Page 62 of Harvest Moon (Riverbend 3)

She squeezed her eyes shut. She was helpless against his plea and hated herself for it. But she couldn’t deny him. She eased back against the spare pillow.

“Thank you.” He settled himself back on his side of the bed. Quiet bloomed around them like a spring fog over a valley.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she whispered across the space between them.

“No.” He stirred, then settled again. “Tell me about your life. About your friends. Where are you living now?”

She sighed, relieved to return to solid ground. “I have a one-bedroom apartment on the north side near Aston Park.”

“Fairview?”

“Yeah.”

“I remember when it was going up. Nice place, safe neighborhood.”

“There’s a pool and a gym, and the price was reasonable.”

“Does Ruby still work at the Biltmore?”

“Yeah. We’re still friends. She took a new woman named Kayla under her wings. She’s my age and divorced. We all go out sometimes. And I’ve got a couple neighbors I can count on to water my houseplants and such. What about you? What have you been up to?”

“Oh, you know. The usual: running the campground, keeping up with the family.”

“And your new business?”

“Sure... there’s that.”

She got the feeling he didn’t want to talk about that either, which was strange since it had been his dream. “Have you done much dating?” The darkness must’ve emboldened her.

“Little bit. Things are a lot different these days with dating apps and all. You? Are things serious with Connor?”

She whipped her head around. “How do you know about Connor?”

“I saw a text notification the other day.”

Which message had he seen? And what was he doing, reading her texts?

“Is it serious?”

“Not really.” Turnabout was fair play. “What about you?”

“I’m not dating anyone right now.” He was quiet so long she thought he might not answer. “But I’ve dated a few women from that dating app—Flutter.”

A ribbon of jealousy tightened around her stomach. Shehadasked. This information shouldn’t bother her. Shouldn’t she be over him by now?

“And Avery set me up with her nurse about a year and a half ago. We dated awhile.”

He’d mentioned a nurse before, and Laurel tried to recall what he’d said. Surely not... She blinked at him. “Not the nurse Cooper married.”

“She wasn’t married to him then.” Humor laced his words.

“You went out with her first? For how long?”

He chuckled. “Do you really want to hear about this?”

She propped her head on her hand. “Darn right I do. What happened?”

“I can’t believe Mallory or Mike never told you. It was all over the town grapevine.”

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