Page 21 of Callum
One side of her mouth lifted. “That’s nice.”
“What’s your history with the groom?”
The soft smile fell from her lips. “Red raisin.”
Fair enough. Although Callum was hoping that, after some time, she’d trust him enough to share. He already knew the guy was an ex. But he was dying to know how long ago they’d broken up and what had led to him marrying her sister.
“Why’d you move to Cradle Mountain?” he asked instead.
“Because it was the perfect distance from my sister and Freddie. Too far to drive regularly, but not so far you need to catch a flight and make it a long trip to visit.”
Before he could put much thought into that complicated answer, her next question came. “Favorite food?”
“Apple pie. Favorite day of the week?”
She laughed, and the sound hit him square in the chest like a damn freight train. God, it was beautiful and soft and melodic. And her smile…he had to forcibly shift his eyes away from her and back to the road.
“Funny question, but my answer is probably the same as everyone else’s. Sunday, because I get to put my feet up and read my books.”
“Ah, yes. Sunday is a common favorite. But it’s not mine.” He felt her eyes on him.
“What’s your favorite day?”
“Definitely Wednesday.”
Her brows creased. “What’s Wednesday?”
“It’s the day the new recommendation tags get put up in the library. Which means I get some awesome new reads, and I also get to see you.”
In the beat of silence that followed, her pulse quickened, and when he looked at her, it was to see her lips parted and her eyes on him, brow slightly furrowed, like he was a puzzle she was trying to work out.
“You make it really hard not to like you, you know,” she said quietly.
“Why would you want tonotlike me? I’m awesome.”
He’d been aiming for humor, but her answer was anything but.
“Because I don’t want to be burned again, and you’d be able to do that without even trying.”
His hand itched to touch her thigh. Graze her skin. Give her some kind of physical reassurance that he wasn’t that guy.
“Are you dating your neighbor?” she asked.
“No.” One word, quick and easy. “Kasey’s been my neighbor since I moved to Cradle Mountain. Until recently, she was married. Since the divorce, she’s struggled being in her house alone. We’ve also grabbed breakfast once or twice. It’s nothing romantic.”
“Try tellingherthat.”
His lips quirked. She’d muttered the words so quietly under her breath, he was sure she hadn’t meant for him to hear them. “I don’t feel anything beyond friendship for Kasey. I’ve had my eyes on someone else for a while now.”
Her head whipped toward him, eyes widening.
Yeah, beautiful. That’s you.
She opened her mouth to reply, but her phone vibrated in her lap before she could say anything. He put his gaze back on the road, but he felt the shift in her energy the second she read the text. A thick tension coated the air. Then came the quickening of her heart, but he was almost certain it wasn’t in a good way this time.
She’d done that before, at the library. “Everything okay?”
She quickly locked her phone and turned it over…because she couldn’t bear to look at it? “Of course. Next question?”
