Page 29 of One Summer Weekend
He’d dropped her off on Sunday and now it was Friday. There had been a few text exchanges between them. She’d asked him how work was without the boss around. They’d chatted about a TV show they both watched. But, maybe it was him adding a strange vibe that wasn’t there, but they felt off somehow.
And he hadn’t stopped into the bookstore at all. Being busy at work could explain that, but he’d gotten home before they closed twice that week and he hadn’t stopped to chat for a few minutes as he often did. Carly had undoubtedly told Zoe what had happened, and because they’d also been friends since childhood, she might not hold back on giving her opinion on the situation. He didn’t want to hear it.
But mostly he was putting off seeing Carly again and he knew it. He didn’t want to face the possibility that the next time they saw each other, it was going to be so awkward the discomfort would drive a wedge between them and his worst fear would be realized.
He’d lose Carly. Forever.
And putting it off wasn’t doing either of them any good. As soon as he got home, he pulled out his phone. He didn’t have to think about what he was going to say, since he’d thought about it all the way home. The best thing to do was pretend everything was okay until everything actually became okay again.
Want to go for a night ride after you close the store tomorrow?
Because staring at nothing put the clock on his DVR in his line of vision, he knew it was four minutes before she responded.Sounds like a plan. I’ll come over after work.
That was a good sign, he decided, since it was her usual response to that invitation in the past. It cheered him up a bit, though it did little to settle his nerves over what felt like the longest twenty-four hours of his life. By the time her car pulled up next to his truck, he was afraid he’d throw up as soon as he saw her face. Definitely not the message he wanted to send.
Carly stepped out of the car and turned to face him across the roof. For a second or two he held his breath, but then her face lit up in a smile and his soul lit up, too. They were going to be okay.
All he had to do was not talk about last weekend. Or think about it.
Sure. No problem.
“Sorry I’m running a little late, but you would not believe the customer we had walk in five minutes before closing,” she said, and he shrugged to show it was no problem.
Luckily, the customer who’d come back for the book she’d chosen not to buy three days before gave them something to talk about during the drive to the trailhead. Her work stories were always more fun than his work stories. The woman couldn’t remember anything about the book other than the cover being the same shade of blue as the inside of an unfrosted blueberry Pop-Tart and the fact it had piqued her interest, so she wasn’t leaving without it this time. The story certainly didn’t disappoint, and Carly had finally identified the book, so it had a happy ending.
It was while they were pulling their riding gear from his backseat that he realized everything might seem okay on the surface, but things between them definitely weren’t back to normal. The storytelling felt a little forced. And when she actually made eye contact with him, which wasn’t often, the bright smiles weren’t reaching her eyes.
They rode the four-wheelers hard and fast, bouncing over rocks and eating up the miles. It was usually a great stress-buster, but it wasn’t working tonight. He was glad Carly was in front and setting the pace, or he might have gotten stupid in an effort to leave his frustrations out on the trail.
When she finally pulled off the trail, it was in one of her favorite spots, near the edge of the river. It wasn’t fully dark yet, so even after they turned off the machines and lost the headlights, he didn’t have any problems seeing her face. She hadn’t fared any better at pounding the mental demons out on the rough trail than he had.
“You haven’t stopped by the bookstore at all this week,” Carly said once they’d taken their helmets off. “Is it that busy with Jim out of the office or are you avoiding me?”
“Why the hell would I be avoiding you?” He could have gone the easy route and said, yes, he was that busy, but it was a small town and he passed by Cedar Street Books on his way home. There was a small chance she knew there were a couple of evenings he could have stopped.
She laughed, but it was weak. “Don’t make me spell it out for you.”
“I haven’t been avoiding you.” Avoiding dealing with the situation they were in, maybe, but nother.“I guess I thought you might want a little space to... I don’t know. Let the afterglow wear off or whatever.”
The look she gave him made him chuckle. “A week-long afterglow?”
“At least.”
“You never change,” she said, but she said it with affection before turning to look at the river.
He went to stand next to her but, as luck would have it, he stubbed the toe of his boot on an exposed root and he bumped into her. He was in the process of explaining he’d tripped when she put her arm around his waist and leaned her head against his shoulder.
He stilled for a second to make sure he wasn’t misreading her signals before putting his arm around her shoulder. The lazy river was no ocean, but standing on the edge of the water with her put him right back in a Cape Cod frame of mind.
Dropping his arm from her shoulders, he ran his hand over the curve of her ass and heard her sigh as her back rested against his chest. He didn’t think it was an exasperated sigh, either. To test the theory, he rested his cheek on her shoulder so his breath blew across the side of her neck.
Rather than moving or shrugging him away, Carly tipped her head so her neck was totally exposed to his mouth. He kissed her there, his hands still on her ass and reveled in her long, slow intake of breath. When he nipped at the soft flesh, she gasped and then sidestepped away from him.
Well, that wasn’t the effect he was hoping to have on her.
“Before this goes any further, Noah, you should know the only way I’m taking my clothes off in the woods is if they’re on fire.”
That was really going to complicate his plans for the next fifteen to twenty minutes. “Even if you’re on top?”
