Page 52 of Fall Into Temptation
Eva scratched Valentina behind the ears. Diesel, still sleepy from his nap half-heartedly nipped at the bigger dog’s leg.
Meadow reached up and tugged on one of Eva’s curls. “Hi!” she chirped.
“Hi, back,” Eva said, bouncing the little girl on her hip. “Coffee?” Eva volunteered to Summer.
“I’d love some. I’m running on zero sleep,” Summer said, putting Jonathan down on the floor and pulling a toy truck out of her suitcase-sized purse.
“Kids keeping you up?” Julia asked sympathetically.
“More like Ava Franklin’s book,” Summer announced, yanking a paperback and a Sharpie from her bag. “I started this yesterday afternoon and rescheduled a call with an advertiser just so I could keep reading. Then when these little hellions went to bed, Mama curled up on the couch to read one more chapter. Next thing I know it’s four a.m., and I’m checking Amazon for the next one. Sign please.” She shoved the book and marker at Eva.
“You liked it?” Eva asked, giddy with the face-to-face feedback from a woman with excellent taste. Summer ran a hip online magazine for women and was easily the most stylish woman in town. She’d hailed from New York, and a handful of years in Blue Moon and two toddlers hadn’t dulled her taste one iota.
“Like doesn’t even begin to cover it,” Summer announced.
“Snack pweez!” Meadow sang to Summer.
“Me, too!” Jonathan announced, driving his truck up Summer’s leg.
Summer dug back into her bag and pulled out a baggie of crackers.
“Sit at the table, and don’t feed the dogs, please,” she instructed.
She piled crackers in front of each kid and then produced two dog treats from her bag and sent Diesel and Valentina off to the living room rug to enjoy their snacks.
“There. That should buy us three whole minutes,” she said, accepting the mug from Eva. She slid onto the stool next to Julia.
“God, you’re organized,” Eva sighed with envy.
“If I weren’t, chaos would reign,” Summer laughed. “So, what are we talking about?”
“Eva was just expressing her concern that Donovan Cardona’s ardent feelings for her are because of the whole planetary disaster,” Julia filled her in.
Summer sipped her coffee and considered. “Hmm.”
“What if I go for it with him, and then Halloween is over, and he just wants to befriends?” Eva said, pacing behind the island. “Or,what if I go for it, and his feelings are real, and I screw it up somehow? My entire family finally lives in the same place at the same time. Do I really want to see an ex-boyfriend every day? What if it ends so badly that I have to move out of town? I really like it here.”
Being pushed from town to town, new start to new start, Eva had never stuck around in one place long enough to deal with an ex-anything.
Summer hmm-ed again, and Julia drummed her fingers on the countertop.
“Well? Where’s my married lady wisdom?” Eva demanded.
“We’re trying not to shove it down your throat,” Julia said cheerfully. “This town is kind of over the top with its free advice giving.”
“Julia and I have a pact not to browbeat people with our sage knowledge,” Summer told her.
“Well, I’m asking for it. So, shove and browbeat away.”
Summer let out a breath of relief. “Thank God. I didn’t think I could keep it bottled up much longer. Whew. Okay, if you’re concerned that Donovan’s feelings for you aren’t real or are being influenced by the solar system—seriously, could this happen in any other town in the world? —just wait to have s-e-x until after Halloween. The planets will have uncrossed, and everyone will be back to normal.”
“And, you can use the time of non-s-e-x-having to get to know each other,” Julia suggested. “Flirt. Date. Talk. Sext. Figure out if this is a man you’d want to keep in your life.”
The three of them shared a look and then burst into laughter. The dogs eyed them warily.
“As if there’s a woman on the planet who wouldn’t want to keep Donovan Cardona,” Summer giggled, dabbing her eyes with a napkin.
Eva slapped her leg. “I mean, he’s basically perfection,” she gasped, trying to catch her breath.
