Page 26 of Make Me Love You

He didn’t want to get this wrong. He had gotten so much wrong.

“I still like lemon jelly.”

Thank God. His relief was short-lived, however, because she took a sip of her coffee and grimaced.

“What’s wrong? You don’t like the coffee?”

“It’s fine,” she said bravely. “It’s...drinkable. What’s in it?”

“Skim milk. Nothing else.”

“Ah. You remembered what I used to like, way back when.” Something flitted across her expression that he couldn’t quite decipher. “I’ve become a better person since then. I take cream now, the heavier the better. Still no sugar, though. I prefer to save sweetness for pastries.” To emphasize her point, she took a huge bite of donut and moaned. “Oh, my God. Amazing.”

Another moment where she forgot she hated him. He basked in it. He took a sip of coffee, trying to hide the obscene pleasure he was taking in the way she demolished her donut.

“Don’t think you can bribe me.” Her donut half gone, she apparently remembered her anger. “I saw the posters. You’re running for mayor.”

“Sure am.” He sipped his coffee and watched her cheeks pinken with anger. It was good coffee. Hot and Wired was the only coffee shop in Hart’s Ridge, but Eli had never bemoaned the lack of a Starbucks or any of the other big chains that popped up on every city corner. “Is that a problem?”

It was clear from the way she was trying to incinerate him with her eyes that yes, it was a problem, as far as Emma was concerned. Good.

“You said you didn’t want to be mayor. I thought we were on the same page.”

“I changed my mind. Someone had to step up, and so far, we haven’t had any takers. Maybe you’ve noticed? And, let me remind you, you didn’t want the job either. So I’ll ask you again. Do you have a problem with me running for mayor?”

She tore off a bite of her donut and glared at him while she chewed.

Suddenly he was angry. Angry that she wouldn’t admit it, already. She liked to pretend that he was nothing to her, that in her world he didn’t exist. He had made that easy for her.

To hell with that.

He did exist, dammit. It was time for them both to face the truth. He wasn’t nothing. Not to her. Even if he was just her enemy, that made him something. If he were mayor, she wouldn’t be able to deny that.

Maybe...maybe he hadn’t had the purest of intentions when he threw his name in the hat. Sure, he wanted what was best for Hart’s Ridge, and that was Emma. And yeah, he wanted what was best for Emma, and that was Hart’s Ridge. That’s what he had told himself, and it was all true.

But maybe there was also a tiny, not-so-altruistic part of him that wanted to prove to her that he mattered to her, for better or worse. To make her see that she couldn’t ignore him forever. If he were mayor, she could never ignore him again.

“You said you didn’t want it for yourself, right?” he asked, trying to goad her out of her silent fuming. “So why not me?”

“Maybe I changed my mind,” she muttered.

He leaned forward. “What was that? I didn’t quite catch it.”

She glared mutinously. “You know damn well what I said, Eli. I changed my mind. I think I could do something good for this town, and I’m going to give it my all. You want to be mayor, Eli? You’ll have to beat me first.”

A slow grin spread across his face. “Well, then, Ms. Andrews, you’ve got yourself a fight. The acting mayor running against the acting deputy mayor. Won’t that be fun?”

“Fun is not the word that comes to mind, no.” Her eyes darted back and forth, and he could practically see the gears turning in her brain. “You can’t be mayor unless you quit being a cop. Are you really going to do that?”

“Maybe I’ll just get the law changed. Did you ever think of that? Have the City Council approve the salary instead of the mayor. Easy.” He had no idea what changing a law actually entailed, and he had his doubts that the process was easy, but Emma didn’t need to know that.

Realizing he was in imminent danger of having coffee thrown in his face, he abruptly turned and strode toward the long, red barn. “Keep up, Ms. Andrews. We have work to do.”

He didn’t look behind him, but he knew she was following by the angry stomping sounds.

“I told you to stop calling me Ms. Andrews,” she said when she had finally caught up with him. “We played hopscotch together.”

He ignored this. “Here is where we set up the food vendors last year. Inside the barn were picnic tables where everyone could sit and eat. The tables should still be there. Might need to clean them up some.” He heaved open the heavy sliding doors. “Yep. Still here.”

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