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The two women laughed. Reggie glanced at Shaye, who shook her head.
“Uh. I don’t have an opinion on this one. I’m just the new girl. It’s your life, Reggie. What do you want?”
Someone to love, she thought. She wanted to fall in love and get married and have a family. She wanted silly traditions and laughter and Belle watching over their first child as protectively as she watched over Burt.
“I want us to change the subject,” she said lightly. “This is supposed to be a party. So, what are we wrapping tonight?”
Her friends accepted the shift in conversation. Later, when they were done eating and starting to set up to wrap the presents, Reggie excused herself and stepped out into the hall. Paisley had made a lot of good points. What would it hurt to find out if she was really over Jake or if there was still something there?
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and texted back her response.
Dinner would be great. When and where?
Chapter Twenty-Four
Dena had no idea why she was torturing herself. She knew it was a bad idea, yet here she was, typing in Micah’s name in the search bar, along with Electra and Adriana. The list of links all took her to dark and dangerous places with pictures. So many pictures.
None of them were bad or gross or naked. Instead, what upset her was how incredibly beautiful both women were. Electra was a striking redhead who dressed in a lot of leather and platform heels. Adriana was an ethereal beauty with pale blond hair and blue-gray eyes. She looked more like a fairy than a human. A fairy supermodel.
Their styles and looks couldn’t have been more different, except for the fact that they were as gorgeous as Micah was handsome. The photographs were physical proof that she was an ordinary mortal, and she’d read enough Greek mythology to know what happened to mortals who tried to involve themselves with the world of the gods. The mortals always ended up little more than a bag of dusty bones.
“That’s cheerful,” she murmured, sipping her herbal tea before glancing longingly at her coffee maker. “I still miss you, by the way. My love is true.”
The coffee maker chose not to reply, so she turned her attention back to her screen and watched a couple of music videos before clicking on more links.
There were hundreds of pictures of Micah, with and without his wives. She spent a full minute staring into his soulful blue eyes before closing the browsers and turning away from her computer.
She had to accept the truth. She could daydream and wish as much as she wanted, but the truth could not be denied. She and Micah were friends. He was a good man who was very sweet to her, but that did not a true love make.
She wasn’t his type. She wasn’t beautiful or special or talented. She was an ordinary woman, living an ordinary life. A man like him would never want that. The Micahs of the world gravitated to the very special, and while she thought she was a good person with a lot to offer, special was probably stretching it.
Obviously she had to figure out a way to get over him. Because as much as she wanted to tell herself her attraction was all about the pretty outside of the man, she knew it was way more than his smile or his shoulders. It was him. The inside him—his generosity, his kindness, his sense of humor, his talent. The man had flown her to Seattle because she was feeling down. He’d bought guitars for her kids. He showed up at nearly every knitting afternoon and entertained everyone. How was she supposed to resist that?
Only she had to. Because if she didn’t watch herself, she was going to get her heart broken when he left, and leave he would. He’d told her and she believed him.
“I need a distraction,” she said out loud, closing her laptop and coming to her feet. As there was always something she could be doing at the B and B, she grabbed her coat and headed for the stairs. She could go over the monthly billing and check out linen inventory. That would take her mind off the man she couldn’t have.
She hurried the short distance from the carriage house to the main building. The temperature was close to zero, but there was still no snow in the forecast. What was up with that?
She went inside and hurried to the fireplace to warm herself. Once she could feel her fingers again, she walked over to the reception desk and smiled at Winona.
“How’s it going?”
The B and B manager gave her an odd look. “So, this thing happened.”
“What does that mean?”
Winona gave her a pained smile. “A guest came down and said the bathroom sink was leaking. Micah was standing right here. Before I could pick up the phone to call the plumber, he said he would take care of it. I must have lost my head, because I showed him where we kept the tools, and he’s up there right now.”
Dena had trouble taking in the words. “You let a guest repair the plumbing of another guest?”
“I know. When you say it like that, I’m mortified. It’s just, I guess I don’t think of him as a guest so much as your friend and, well, I screwed up. I’m sorry.”
“What room?”
“Eight.”
Dena took the stairs to the second floor and made her way to the far end of the hall. The door was partially open, so she let herself in, calling out as she entered.
