Page 17 of The Moment They Can't Forget

Dan frowned. “Something’s off with her too, and I’m sure she’s avoiding us.”

“Have you tried asking her?”

“Now, why didn’t we think of that?” Dan replied in a dry tone. “You don’t have sisters, do you?”

JD shook his head, wishing someone nearby would commit a crime so Dan had to leave.

“What siblings do you have?”

“No sisters,” JD said. He didn’t talk about his family.

“Your order is ready, Dan!” Mary Sue called.

“Shit, I better get them back. Sybil hates her waffles cold. If you run into my sister, see if you can find out what’s bugging her, JD. Laters,” Dan said.

If he’d felt bad for keeping what he and Zoe had done from Sawyer, that guilt just increased. The Dukes were his friends. In fact, they were like family. And now one of them wanted him to talk to Zoe about what was bugging her. He was fairly sure he already knew. Well, part of what was bothering her anyway, as clearly it was him and what they’d done.

He watched Dan leave and looked down at the lemon curd remaining on his plate. It no longer looked tasty.

Rising, he went to pay his bill.

“That face will curdle my batter,” Mary Sue said from behind the counter.

“Sorry.” JD smiled.

“Now, that’s much better. You young’uns, always frowning over your devices. You need to look up a time or two,” she said.

He hadn’t been classified as a young’un for many years, and now twice in a few days. JD had long ago given up devices for anything but necessity, so he wasn’t sure how to respond. But if he was honest, when the older members of the community talked to him, he rarely knew what to say.

“Well, thanks for the great waffles, Mary Sue. I’ll be back soon.”

“You make sure you do, sweetie. Have a good day now.”

JD headed for the door, but before he could step outside, Birdie and Zoe ran by. He knew it was her, even from this distance, because he tensed. Stepping outside when he knew she’d passed, he noticed Beau Keller checking them out.

“You might want to raise those eyes.”

“You show me any man who didn’t stare at those two,” Beau replied with a smile that had JD’s fist clenching. Before he could say another word, Keller headed into CTC.

This would be something else he wouldn’t be telling Sawyer about. He’d kill Keller if he knew the man had been checking out his girl or his sister.

“Get your shit together,” JD muttered. He walked down the street, his eyes still on Zoe.

He’d tried to convince himself the sex with her was not as good as he remembered. Visions of her naked on top and beneath him kept filtering through his head like some kind of erotic reel denying that. He was hard and frustrated, and it had to stop. Would stop today.

He needed to put her back into the annoying little sister of a friend zone.

He followed the girls but only because his car was parked that way.

They stopped outside Petticoat Homeware. Another weird name in a town full of them. All Lyntacky shops must have names relating to square dancing if they were built after the fixation started, he’d been told when he started his business.

“Hi, JD.”

Dragging his eyes from Zoe, he found Sydney Jane standing before him.

“Hey, Sydney Jane.”

“I’m going for waffles. You want to join me?” The woman made everything sound like an invitation to get naked. Her clothes were tight, makeup thick, and she was, he guessed, pretty. But the woman was terrifying, and not much scared JD.

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