Page 31 of Hook, Line, and Summer

Eve raised her brow, but before she could ask anything, Emily returned and set a fresh basket of bread in the center of the table. Once she left, Eve held out her hands.

“I have so many questions.”

“Yeah, so do I,” I said with a chuckle. “And after thinking about it for days, I still don’t have answers.”

“Maybe if we talk it out, we’ll come up with some,” she said. “So tell me what’s been happening.”

I told her about how Adam asked me out to dinner and that my first instinct was to say no. But then I decided that it might be nice to talk with him and planned on accepting his offer the next time I saw him.

“But then I didn’t see him,” I said. “For two weeks.”

“How’s that possible? He’s right next door.”

I shrugged.

“I managed to avoid him when he first came back.”

“That’s true.”

Emily appeared with our food and set it down in the middle of the table, then placed an empty plate in front of each of us. After ensuring we didn’t need anything else, she left us to our feast.

We put a pin in the Adam discussion long enough to fill our plates and dig in. Each bite was better than the one before and soon, my plate was half empty. I set my fork down and took a drink of wine, happy to see Eve had eaten as much as me.

I reached over and plucked a piece of bread out of the basket, slathered it with butter, and ate half of it in one bite. The contrasting textures of the crunchy crust and soft middle are a sensory delight. Add in the salty butter and I’m in culinary heaven.

“Do you need a moment alone with that bread?”

“Maybe.”

I bobbed my eyebrows and popped the last bite into my mouth.

“So Sunday night is the first time you’ve seen Adam since the day of the hike?” she asked, picking up the conversation.

“Yes and no.” Eve gestured with her fork for me to elaborate, then speared a piece of chicken. “I saw him from afar at the festival last weekend, but not up close. He was with his mom and it was obvious they were talking about me, neither one of them came over to the booth.” I shrugged. “And then I saw him Sunday night. That’s the second time he’s rescued Thea and me.”

“Your own personal knight in shining armor.”

“You’re such a romance author.”

“Guilty as charged,” she said. “And as such, you know I’m dying to hear about the kiss.”

I took in a deep breath and let it out.

“Okay, so we talked a little bit as we drove. Nothing serious, just about how I ended up walking home and then he asked if I still hang out with our old gang. I told him I didn’t and why, and at that point we pulled into his driveway. I turned to get out of the car and he said my name, then put his hand on my shoulder.”

Eve clasped her hand together and tucked them under her chin, her eyes looking manic as she waited for me to continue.

“There’s always a tension between Adam and me, but when I turned to look at him, it was multiplied by a thousand. Then he leaned closer and kissed me. He moved slow, as if he was giving me a chance to stop if I wanted to.” I shook my head. “But more than anything, in that moment, all I wanted was to kiss him.”

“And how was it?”

“It felt like coming home.”

Her eyes softened.

“Oh Summer.” She reached over and squeezed my hand. “So what are you going to do now?”

“That’s the million-dollar question.”

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