can pick a table in here, but you might be more comfortable in the bookstore.” She nods toward the arch in the wall connecting the two shops together. “Between you and me, the WIFI’s better on that side, too.”
“Okay, thanks,” I say, and she rings me up for the BLT and coffee and then tells me she’ll have it out in a few minutes.
I find a table near the window to eat and decide maybe I’ll head next door to work. As I wait for my order, I pull out my phone and check to see if I have any messages from the boys. There’s one from Peter, a picture of him, Tate, and Jordan at the zoo, which I’m assuming was taken by Meghan. I shoot off an‘Aww, cute!’and then flip back to the inbox.
When my eyes land on Hutch’s last text message from our road trip, I can't help but smile.
Bigfoot:See if they have any dill pickle sunflower seeds. Please?
I hadn’t been able to find any, but I did find a small bag of dill pickle kettle chips, so when I’d finished up in the bathroom, I’d grabbed a packet of Nutter Butters—an old love of mine that I hadn’t had in years and a bag of chips for him.
I glance up to see Nat behind the counter. Maybe I should text him?
To say hey. I mean, I appreciate the time he took to pick me up and bring me here, and we’d kind of become friends, hadn’t we? It didn’t matter that I’d already thanked him. There was nothing wrong with thanking him again.
Would he think that was weird, though? We could be friends, right? We’d kept things casual. Just because he’d nearly been inside me twenty-four hours ago didn’t mean anything more than friends. We’d said as much on the road trip.
I bite my lip, look around the café, and then back down at the phone. But this isn’t the road trip. This is Timber Forge, and his family is here. Wren is here, and his sister is, at this moment, making me somethingto eat.
Texting him is probably a bad idea. We’d had fun. A lot of it. But it was time to put a stop to that. Besides, I had work to do in the form of apartment hunting—though that would be easier from California, and actual, real friends to see and hang out with while I was here. I hadn’t come for Hutch, and certainly hadn’t come for a summer fling with my best friend’s brother-in-law. Besides, I’m a mom. Responsible. I have to remember that. I need to be in the right headspace for when the boys come in two weeks. And I can’t do that if I’m busy getting railed by a sunshine lumberjack and his monster cock every night.
I’d been so irritated when he showed up on my doorstep, but somewhere along the way, my irritated snarkiness turned into good-natured and even friendly teasing.
I put my phone back in my bag. Now is not the time for me to get distracted by a man. Sure, the sex is fantastic, but I came on this trip to spend some time alone. I’m supposed to be finding myself, working out what it means to be Ginger, and figuring out my next steps, not getting tangled up in a complicatedsituationshipwith my best friend's incredibly hot brother-in-law. Besides, Hutch was a self-proclaimed fuckboy, and that wassonot my style.
So why the hell can’t I stop thinking about him?
Nat brings over my food and tells me to let her know if I need anything else before she steps away, moving to the table beside me to leave me alone with my food.
“Hey, Shelby,” Nat says, with a light smile at the blonde woman. I can’t see the woman’s face as her back is to me, but she must be a regular if Nat knows her by name. “Can I get you two anything?”
“Oh, hey, Nat. Thanks, we’re good,” the woman says. “This is my cousin, Lisa.”
“Nice to meet you,” Nat says with a smile before turning to go. She shoots me a wink as she passes my table and wanders back over to the counter to help another customer.
As soon as Nat is out of earshot, hushed tones from their table have my ears perking up.
“Do you remember that guy I was telling you about? The one my cousin hooked up with when she was in town? The one with thepiercing.” She says the last word pointedly, and I immediately know she’s talking about Hutch.
I flick a glance at their table.
