Page 27 of Finding You

For about three seconds.

Then they burst out laughing.

“You know what,” Avery stated, “I like you.” She put her arm around MacKenzie and started walking toward the cafe again. “You’re going to fit in perfectly here.”

“Oh…no,” MacKenzie protested. “I’m not…I mean…I’m just…”

Ashlynn came up on the other side of her. “Sweetbriar Ridge is literally the greatest place to live. Are you coming to the reunion stuff this weekend?”

“Um…”

“Has Devin told you about the upcoming festival at the ski resort? Because seriously, it’s going to be amazing. The food, the games, the rides…”

“Careful,” Avery whispered loudly to MacKenzie. “Her family is solely responsible for all the fabulous things happening here in Sweetbriar Ridge, and given the opportunity, she’s prone to start waxing poetic about it. You can tune her out.”

And honestly, MacKenzie kind of did. Not because she wasn’t interested in hearing about the town, the reunion, or the festival, but because for the first time in a long time, she felt like she actually fit in somewhere.

ChapterSix

Lunch ran long–much longer than Devin had expected–and then MacKenzie came back to the shop and announced she was going out for a girls’ night. Apparently Ashlynn and Avery had called a bunch of their friends and they were all getting together at someone’s house and having a variety of charcuterie boards and wine.

What the hell was a variety of charcuterie boards?

He knew this was a good thing and exactly what he was trying to talk himself into arranging last night, but now that it was happening, it felt weird.

And what was worse, she asked if he minded.

As in asking his permission.

What was he supposed to say? Part of him actually did mind–he looked forward to their dinners together and just having some quiet time back at his house. He genuinely enjoyed hearing her talk about everyone she met and her thoughts on their personalities or whatever quirks she’d noticed. It was kind of cool getting her point of view of the people he’d known his entire life. Most of the time she was spot-on and he found that mildly fascinating.

Who was he kidding? He felt that way about pretty much everything about her. But he had to say their after-work conversations were his favorite part of the day. And even though he tended to head to his room early, it wasn’t because he actually wanted to. It was self-preservation.

And after last night’s kiss, he would need to keep on doing it.

Dammit.

If she stayed with him for much longer, Devin was going to have to just start skipping dinner altogether or eating in his room.

The shop was closed and everything was quiet. Ashlynn had stopped by and picked up MacKenzie about thirty minutes ago and claimed they were going to go to the grocery store and grab stuff for their…charcuterie.

Just thinking about it made him roll his eyes.

Still…the garage was closed, the guys had all gone home, and…he didn’t know what to do with himself. It was ridiculous considering that up until a week ago, he went home after work every night without a problem, and now suddenly it seemed out of the ordinary.

“Okay, enough,” he chided himself as he grabbed his keys. “It’s time to go home and that’s all there is to it. Now I can sit and eat dinner in front of the TV and enjoy some peace and quiet. I don’t have to excuse myself and go to my room because I’m a grown man and there’s no one there to make me leave.”

Yeah, that sounded completely lame, but at least he was finally walking out the door and locking up the shop for the night. The plan was to make some sort of chicken dish for dinner–something MacKenzie was going to make–so now Devin figured he was going to have to stop at the grocery store and get something for himself.

“Nope,” he stated firmly as he climbed into his truck. “I’m not cooking. I’m getting a pizza and possibly eating it all myself.” Feeling good about that decision, he immediately called in his order and slowly made his way across town to pick it up.

All eyes immediately turned to him as soon as he stepped inside the pizzeria.

“Um…”

“Hey, Devin!” Tommy Mina, the owner, called out. “Didn’t expect to see you here tonight!”

Cautiously, he stepped closer to the counter. “How come?”

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