Page 31 of One Sweet Day I Found You

Apparently, Victoria and Courtney had become friends, which was great. But that meant Victoria would probably tell Courtney if Nick had hightailed it out of there without saying hello. Then he’d look like an idiot. Or rude.Okay, this is getting ridiculous.Just go do it.

He marched past his sporty black Jeep in the driveway and headed toward the cottage.

At the entrance, he hesitated then tapped a fist at the white metal paneling on the screen door.

No answer. He glanced back at the driveway. Her car was still there. Maybe she was busy—or sleeping?

He turned to leave. At least he’d tried.

Just then a voice called out from a distance. “Hey, stranger!”

Nick turned.

Was it?

Courtney. It was.

She’d been out. Jogging.

Okay, he hadn’t thought of that.

Nick’s cheeks burned and his heart skipped a beat. “Hey, there!”

Courtney slowed as she reached him. A soft breeze blew in from the lake, cooling off the evening air, and Nick stretched out his shoulders, trying to relax.

She was smiling.

She looked good. Black yoga pants and a peach tank top. High ponytail. Athletic. A little sweaty. Gorgeous.Chill out, dude.

She reached up to wipe the sweat from her brow. “So, what brings you here?” she said, catching her breath.

“I—uh, I stopped in to see Victoria.” He motioned to the house. The old woman waved from the window and they both waved back. A moment later, the curtains closed and Victoria was gone.

“Oh.” Courtney glanced at the window and then off into the distance.

Shoot. That hadn’t come out right.

“Yeah, I didn’t get into it before, but I actually come to visit her every couple weeks, make sure she’s doing okay.”

“Oh, how nice of you.”

“But actually, I saw your car, so I thought I’d knock on your door, see if you were around.” He motioned to the door. “No answer. I figured you were busy.” He shot a look at the trail she’d just taken. “And now I can see you were out for a run.”

“Yeah. I just ran down to the docks. Nice night for it. Oh, and I saw your shop.”

“Oh, you did?”

Had she been looking for him, too? Nick fiddled with his keys.

“I must’ve just missed you. We close a little early for another week, before it starts getting really busy.”

“Ah.” Courtney wiped her brow with her forearm.

Awkward silence.

He switched his weight from one foot to the other. “So Victoria says you two hit it off.”

“Yeah! I like her. She’s very sweet.”

This wasnotgoing how he’d hoped. It probably sounded like he hadn’t meant to run into Courtney at all, when, in fact, he couldn’t stop thinking about her all weekend, as much as he’d tried not to. Still, he’d already thought this through. It wasn’t going to work.

Courtney lifted a foot behind her, grabbed hold of it, and began to stretch. “Great weather this weekend, eh?” She dropped her leg to the ground.

His head was telling himstopbut the rest of him was telling himgo.

Get over yourself, dude.It was now or never. Enough small talk. Ask her. He cleared his throat.

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