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Kayla leaned forward on her seat. As soon as the door closed behind Austin and C. J., she pounced. “Cody just happened to be by? What’s going on?”
I hunched my shoulders. “He came by. I needed help. He helped.”
She squinted at me. “You’re hiding something.”
My eyes darted over to the door.
“I knew it!” Kayla jumped out of her seat. “You and Cody are a thing.”
“Shh.” I squeezed my eyes shut then opened them. “You can’t say anything. We’re not telling anyone.”
“But…why not? This is great.” Kayla frowned. “You know Austin won’t mind, right?”
I shook my head. I couldn’t launch into the explanation I wanted to, because C. J. opened the door, setting off the bell, and Austin came in, lugging a box.
“Please?”
Kayla huffed out a breath. “Fine. But I’m not happy about it.”
Austin brought the box over and set it on the table. “There’s no way you were going to carry that.”
C. J. flexed a bicep. “I’m small, but mighty. Also I have a dolly.”
I chuckled. “Smart woman. Can I do anything to help you get set up?”
“I think I’ve got it. But I really do appreciate this.” C. J. reached into the box and started extracting metal poles.
“Here’s hoping it’s a success. For both of us.” I stepped away from the table and jerked my head toward the cash register. “Let’s get out of her way. Holler if you need anything, okay?”
“You got it.” C. J. grinned and started screwing poles together.
“I’ve got a good feeling.” Austin leaned against the checkout counter. “She’s great.”
Five minutes before our official opening time, I double-checked that C. J. was ready. I took some quick pictures for the bookstore’s social media and newsletter, promised to send them to her as well, and shooed Kayla over to the table. “Go buy your books and we’ll get this officially underway.”
15
CODY
Ipaced by the front door. Megan should be here any minute, and I couldn’t wait. Sundays were hard.
It was hard to resist reaching for her hand during church. Or slipping my arm around her shoulder as we listened to the sermon. I didn’t like eating lunch in the diner with the girls in a booth across the restaurant, and the guys at a table too far away for me to make eye contact.
I’d thought—hoped—that with Scott and Whitney enjoying their month or so in the islands that we’d be able to do more combined eating. But today, there hadn’t been room to put enough tables together, so we’d had to deal.
No one but me had minded.
Of course, I hadn’t let on that I cared, because that was opening a huge can of worms that didn’t need opening. But man. We were only two weeks in with this secret relationship, and it was already harder than keeping my crush quiet had ever been.
Finally, the doorbell rang. I rushed to open it and grinned when I saw her standing on my porch, looking over her shoulder.
“Hey. Come in.” I reached for her hand.
Megan looked at me with a worried smile. “I thought I saw Tristan walking by the water with someone. I don’t know if he saw me.”
“Don’t worry about it.” It wasn’t completely unrealistic for Tristan to be wandering by the water near my townhouse.With someonewas a twist, but he took client meetings in unexpected places sometimes. And he’d been talking about hiring security. So maybe he’d followed through on that.
After the press that had cost Austin and Kayla their jobs in the spring, all of us had struggled a little with the idea that we might need to hire personal security. I really didn’t want to go that route. I wasn’t sure what Mr. Ballentine would think of it, to start off, and beyond that? I was just a guy who happened to have some money now.
