Page 37 of The Moment He Saw Her

“What?” June spun to face JD. “You’re having a wedding?”

Happy with his efforts to move the elderly fitness nut jobs on to another topic, he moved closer to Libby.

“Well, go on. Try them on before they force you down into a chair and do it for you.”

“I don’t need boots.”

“I heard the bit you didn’t add.”

“What?”

“And if I did, it wouldn’t be those ones,” Ryder said.

“I would never say that when they’ve been so kind,” Libby said, bending to untie the laces of her sneakers.

“Well now, if you need a cake, Abilene is excellent with fondant roses, JD,” LouJean said.

“And I have loads of crepe paper from the last wedding,” June added.

“Hurry it along there, Libby. JD looks ready to explode,” Ryder whispered.

She quickly pulled on one of the boots.

“Socks first,” he hissed.

She took it off and pulled on a sock and then replaced the boot.

“Well, would you look at that? They fit perfectly, and the socks too,” Ryder said loudly, which drew the gathering of interfering busybodies back to focus on Libby. He watched JD walk around the counter to stand behind the coffee machine and then disappear.

“Oh, now I am pleased,” Bart said. “And the socks too. Well done there, Esther.”

“Well, you all get on with your walk. I don’t want you out when the snow starts falling again,” Ryder said, shooing them to the door like he would a gaggle of geese and a single gander.

“Thank you so much!” Libby called after them. “I’m touched that you thought of me!”

They all turned and did a square with their hands and had gone seconds later.

“What was that they did with their hands?”

“Other normal towns do hearts, but Lyntacks do squares, and believe me, it’s not as easy as it looks.”

JD rose from where he’d been hiding behind the counter. “I feel violated.”

Libby started laughing and was soon bent at the waist gasping for air.

“I thought you said she was sane,” JD said, helping himself to a scone out of the cabinet, which he ate without buttering it first.

“I thought so. Now tell me you’re using Abilene’s cake-decorating services?” Ryder said.

JD raised his middle finger. “So, Libby, nice shoes. Come see me if you want those put back on,” he said, pointing to her eyes.

“Th-those?” She tried to get herself together.

“Eyelashes. I own the Gnat, a one-stop beautifying, hair, and tattoo shop. Now I need to get back because Kevin, the idiot who does all the things no one wants to, up and quit last night so he can leave Lyntacky to study.”

“Can you imagine someone wanting to leave sweeping your floors and running coffee to you every ten minutes? Selfish bastard that Kevin,” Ryder said.

Libby sucked in a deep breath from beside him, and Ryder studied her pink cheeks and thought,That woman packs a punch. The sparkling eyes and genuine happiness on her face—something he’d not seen before—were all compelling. Of course, not to him; he was immune because she wasn’t his type.

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