Page 57 of Whispers and Wildfire

I lifted my half-full milkshake. “I guess I overestimated how much room I had left after dinner.”

He grinned. “Me too. Ready to go?”

I nodded, and we both stood. He threw our cups in the garbage and led me out to his car—a Toyota RAV4. A perfectly sensible car and much more comfortable than the muscle cars Luke always drove.

We chatted a little more on the way to my house, and it was… nice. He made me laugh, and his smile was charming.

But the fire inside me wasn’t for Hank. It was indignation at Luke for being at the Zany Zebra. The whole thing had to be his fault. He’d been sitting there in his faded T-shirt that stretched over his broad back and muscular arms, with that stupid scowl on his stupid handsome face. And all I could think about was that groove he got between his eyebrows when he was mad and how much it looked like the expression he wore when he—

No. I wasn’t going there. I didn’t even remember the face he made when he—

No. Again.

And there I was, blood boiling as we pulled up to my house. Hank got out to walk me to my door, and I tried as hard as I could to smooth out my features. But my face had a way of talking out loud, whether I wanted it to or not.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his brow creasing with concern.

“Yes. Sorry.” I took a deep breath. “It’s just work stuff. Something popped into my head that I have to deal with tomorrow, and my face doesn’t have an inside voice.”

He chuckled. “Fair enough. I had a good time tonight.”

“Me too.”

Leaning in, he brushed a quick kiss on my cheek. “Thanks, Melanie. I’ll call you?”

“That would be great.”

While he walked back to his car, I unlocked the door. He paused before getting in, as if waiting to make sure I made it inside okay. That was polite of him. I waved, then went in the house and shut the door.

I let out a long breath. I had no idea how to feel. Hank seemed like a good guy, and it had been a perfectly decent first date. What did I expect? Fireworks? To fall head over heels in love with someone over dinner and milkshakes?

And how would I manage to date anyone when Luke Haven seemed to be everywhere? What was next? Dinner seated at adjacent tables?

I shuddered.

Living in my hometown was turning out to be more complicated than I’d thought.

And what was going to happen at work tomorrow? I groaned. That was going to be awkward.

Apparently, I’d been wrong about the awkwardness at work. It wasn’t. Because Luke wasn’t there.

Where was he? It was irritating that he wasn’t there, and just as irritating that I was irritated. I wasn’t his keeper. I didn’t need to know where he was every second of the day.

Ollie walked into the lobby from the garage, his battered baseball cap on backward. “Hey, Mel.”

“Hi, Ollie.” I started to ask if he knew where Luke was but pressed my lips together to stop myself. I didn’t need to know.

Didn’t even care.

He grabbed some mail off the desk and went back to the garage.

I checked the clock again. I still had a couple hours before it was time for me to go home. I needed to get out of there and stop pouting about the fact that my ex-boyfriend-turned-boss hadn’t been in to work yet.

My cell rang. It was my mom, so I answered. “Hi, Mom.”

“How was your date?”

I shook my head slightly at her bluntness. “It was fine.”

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