Page 91 of Stolen Kisses
Chapter 20
Noah sat at one of the empty tables lining the wall and frowned at the incoming text from Krista.
Not feeling well. Joey took me home. Didn’t want to pull you away from Grace and Jack’s wedding.
He’d been suffering a conversation with his overprotective big brother for the last ten minutes, waiting for Krista to come back. And now she was gone. He’d have gladly driven her home. Why hadn’t she asked him?
Sam sat down beside him and loosened his tie as if it were a noose around his neck. Noah had been able to shake him for a minute, but since they were both essentially dateless now, it looked like he might have to endure some more lectures. “She’s dancing with another man,” Sam said instead.
Noah looked up and searched the dance floor for Abby. “That’s Milburn from the movie theater. I think you’re safe.”
“I know that,” Sam muttered. “But she won’t even give me the time of day, yet she’ll dance with Milburn from the movie theater.”
“Maybe you should go cut in. She can’t say no.”
“Oh, she can and she would. And she’d enjoy rejecting me, too.” Sam lifted a drink off a platter that was being carried by him. “Thanks,” he told the server. “I hope to God this is alcoholic,” he said to Noah.
“I’m not DDing your butt home tonight.” Noah raised both hands.
Sam looked around. “Where’s Krista?”
“She left. She’s not feeling well.”
“And you didn’t take her?” Sam tipped his head back and swallowed the contents of the cup. Judging by his soured expression, it was most definitely alcoholic.
“She didn’t ask me. She just called Joey and disappeared.”
Sam’s brow furrowed. “You two have a fight?”
“We were fine. Then she got dragged away for some bridal emergency. After that she participated in the bouquet-toss thing, and I haven’t seen her since.”
“Hmm. Maybe she’s upset that she didn’t catch the bouquet.”
Noah slid his gaze over. He absolutely did not want to get in another relationship discussion with Sam. “How’s the boat doing since you rammed the pier?” he asked, veering the topic into a more neutral one.
Sam had his gaze trained on Abby. “Fixed,” he muttered, looking miserable. Well, that made two of them. Krista was what made things like this fun. Without her, he was miserable.
An hour later, Noah left the reception and circled around Krista’s townhouse. Joey was outside working under the hood of his cab.
“Hey, man. Why’d you nab my date?” Noah said, stepping out of his Jeep.
Joey righted himself and shrugged. “She asked me to. Guess she’s sick or something. She went straight to bed. Now I’m tinkering with this POS. I got it working, did a few jobs tonight, but it started acting up again. I can’t take passengers out and risk getting stranded on the roadside.”
“Good thing for me because I need you on theSummerly.”
Joey leaned against the car. “I’d do both. Gonna have to work two jobs to get my own place anyway. The rate you and Krista are going, I won’t have a roommate for long.”
Everyone was noticing the difference between them. All of Blushing Bay could see it.
“Is she too sick for visitors?” Noah asked.
Joey folded his arms over his chest. “She specifically told me not to let you come inside if you stopped by. I think she’s pretty sick, man.”
That stung a little, but Noah understood. “Okay. Well, I’ll check on her in the morning then.”
“Yeah, man.” Joey nodded, waved, and then disappeared back under the hood of his cab. Disappointed, Noah drove home to his houseboat. Joey was right. Eventually he and Krista would be officially sharing a place together. That was what he wanted. Maybe a place like that nice cabin on the creek that he’d stopped at the other day. That place had a nice feel to it and, trespassing or not, he’d enjoyed fishing off that little pier out back. Noah could already imagine Krista swinging in the front porch swing in the evenings, reading those nursing journals she liked to look at, and humming softly to herself like she did when she thought no one was around.
Unable to sleep, Noah returned to his Jeep and drove out to check on the status of that house. He crossed his fingers and hoped theFOR SALEsign was still there. He was so happy to see that it was when he pulled up that he could’ve purchased it right there, sight unseen. What was he thinking?
