Page 44 of After You

“He and Derek are friends,” Hannah remindedthem.

Derek laughed. “Yeah, he’s not coming down here because ofme.”

“Maybe he wants to see his sister,” Hannah said, nodding toward Riley Ames, Kyle’s little sister, who was hunched over her laptop at a corner table.

Derek shook his head. “Nope. Sorry. This one’s all onyou.”

Crap.

“We should just get out of here,” Frank said. “He’ll be suspicious when he sees us here solate.”

“No time to leave,” Conrad said, glancing toward the door. “He’ll be here any second.”

Hannah reached over and removed the needle from Kade’s arm. He rubbed the spot then straightened and focused on his computer screen again. Which was not an act for Kyle’s sake. Unlike Conrad and Frank, making a big commotion while getting up and changing tables so they were farther from Hannah.

“Oh good, you’re done with Conrad.” This came from Tessa Sheridan, who had just come over to their table. Tess was another lifelong Sapphire Falls resident and the fiancée of the Come Again’s owner, Bryan Murray. “I was going to have you take a look at my foot. I have some plantar fasciitis and was wondering if you thought acupuncture couldhelp.”

“It definitely could,” Hannahsaid.

Tessa brightened. She started to pull a chair closer, but Frank hissed, “Not now. You can’t talk about her needles with Kylehere.”

“Why not?” Tess asked him. “I have to sneak around behind his backtoo?”

“Definitely,” Frank said. “All this hocus-pocus stuff will make Dr. A nervous.”

Tess grinned. “Why do you thinkthat?”

“Dr. A is as straightlaced as they come,” Franksaid.

Well, that was true. “It’s not hocus-pocus,” Hannah felt the need to protest.

“He’ll think it is,” Conrad said. “It’s better that we just keep this on the downlow.”

Hannah wasn’t sure if it was the almost-eighty-year-old using the phrase “on the down low” or how adamant he and Frank both were about keeping up this game of don’t-get-caught-by-Dr.-Ames, but she couldn’t help but grin. They both looked like they were having so much fun, she just couldn’t take it away from them. She winked at Tess. “Maybe we could meet sometime tomorrow. Maybe around ten? At the bakery?”

Tess nodded. “And we’ll probably have to get muffins and coffee to keep up our cover, right?”

“Absolutely,” Hannah agreed.

“Got it.” Tess glanced around. “I’d better get back to the back then. I don’t want to tip Kyle off that anything funny is going onhere.”

Frank and Conrad nodded in agreement.

Tess slipped behind the bar and through the swinging door to the kitchen, just as the door to the Come Again opened.

* * *

Is Hannah there?

Kyle sent the text to Derek as he stomped out to his truck. He hadn’t seen her in four days. He wouldn’t typically care—okay, he shouldn’t care—except that he was supposed to be making her miss Sapphire Falls. How the fuck could he do that without seeingher?

She’d been doing what she’d said she would do—lying low at her grandma’s. He knew from Alice that Hannah had been there every day, all day. They’d played cards, baked, and talked. Alice seemed thrilled. Which was great. But he already knew that Hannah had missed her grandma. How could she not? It was the town, the life here that she also had to miss. And him, dammit. And he’d explained why it was important that she get out and see people and do things so that Alice felt she’d given Sapphire Falls a fair chance.

Thought you said not to text you about where she is anymore, was Derek’s reply.

Kyle started his truck. He was stuck with this guy as his best friend? Where was Scott when Kyle needed him? Oh, yeah, wrapped up in love—and his bed sheets—with Peyton Wells. And good for Scott. He’d wanted Peyton for a longtime.

But he’d chosen a really crappy time to finally make it happen.

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