Page 51 of The Pink House

Charlie stood in his driveway, the tents slung over his shoulder. He grinned when he saw her. “Can I interest you in an adventure?”

Hannah chuckled and simply began walking toward the woods. Charlie fell into step beside her. Though the woods loomed dark and mysterious ahead, all Hannah felt was excitement.

“Seeing the tent emoji pop up on my screen gave me a déjà vu moment.” Charlie paused when they reached the edge of the woods. “Brian and I had our favorite spot. We can go there or—”

“That’ll be fine.” Hannah really didn’t want to traipse through the woods in the dark, looking for a place to camp.

Charlie bumped her backpack with his elbow. “What do you have in here?”

“Snacks.”

In the glow of the moon, she saw interest spark in his dark eyes. “What kind?”

“You’ll have to wait to find out.”

Twenty minutes later, Charlie grinned and popped a cake ball into his mouth. “The Twizzlers and Oreos I brought are good. These are better.”

Hannah sipped a Diet Coke. “Cake balls are hard to beat.”

She leaned back against a tree. Once they’d gotten to the spot where Charlie and Brian used to camp, they’d cleared it enough to set up the two tents.

Since it wasn’t cold and they didn’t plan to cook, they didn’t bother with a fire. Instead, once the chores were done, they lit Charlie’s lantern and dug into the snacks.

“You do this so well.” Charlie studied the small pink cake ball—his second—before taking a bite.

The ball, devil’s food covered in a pink shell of frosting with white sprinkles and topped with a chocolate bow, had his eyes closing for a second and a moan of pleasure escaping his lips.

“That one is gluten-free.”

Surprise skittered across his face. “It tastes good.”

“Gluten-free doesn’t have to taste bad.” To illustrate, Hannah took a big bite out of the one in her hand.

Charlie reached for another. “Tell me how you make these.”

As she explained, Hannah realized that Charlie was a good listener. It didn’t hit her that she was doing most of the talking until she paused to take a breath.

Well, she could be a good listener, too. And she had lots of questions. When she and Mackenna had had lunch, her friend had mentioned Charlie made stuff in his garage. Hannah was embarrassed to admit that while she knew he was an entrepreneur, that’s about all she knew.

Charlie wiped his fingers on one of the paper napkins she’d brought. “You could totally make money off these.”

“I appreciate the vote of confidence. Enough about me.” Hannah waved a dismissive hand. “Let’s talk about you for a change. I’ve been dying to know what you do for a living.”

Considering the amount of time they’d spent together, not knowing seemed rather pathetic.

“What if I prefer to remain dark and mysterious?”

“You couldn’t pull off dark and mysterious if you tried.”

He put a hand to his chest. “You wound me with your sharp words.”

Hannah wanted to laugh, but wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. “For the record, I don’t think acting is your forte either.”

Charlie expelled a melodramatic sigh. “Since I can’t wow you with my banter, I guess I’m going to have to amaze you with my shop tales.”

This time, Hannah didn’t hold back the laugh.

With exaggerated movements, Charlie snagged another cake ball from the container. He tossed it into his mouth, then picked up his can of Mountain Dew and washed it down. “Okay. I’m ready. Let the interrogation begin.”

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