Yet he wouldn’t give me the pleasure of disappearing entirely. He’d always be Lance’s best friend, forever bound to pop back into my life and then flit away to his far-off existence. I didn’t need to saddle myself with any constant, unpleasant reminders of a lust-drunk (and deeply misguided) night.
So, I didn’t march over to the oyster company. I didn’t turn his words over in my mind. I didn’t even let myself think about what might happen if I pushed him—reallypushed him—and let him push me right back.
Instead, I loaded the dishwasher, straightened up the kitchen to a level that wouldn’t send Muffy into a tizzy, and joined the handful of people still lingering around the patio. Some of the kitchen staff from SPOC had made their way over and most of the group was gathered around the low stone bench that formed a half-moon along the water’s edge.
The dogs in tow, I plopped down beside Hale Wooten. A woman sat on his other side, Nyomi from Little Star Farm. She gave me a quick wave.
“Did you always know you wanted to name this place Naked Provisions?” she asked. “Because it’s a great name and I’m kind of jealous I didn’t come up with it for my nonexistent vegan bakery café first. Not that I’d ever be able to bake vegan but jealousy doesn’t really care about those details.”
“We went through a lot of name ideas.” They probably didn’t notice the shakiness in my words but I felt it. I didn’t think I’d get rid of this buzzy energy for hours. Without thinking, I glanced over at Small Point, half expecting to find Beckett standing by the door. He wasn’t. He didn’t care. He’d made his mistake for the day. “We tossed around ideas like Muffy’s Muffins—”
“Oh mygod,” Hale drawled. “I love that.”
“Then we went full English tea shop with Shawpscock and McTeague’s, but that is a whole mouthful—”
“I am dying,” Nyomi said, both hands pressed to her chest as she laughed.
“—and Meara thought we’d have trouble with social media because people would misspell or garble the names.”
“And your initials would be S and M,” Hale added, “which is also very special.”
“So special,” I agreed. “We thought about sticking with Roots and Shoots, from Beth’s previous gig, but we didn’t want people who knew that juice and kombucha business to think we only did that.” I held up several fingers as I mentally checked off our old brainstorms. “We played with a lot of Green this or Coastal that names but in the end, Naked felt right.”
“Does it ever,” Hale crowed. “What a tagline. Whew. ‘Naked: It just feels right.” He ran a hand down his face, laughing. “Can you tell I’m up past my bedtime?”
“Not at all,” I said.
“The dawn waits for no man,” he said. “And it will be here before we know it.”
“With that cheerful reminder, we should get going soon,” Nyomi said. “Baker’s hours and all. But we didn’t want to leave in case you needed help getting rid of these people.”
Hale tipped his head toward some of the oyster company’s servers. “They’ll hang out here all night if you let them.”
As if we needed to test this theory, one of those servers strolled over and parked himself on the bench beside me. There wasn’t enough room though that didn’t stop him from pressing right up against me and jostling the dogs as he did it.
Breathe breathe breathe. Don’t freak out yet.
At my feet, Jem gave him a low growl. The server didn’t notice.
“Hey,” he boomed, louder than anyone needed to be at such a close distance. “Sunny, right? I’m Devon. Killer setup you have here. Prime location for parties.”
My eyes wide and smile pinched, I glanced between his grin and the many places where his body touched mine.Set a boundary. Push back. Don’t freak out yet.I forced a few inches between my legs to edge him away. “Thanks.”
Devon swung his arm behind me and dropped his hand to the stone as if I’d given him any indication that I was interested. I could hear my heartbeat, and since the dogs could sense that, they sat up and gave mewe don’t like this for youeyes.
“The last time I was out here was when a bunch of guys bought out the oyster company for a bachelor party,” he said. “They were doing lines off one of the old boats. Now, that was a fuckin’ night. Those guys were throwing hundreds around like it was nothing. I walked away with five large that night. Legends, man. Fuckin’ legends, all of them.”
“I wonder whether the marriage lasted,” Hale said under his breath.
“I wonder if the engagement lasted,” Nyomi murmured.
I pressed my elbow hard into Devon’s side. No mistaking that message. When he didn’t take the hint, I said, “I could really use some space.”
“We’re all friends here,” he replied, leaning in even closer. The tang of beer and cigarettes lingered around him, and my chest tightened.
An impatient noise rumbled out of Hale. “Come on, Devon. It’s time for you to go.”
Devon laughed. “Maybe you were leaving but I’m getting to know Sunny.”
