Page 328 of Not Over You

Cecily hid her face in her hands. “Oh. My. God. Stop!”

Caroline looked up at Lucas and gave him a hard stare. He better step up and put her friend out of her misery.

“Oh…” Nadia perked up and slugged her dad on his arm. It must have hurt because his flinch was real. “Dad. You are such an egg slut. You know you have to try it.”

“Nadia,” his proper British accent took on an extra punch, “did you have to use that particular expression?”

Nadia’s eyes almost rolled back into her head. “Dad, seriously?”

She turned to look at Caroline with a wink.

“You should see the coop he had built in our backyard. It’s a freaking castle!”

“A coop?” Cecily looked up. “Oh that sounds awesome. I told Darren I wanted a couple of chickens and ducks, but he thinks I’m nuts.”

Nadia waved off her concern. “Dad’s kind of created this haven for his. And at last count, I think we have about a dozen, but we still have to buy eggs from a farm. You and Miss Franzen should come over and see the coop.”

“No, that’s okay-”

“Maybe that’s not a good idea.”

Caroline turned to look at Lucas just as he looked at her.

Caroline felt her face turn red.

It was one thing to want to stay away, but to have him echo it?

Ouch.

Nadia gave her dad a confused look before stepping between them. She looked at Caroline with a shallow furrow in her brow. “Miss Franzen, I really would like you to come by if you can. I’m a huge fan of yours and… and living here in St. Raphael now, it was only wishful thinking that I might actually bump into you-”

“You’ll learn soon enough that living in St. Raphael, that sooner or later you’ll bump into everyone who lives here.” Cecily looked at Caroline and then Lucas. “Whether you like it or not.”

“It’s not that I don’t want you to come to the house, Caroline-”

“No, no,” their words stumbled over each other. “I understand. It’s not personal.”

“Miss Franzen?”

Caroline almost laughed with relief when Joel stepped up beside her, all of her purchases on a dolly. “Joel! Thanks! I… I would have forgotten.”

He shrugged and damn if that shrug didn’t make his t-shirt stretch across his shoulders. He must work out a lot.

Joel blushed and his shoulders pushed back. “I do a little workout in the gym here and there, but really, working on the farm, lifting pallets and bushels around. It really helps me stay fit.”

Caroline felt the color drain from her face. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?”

“Yes.” The clipped British accent cut right through to a part of her heart that she’d closed the door on years ago.

She turned her head and saw Lucas staring right at her. She couldn’t quite comprehend the look in his eyes.

“You did.”

CHAPTER 2

“Uh, Dad?”

Lucas turned from the kitchen counter and sighed.