Page 118 of Mortgage of Convenience

“What is it, then?” I ask, slowly circling more on my spoon so I don’t have to look at either of them.

“Depends on who you ask. The closest thing you could compare it to is spit.”

I look up in time to see Aiden’s face twitch. I snort. That’ll teach him. Then I notice the way Sebastian is looking at me, or, more accurately, watching as I lick honey off the spoon. My heart catapults into orbit.

Double fuck.

Flushing, I throw the spoon into the sink and close the jar. That’s enough of that. If there’s any hope of us keeping Aiden from knowing what we’re doing, Sebastian needs to stop looking at me with those damn bedroom eyes.

“I’ll have to see what Cassie says the next time I seeher. Or,” I say, watching Aiden’s expression carefully, “you could always ask her.”

While he dismisses me with a fond roll of his eyes, there’s no mistaking the patent Montgomery blush. Busted.

Main Street hasn’t been a hub for at least twenty years. The barber on the corner hasn’t changed in that time, and from the looks of the owner, a lot longer than that. Along the strip, the shop faces have been given fresh coats of paint, but the overhead signs bear the marks of the businesses that came before. History layered and repeated.

It’s quiet for a Saturday morning, empty where I remember noise.

“Oh no. When did Greens and Co. close?”

“Probably seven or eight months ago? I can’t remember.” It’s a shame to see an Elmsford icon close down. Something monumental. Never again will I see the infamous extra C and K graffiti that everyone (including the owners) had come to love. Now it’s a bare stretch of cladding and boarded-up windows.

Sometimes change is a good thing.

Is it so wrong for things to stay the way they were? Or am I just like Morgan, needing everything to remain as it was?

Aiden leads me to Fairgrounds, which he tells me is currently the best coffee this side of the city. Clearly, he hasn’t tried Hank’s yet.

Depending on how this conversation goes, I’ll take him.

“So,” I start, spinning the napkin under my finger. “Um.”

“Yes?”

Aiden waits, but there’s something in his smile that’s nagging at me.

It’s almost as though…

“You already know.”

He raises his brow in fake innocence, but the way he’s biting back a laugh gives him away.

“You jerk. When did you work it out? It was the lake, wasn’t it?”

“Shit, give me more credit than that. I’ve known for months. You’re hardly subtle.”

Well, shit. Guess I got my wish after all.

“And you’re not mad?”

When he heaves a sigh, losing the smug smile, my heart stalls out the same way his car does on a cold day.

“I’m not mad, but…”

Ihate, hate, hatethat word.

“I was worried. How could I not be? Ever since you came back, you’ve said it’s only temporary. Then you go and sign yourself up for a mortgage and have a clandestine fling with my best friend.”

I flush at his phrasing. “The last thing I wanted was to have to choose between you if you broke his heart.”

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