Page 45 of Axe-identally Married
He looked away from me, a blush creeping across the skin above his scruff.
“It’s a beautiful shade of green,” I said, uncomfortable with the silence.
When he still didn’t respond, I turned, put the mugs in the dishwasher, and headed toward my room. He needed space. That was cool. I needed an ice-cold shower and a Valium, but that was another story.
“Willa.” His voice was low, rough.
Breath hitching again, I turned in the doorway.
“It’s the exact shade of your eyes. I noticed you don’t have a scarf, and since it’s winter and all…”
He left the thought hanging between us.
When he looked back down at his project, I turned and darted into my room. I didn’t want him to see the smile that was almost splitting my face in two.
Chapter Fifteen
Willa
“You’ve been avoiding me.”
Magnolia stood in my office, wearing a lime-green jumpsuit topped with a black blazer. Her makeup was impeccable, and her trendy asymmetrical haircut was artfully mussed.
“Do you have an appointment?” I asked sweetly, hitting her with a smile.
“I brought lunch, and Mellie confirmed you have no patients until 1:45.”
She was right. I finally had a break. And God, was I starving. Also, Mags had been texting me nonstop since we returned from Vegas last week, so it was time to face the music.
My best friend was brilliant, and she had the time and resources to dig for the truth. We’d become friends as kids. Though she wasn’t a Lovewell resident like Lila and me, she spent her summers here. She’d regale us with stories of her Upper East Side prep school and bring us old issues ofSeventeenmagazine. As we traipsed through town, sunbathing at the lake and splitting milkshakes at the diner, a deep bond was formed.
She was the best kind of people. But she also could read me like a book.
She stepped into the office and closed the door behind her, then she pounced. “Start talking.” She pulled out a container and set it on the desk.
“Is this pad Thai?” I asked, my stomach growling at the divine scent filling the small room.
She nodded as she pulled out a second container.
“How?” I asked. “There’s no Thai food within fifty miles of this place.”
She shrugged. “I got a guy.”
“But this is still warm.”
“Exactly.” She took chopsticks and napkins out of the brown paper bag. “Don’t let it get cold.”
Obediently, I popped the lid off my container. As a whoosh of warm, heavenly-smelling air hit me, and I moaned. How the hell had she found pad Thai?
“It’s interesting,” she said. “You live on my property, yet I still can’t ever catch you.”
“The property is forty acres.”
She raised one eyebrow and angled forward. “We don’t lie to each other, Willa.”
Every muscle in my body went rigid at her tone.
“So.” She leaned forward, elbows on my desk, her fingers steepled. “What’s going on? I’m worried about you, and I need to know that you’re okay.”
