Page 13 of Honeycombs & Homecomings

He rolled his eyes then took his coat off and handed it to her. She thought about arguing, but the warm feel of it against her hands was too tempting to pass up. She stuck her arms through and clutched the open front together to preserve heat. It dwarfed her, but it was so cozy. And smelled of leather and spices. She buried her nose in it, pretending to stave off the cold, and breathed deep. He’d always smelled of spices as a boy, too. She could smell mint and lavender now and wondered what delicious foods he’d made today. Something fast since he’d been traveling.

They reached the end of the park and headed down Main Street. He followed her around back between her building and the empty one just south of hers. Down the way, Harold sat out back the grocery store chatting with several men who lived in the assisted living facility just down the block. She waved to them, and they waved back.

Cash lifted a hand and waved. “Hey Harold! Stew! Lawrence.”

“Who is it?” Stew yelled back.

“Cash Evans.”

“Cash? Is that you?” Jim sat a little taller in his chair.

“The one and only,” Cash said.

“When’d you get back?” Harold asked.

“A couple hours ago.”

“And you found Jo already?” Lawrence yelled in a voice that was way louder than it needed to be, a puff of cold air misting in front of his face. The group of old men burst into laughter.

Jo felt her cheeks getting hot again and turned on Cash. “What are you doing here?” She ignored the whine in her voice.

Cash glanced down at her, his smile falling.

“Jo? Is that Cash’s jacket?” Jim called.

She closed her eyes and breathed out, fighting the urge to remove the jacket and throw it at Cash. Though, she should’ve known better. By tomorrow, she’d be lucky if the whole town didn’t know she’d been wearing his jacket, and started some salacious gossip about the two of them. She sucked in a gasp. What if someone started a love-child rumor?! That’d happened with Barbie at the hardware store . . . although, Jo could kind of understand that.

With one hand, Cash waved at the gossips, and with his other, he grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to the building where they were blocked from view by a dumpster.

She appreciated that.

“You’re upset?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m upset. You can’t just—” What was she going to say? That he couldn’t come home to Harvest Ranch? Couldn’t be kind and help her out? Couldn’t be a gentleman and offer his jacket. Because he really couldn’t do those things, but that wasn’t his fault, that was just small-town life.

He was trying to keep a serious face, but his dimples were showing.

She really hated those dimples right now. “It’s been a long time. And while I appreciated your help tonight, we’re not just going to fall back into old routines.” There, that sounded good. The last thing she wanted to do was have people gossiping about when he’d run off. His mysterious exit left her in the center of gossip for months. And she hadn’t had anything to do with his leaving—at least she didn’t think so. She hadn’t even known he was leaving until he was already gone.

Just the thought of it made her stomach roil like a river over boulders. She clenched her teeth.

“Jo—”

She handed him his jacket and reached for the backpack. “Go home, Cash. I’m sure your mother’s worried sick.”

He turned to leave, then stopped. “I didn’t have any big plan tonight. I hadn’t planned on seeing you at all.”

Her stomach heaved again. She clenched a fist, then straightened out her fingers. “Then why did you?”

“I was driving by and saw your shop. And it was perfect. Just like you described it. I wanted to congratulate you, and tell you how proud I am,” he said.

She felt tears prick at the back of her eyes. “It’s a little late for that. The store is almost five years old and you’re a stranger, so your opinion, while nice, really means very little to me.”

He frowned again. Twice in one night she’d made him frown, not just not smiling but actually frowning. Double that was how many times she’d seen him frown in the entire time they were friends in school. He turned from her, his hands shoved in his pockets, and made his way back to the alley.

She pulled her keys from her pocket as he rounded the corner and went to the back door. She reached for the handle, and the slightest touch sent it back an inch.

She sucked in a breath.

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