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At his words, she couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
“What?” He looked shocked by her outburst.
She picked up a pea and flicked it at him. “You’re funny.”
He took a couple of his own peas and tossed them at her. “You will not win this game, Reese.”
She laughed, loving that they could be silly again. She grabbed a clump and threw them all at once.
“Oh.” He snatched up the bowl and moved it away from her. “Sneak attack.”
“I’m not a sniper, but I can hit a big target like you.”
“Right.” He threw more of them in succession, like he was firing a gun.
She giggled and put her hand up to block them. “Stop.”
He laughed too, and then he bent to pick them up. “See what you made us do?”
Cheryse loved that they were sort of back to being old friends. She watched him clean up and realized that she loved him cooking, too. “Thank you for dinner. If I could, I’d get down there and pick up my peas.”
“No,” he said, quickly picking them up. “I got it.”
She began stacking dishes. Using her little scooter, she could balance a couple of them to take back into the kitchen. He was instantly at her side with the rest. He put them in the sink and started the water.
“I got this,” she told him. “You cooked.”
He frowned and began washing. “No. We’ll do them together.”
So that’s what they did, and it felt so easy as they continued to joke and laugh.
When they finished, she stared at her foot wearily. “Hopefully I won’t have to have surgery.” They were waiting to see what everything looked like after the swelling went down a bit.
“I guess we’ll see on Monday what they say about getting the boot off.”
She nodded. “I might not need quite as much help.”
He shrugged and moved past her. “What can I say? I’ve enjoyed helping you. In fact, let’s go look at those garden boxes.”
It freaked her out that he cared so much about her. “You honestly don’t have to do it.” She couldn’t help thinking that no matter what she’d said to Roger, he had not offered to help her in the past year. It touched her heart to know that Hunter had seen this need and decided to fill it. “But I am grateful.”
Hunter flashed a smile. “Finally, I think I’m getting a bit of redemption.”
She followed him out to the back, bombarded by feelings and memories. He had done a complete one-eighty in the past week.
All the beach crew, at one point or another, had come into the salon to check on her. Many of them had commented about how happy Hunter seemed. He seemed back to the way he used to be: polite, kind, and quick to laughter.
“Are you going to tell me why those gears are turning inside your head?”
She tilted her head and leaned back into the sun chair. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” He busied himself watering the plants. “I just want to know what you’re thinking about.”
It unsettled her that they could still be so in tune with each other. “The past year, I was kind of cold toward you.”
“Yeah, I felt like I’d lost my brother and my best friend.”
“But I missed you.” She blinked and felt the rawness of what she’d said. “I missed my kind, thoughtful friend who is a lady charmer at the salon.”
