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“Merry.”
“Where are you?”
“Currently on my back in the Winters front yard.”
Merry reached down and grabbed his hand. “I think you’re good.”
Clark gripped her warm palm in his and got to his feet, his back and ass throbbing. “Thanks for the lift.”
“You’re welcome.” She released his hand, frowning down at the cement. “It’s weird that there’s any ice. Dad’s usually good about salting the walkway.”
“Probably some of the snow from the lawn melted onto the cement and refroze.”
“And you found the only patch on the whole stretch. I gotta say, I’m impressed.”
“At my gracefulness?”
“No, that you didn’t use falling as an opportunity to give me a cheesy line like ‘Looks like I fell for you’.”
Clark winced. “Guys really do that?”
“Oh yeah. Corny, insincere…” Suddenly her eyes widened. “Not that I think you’re interested in me or that you’re a jerk or… Shit, I didn’t mean to say that or even allude to that! I was being incredibly presumptuous and I am so sorry. I am such an idiot sometimes.”
“You’re not an idiot, Merry.”
“If you say so, but between yesterday and tonight, I’m really not sure.”
“What happened yesterday?”
“Telling you I had a crush on you back in high school. I feel like I made you uncomfortable—”
“No, you didn’t!” he blurted.
“I didn’t?”
Clark ran a hand through his hair, all the reasons he’d had not to be honest eluding him with her standing so close. “I almost asked you out.”
“When?”
“That day we worked together.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because you got into a truck with another guy. Figured I didn’t stand a chance.”
“I see.” She opened up her car door without saying anything else and Clark shuffled his feet, wondering what was going on inside her head. He looked away when she bent over and pulled the lever to the trunk. He did not want her catching him staring at her ass.
When she straightened up, she shut the door with a shrug. “Machine’s in the trunk.”
As he rounded the back of the car, she came up alongside him, her shoulder brushing his. “It’s funny, isn’t it? We liked each other at the same time, but still missed our chance to do something about it.”
Clark reached into the trunk for the machine, his heart pounding. What was she getting at?
“Maybe nothing happened then because we were supposed to end up back on the farm. Together.”
Clark hit his head on the trunk and lost his grip on the espresso machine box, rubbing his already sore head with one hand. “Shit.”
“Are you okay?”
