Page 70 of Cherry Picked
I was not going to text Hawk in the middle of his meeting with the Environmental Committee to ask him to clarify the situation just to gain some reassurance.Pfft.
And I was sure as heck not gonna sit around dwelling on the fact that Simon was a good-looking man closer to Hawk’s age, who shared Hawk’s interests, and who Hawk had once called “cute.”Definitely, definitely not.
I was going to be a mature adult, I thought as I pummeled the dough into submission.
Mature. As. Fuck.
But when Betty Ann Wolff walked in later in the afternoon, talking at full volume on her cell phone as she stood at the check-in counter waiting for her to-go lunch order, I decided that maturity didn’t mean a man couldn’t listen in when the town’s second-biggest gossip began discussing his boyfriend.
“I’m telling you, Helena, I just talked to him at the Environmental Committee meeting, and our precious Hawk has gone soft. Mmmhmm. He actually said to me, point-blank, ‘Well, Ms. Wolff, maybe we need to compromise. Maybe Evola could do some good things for this town. I bet Ms. Fortnum would agree.’ Can you imagine? Plus, he’s going out to dinner with that viper, and we all know whatdinneris code for.”
She paused for a long moment while I ducked down behind the counter—only because the kids’ coloring menus needed to be organized and not at all so I could listen without skulking.
Hawk was considering a compromise? Rightnow, when the town was almost guaranteed to give him the “no” vote he’d been looking for?
Betty Ann sighed. “You’re right. I s’pose Hawk’s found his backbone aboutsomethings. And I’ll grant you, he’s doing good stuff with his Insta-what’s-it. A little birdie told me that reporter, Genevieve York-Muller, might even come back to do a news feature on him. But you gotta remember, Simon’s got more charm than any three men should have. It’s like a dense fog of smarm settled over your inn since that guy came to town, and…yup.Hawk’s too sweet for his own good. Not to mention, he boned Jack Wyatt last week, and that’s enough to turn anyone’s brain to banana pudding.”
I scowled at her through the counter.
“Oh, yeah. Hawk can’t keep a secret like some of us can,” she said fondly. “That’s why it was a smart move on your part not to fill him in on what the Hookers are doing. Might as well tattoo the words ‘I have a cunning plan!’ right on his expressive little face. I mean, look at the heart-eyes he’s been giving Jack all these years.” She chuckled. “Jack never seemed to notice Hawk was in love with him, but not for Hawk’s lack of trying. It’s amazing Hawk never got fed up and ditched him.”
Wait,what?
What were Betty Ann, Helena, and the Hookers up to?
How ironic was it that Betty Ann was having a conversation about her excellent secret-keeping, at full volume, in a public place, with no regard to who might be listening?
And, most mind-blowing of all… Hawk had been in love with me for “all these years”?
He’d said he’d had feelings for me for a while, butJesus. Here I was, needing reassurance after dealing with a single morning of Little Pippin Hollow gossip, and Hawk had held on to his feelings for years, never knowing if they’d be returned.
My man was even stronger than I’d realized, I thought with a rush of affection that swept away any lingering jealousy. And I was going to do everything in my power to deserve the love he’d given me.
“True story, bro,” Ms. Wolff went on, almost echoing my thoughts. “So did you and the others go full-on Crochet Commando?Excellent.” She accepted a bag of food Katey held out to her. “I heard Hawk and Simon are meeting at the Stag and Crowne later, so I…Uh-huh.Prime date location,” she agreed grimly. “Oh, now that’s an idea, isn’t it? Tell Laura I agree with her. I wouldn’t put it past him to be spreading rumors just for show. Mmm. Poor Hawk.Someoneneeds to keep eyes on the place, just to see if Simon tries to…”
The closing door cut her off as she walked outside, and I immediately popped up from the desk.
Simon tries to…what? What was Simon going to try to do?
And what the fuck was a Crochet Commando?
Crys brushed past me on her way to the credit card machine to run someone’s card, trying to hide her to-go cup behind the bill folder as if I didn’t know she single-handedly emptied my soda coffers daily. “Nothing to see here, boss.”
“What do you know about Hawk’s dinner tonight?” I blurted, still staring at the sidewalk where Betty Ann had disappeared.
She turned back to me in slow motion, a crinkle of confusion between her eyes. “The dinner with Simon? Is Hawk still planning to go now that you and he…?”
“Yes.” I rolled my eyes. “Of course he is. Because it’s a business dinner. And because I’m confident enough in our relationship that I’m not going to be a jealous meathead.”Anymore, I added silently. “I’m just… getting a weird feeling about it, but I’m probably being ridiculous. Carry on.”
“You know…” Crys tilted her head. “Simon’s super into him. I’m sure Hawk doesn’t think of it as a date.” She raised an eyebrow. “But does Simon?”
“Hawk will tell him—”
“Yeah. Of course,” Crys agreed. “It’s just… Okay, cards on the table, bossman. I was one hundred percent in favor of Hawk and Environmental Guy getting busy while he was waiting for you to pull your head out of your ass—”
“Pardon?”
“I mean, why not, right? Simon seemed nice, the two of them together could’ve generated enough heat to accelerate global warming, and when it was all over, Evola was gonna do what Evola was gonna do, and Simon was gonna leave town. No harm, no foul.”
