“When he wants to.” He took a sip of lemonade and pushed his plate away. “He caught on to the boundaries pretty well. The trees and the bushes help with that. There’s none between our yards, though.”
“I don’t mind if he wanders into my yard. Although if he starts leaving me gifts, you’ll hear about it.”
He laughed. “I’ll pick up after him. And he’ll probably end up there whether I let him or not because he’s going to like you and want to be friends. But he won’t go in the road unless he’s on a leash and the people at the end of the street have a fence, so I know he can’t go far.”
“You think he’ll like me?”
“He’s a black Lab. He likes everybody.”
“Gee, you sure know how to make a woman feel special.” She smiled at him, then rolled her eyes.
Was he supposed to be making her feel special? Suddenly the casual, spur-of-the-moment dinner didn’t seem so casual. He’d taken her desire to apologize and start over as neighbors at face value. Sure, he liked the view when she bent over in the backyard and he liked the way she laughed—and the way she shivered when he touched her neck, which he tried not to think about too much—but they’d be stupid to think about anything more than that.
“I was kidding,” she said softly, and he realized that up-against-the-wall feeling might have shown on his face. “I wasn’t flirting with you, so don’t panic.”
“Oh, I know. I was just...I thought of a work thing I forgot, that’s all.” The lie rolled off his tongue as he stood. “Actually, thanks for the shepherd’s pie, which was the best I’ve ever had, but I need to make a few calls while I’m thinking about it.”
“No problem. I made enough so you’d have leftovers.” She stood up. “Do you want some help carrying stuff in?”
“Nope, I’ve got it. Thanks again. Bear, come on, boy.”
She looked back when she got halfway to her house and caught him watching her. He waved and she waved back, but she didn’t smile this time. It was for the best.
As sexy and funny as she was, he needed to stop focusing on the chemistry crackling between them and start focusing on getting his shit together. He had a house to unpack, a job to do and a town to make home. He didn’t have time for a woman who couldn’t decide if she liked him or not.
*
IT TOOK TWO trips with the cart for Hailey to empty the night drop box on Monday morning. And there were also a couple of dollar bills at the bottom, which meant some of the books were overdue and the patrons had tucked fine money into them like bookmarks. Sometimes she had no trouble matching the money with the overdue books, but other times she gave up and pinned the dollars to her board to remind her to ask the patrons later.
When she flipped the sign to open at ten, there wasn’t exactly a mad rush to get in, which she’d expected. Mondays were notoriously slow due to all of the residents of Whitford having to survive it being Monday, which meant finding herself busywork. Luckily there wasn’t very often a shortage of that. If all else failed, there were always grants to hunt up and apply for.
At eleven, when she was finished checking in books and matching dollars with fines, she picked up the phone and called Fran.
“Whitford General Store. How can I help you?”
“Hi Fran. It’s Hailey. Are you busy right now?”
“Nope. What’s up?”
“A couple of things. First, I’m hoping you’ll sponsor an ice cream party for our summer reading program this year. It’ll be in August, shortly before school starts, but I’d love a commitment now so we can both plan accordingly.”
“That sounds like a messy party to have at the library.”
“If the weather’s nice, we’ll have it outside. If it’s too hot or it rains, we’ll push some tables together and try to keep it contained. An ice cream party will be a great incentive to get kids to sign up and participate.” When Fran hesitated, Hailey pushed on. “Do I need to read you the statistics about the academic differences between kids who read over summer break and those who don’t? I have about three pages of findings right here.”
“Hell no, young lady. Life’s too short for statistics. I’ll sponsor your ice cream party.”
“You’re the best, Fran. And everybody will know it when they see the big banner thanking the Whitford General Store for supporting the children.”
“How big?”
“Big.”
“Good. What’s the second thing? You said first, which implies a second.”
“Oh. How come you didn’t tell me somebody was renting the Andrews’ house? I had no idea until I woke up and there was a moving truck out front.”
Fran chuckled. “You mean, why didn’t you get a heads up the hunky game warden was going to live mere feet from your door?”
She should have known the woman would enjoy this. “It’s more than mere feet. And yes, that’s what I mean.”
“I didn’t know. I was a little under the weather last week, so Butch had to mind the store a couple of times. And that’s a nightmare, let me tell you. I swear it took me two days to figure out the receipts. But I must have missed talking to anybody who knew he was coming.”