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Yes.
I froze. No. No, I didn’t. I couldn’t be in love with Michael. I remembered what being in love felt like. It was hell. What I felt with Michael was nothing like that. I felt good and happy andsafewhen I was with him. That wasn’t love. Love was terror and doubt and never having enough. Love wasn’t safe.
I didn’t have long to panic about that, because while I was trying to remember how to breathe, I heard Suzie say, “Nora? Michael? Will someone please tell me what is going on here?”
Oh, no.
Michael turned slowly so that we were face-to-face with Suzie and Kate. Well, he was face-to-face, anyway. My face was a good deal higher.
Also? My dress was pushed high up on my legs in order to accommodate Michael’s head, which meant everyone would have an excellent view of my black lace thong if I moved the wrong way.
This just kept getting better and better.
“This keeps getting better and better,” Michael said, echoing my thoughts, only without the sarcasm. He sounded like he actually meant it. His voice was shaking with laughter.
“Suzie. Kate. What are you guys doing out here?” I asked, as though I was the one behaving perfectly normal and they were out of place.
Suzie stared at me like I was crazy. Which, fair enough. “We were looking for you. You weren’t in the bathroom. You weren’t in the restaurant. We had no idea if you had been kidnapped or what, because your purse was still here and so was your phone but you were nowhere to be seen.” She looked at Michael. “Are you going to put her down?”
“I’m considering it,” he drawled.
I frowned down at his head, wanting to smack him again but also not wanting to fall or, God forbid, flash my friends.
“Nora?”
Shit, damn, and hellagain. Grant was the last thing I wanted to deal with right now.
I gave a resigned sigh.Only me. This was exactly the kind of thing that always seemed to happen to me. I needed to accept that whatever god I had angered was petty as fuck. “Hello, Grant.”
His hands went to his hips. “What the hell are you doing, Nora?”
My temper flared.Hewas supposed to be at work, in Asheville.Iwas at least where I was supposed to be. Dreamer’s Cafe wasn’t exactly his kind of place, anyway. It was too cute, plus it served actual food instead of unrecognizable liquids. This whole thing was ridiculous. Also, I was freezing. I wanted to go inside and eat some damn food, drink some damn wine, and warm up my damn body.
I dealt to Suzie first, because I actually liked her, which was more than I could say for Grant right now.
“Suzie, I get that this is probably the worst way to tell you, but Michael and I are…” I choked. Michael squeezed my thighs encouragingly with his warm hands, giving me courage. “Together,” I finished. “Michael and I are together. Grant, this is Michael. Michael, my ex-husband, Grant.”
Neither of them said a word.
“Perhaps we can discuss this when we don’t have an audience,” I continued, as haughtily as I could manage given my undignified circumstances.
“Oh, don’t mind me,” Kate said brightly. “Pretend I’m not even here.” She returned my glare with a wide grin.
Grant’s gaze flicked to Michael and back to me. He frowned. “What are you doing here, Nora? I thought you were home taking care of Brandon, not on a date.”
“I’m not on a date, and the vet said Brandon is absolutely fine to spend a couple hours alone. Also—” Wait, why was I explaining myself? I was exactly where I was supposed to be, with the exception of Michael’s shoulders being between my thighs. “What areyoudoing here? I thought you had to work late.”
“You misunderstood. I didn’t say anything about work.”
I felt Michael suddenly go alert between my legs.
I rubbed my forehead and frowned. What had he said, exactly? Oh, right, that he wouldn’t be done “here” until late. I had assumed “here” meant work, but that wasn’t what he had said.
And yet.
I looked at Grant carefully. He was generally hiding something, but sometimes it was a small something, like he felt like getting a drink with his co-workers and didn’t want to hear me whine. But this time I thought it was a big something. I thought that because his left hand was bare. And because he was here, in Hart’s Ridge, where he had no business being. Had the whole thing with Brandon been a ruse to make sure I wouldn’t witness him here? It seemed far-fetched.
Our entire marriage, everything had always seemed far-fetched.
