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“Aren’t we making amends?”
I shook my head. “Not that I was aware of. Last time we talked about it, you were planning some sort of frosting assault on the bookstore windows.”
“I think I’m a bigger person than that.” Mom refused to meet my eyes.
“Since when?” I stared at my mother. She was hiding something, and I was very curious about what exactly it was.
“Just plan dinner, Addie. I’ll bring a roast. We’ll be there at six.”
“Um. Okay.” With that strange conversation echoing in my mind, I trudged up the hill toward the house. The yard had been trimmed and cleared, and with all the new windows gleaming with light from inside the house, it looked much less creepy and haunted than it used to. I slipped inside the gates, which we now left open most of the time, and took the path around the house to the kitchen door.
I let myself in with my key, and stopped for a moment to admire the new, modern kitchen we’d installed. The countertops were a light milky quartz and the angled glass subway tiles of the backsplash gave a nice contrast in a gleaming green. The gas grill had been built under a copper hood, and the cabinets were all painted a very dark forest green that looked almost black in certain light. The wide plank tile flooring set it all off perfectly, and the new pendants hanging over the island looked wonderful. We’d done a good job.
“That you?” Michael’s voice came from the dining room. A little thrill went through me before I remembered that Michael was not my biggest fan.
“Yes, sorry. Just got stalled looking at the kitchen.”
Michael appeared in the doorway, looking sexier than ever with his flannel sleeves rolled up and his hair gleaming coppery in the kitchen lights. “Looks good, doesn’t it?”
“Yes,” I agreed, pleased that suddenly we seemed to be talking again. “We did a good job, I think.” This was the most we’d spoken since the ill-fated kiss, and I was trying hard to stay on neutral ground, to keep my voice steady, not to scare him away. I’d missed him so much, even the attention he was giving me now felt like a gift.
“You chose all the fixtures and colors,” he said. “You have great taste. I wasn’t sure about the green, but I really think it works.”
I ventured a look at his face, our eyes meeting for a brief second. I thought maybe I glimpsed a longing there that matched my own. “Thanks,” I managed as a spark lit me up inside.
“I’ve got dinner, if you want some,” Michael said. “Ordered some Thai food.”
The Thai place was in Center County, so he must have driven to get it, or paid a delivery driver a ridiculous amount to bring it. “If you’re sure?”
“Yeah, I got way too much.”
“Thanks,” I said, dropping my things in the mud room by the back stairs and following him to the dining room. Were we finally moving past the kiss?
I sat as Michael filled a plate for me and then set it in front of me before sitting across the table.
For a few minutes, neither of us said anything, and the silence of the old house—which wasn’t really silent—filled the space around us.
But then Michael began apologizing. “Listen, Addie. I owe you an apology.”
“What? No you don’t.”
“I should never have made assumptions. You know, the other night.”
Was he talking about the kiss? I shook my head, confused.
“I got carried away, is all. Things were so easy with us, and I just...I guess it’s been a while since I’d spent time with anyone, you know, really had anyone to talk to. And I let myself get carried away with it.
“I realize, of course, that I’m just this small-town hick, that there’s nothing here that would be...” he trailed off for a minute. “That would be good enough for you.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, starting to really dislike the way this apology was going. Why would he think so little of himself? I was the one who’d made the mistake, and it had nothing to do with where he lived or who he was.
“I know you’re too good for a guy like me,” he said. “I’ll just put it plainly so there’s no more weirdness between us, okay?”
“What?”
“You and me. You’re this super successful, wildly intelligent, incredibly sexy woman, and I know how stupid it was for a guy like me, a total failure who never even got out of Singletree, to even think you might look twice at him. I should never have let my mind run away with me. I know it was stupid, and—”
As he delivered the second half of this insane self-deprecating tirade, I stood and rounded the table, wrapping my fingers around his wrist and pulling him to his feet.
