Page 32 of Make Me Love You

Guilt hit her hard. There wasn’t anything wrong with catching up, was there? They had been friends once, great friends. It wasn’t his fault they didn’t talk anymore. No, that was on her. He had never taken sides. She was the one who refused to see him again, because she was afraid of running into Eli. And now she had gone and hurt his feelings. He deserved better than that.

“We can talk business later.” Impulsively, she reached out and squeezed his arm—or tried to, anyway. It was like squeezing a rock. “Let’s catch up first.”

“Awesome. I’ll tell Ethan. What are you drinking? You want something to eat?”

“Vodka soda, light on the vodka because I’m driving. I already ate dinner, but I’ll take some sweet potato fries. I’ve heard they rival Delmy’s yuca fries.” Emma considered herself a connoisseur of fries, and she wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to try Luke’s, no matter how full she was.

“You heard correctly. Grab that table in the corner and I’ll join you in a minute.”

“Great.” She took a step and then paused, looking around, and called after him, “Hey, Luke, where’s—”

“Under the dartboard.” He grinned at her surprised face. “You’re asking about our initials, right? I wanted them protected. You’ll notice that there have been a lot of initials, and some profanities, added to these walls since then. So, under the dartboard, where the filthy animals couldn’t get to it.”

Hearing evidence that underneath the mountain man exterior still beat the most sentimental heart this side of the Mississippi made her chest tighten. Why had she stayed away for so long?

Because you’re a terrible friend, that’s why, came the accusing voice of her conscience.

She could fix that. She would just...add it to the list of everything else she needed to get done. She only had five minutes to contemplate how, exactly, she would do that when Luke returned with her vodka soda and a beer for himself.

“Fries will be out momentarily,” he said, sliding onto the seat across from her.

“Great.” She raised her drink and gave an appreciative nod. “Thanks.”

He took a swallow of beer, then leaned back in his seat with a smile. “So, Madam Mayor. How did that happen?”

Emma groaned, dropping her face in her hands. “Can you believe it? Me, mayor. It’s ridiculous, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know. Asking me to be mayor and Ethan to be deputy mayor, now that was ridiculous. He hates people, especially if they want something from him. But you? You have a way of making things happen. You always have.”

“What about you? You made this happen.” She gestured to the room around her. “This place is amazing.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty happy with it.”

“Who is Goat? Did you pick up a new nickname since I last saw you?”

He shook his head with a laugh. “No. Goat is Goat. I’ll introduce you before you leave.”

“Sweet potato fries.”

Emma looked up at the sound of a familiar voice to see Luke’s younger brother balancing a platter of food. “Hi, Ethan.”

He set the platter down in front of her. The spicy-sweet smell made her mouth water. “I thought he must be lying when he said you were here. I had to see it for myself.”

She cringed inwardly at the unspoken accusation. Ethan was another innocent casualty in the war between her and Eli. “Well, here I am.”

“Yeah.”

He didn’t say anything else, just stalked back to the bar. Emma bit her lip, watching him go. How many people had she hurt, when she cut Eli from her life?

“Don’t mind Ethan,” Luke said. “That’s just his way of saying don’t stay away so long next time.”

“There won’t be a next time. Promise.”

He reached forward, gave her hand a squeeze. “Good.”

“Well, this sure looks cozy. I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

Emma looked up to see Eli, arms crossed over his chest, mouth pressed into a firm line, dark eyes glittering. Even without his uniform on, power and authority rolled off him in waves. She snatched her hand back like she had been caught raiding the cookie jar before dinner.

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