“I, uh, wanted to tell you good luck. You and your mom.” He nodded at the cookie sheet on the counter. “With the cookies.”
Ava raised a challenging eyebrow. “That’s it?”
“Maybe not.”
“What’s with you?” Ava teased. “You never get panicky or nervous, ever. Do you have something serious to tell me?”
“You might say that.”
A glance at the oven timer warned they had less than five minutes before cookies needed to come out. “We can talk after—” Words froze when Ava’s gaze fell past Brayden and landed on Laurel Evans. The two hadn’t seen each other in years. How many, Ava was no longer sure. She’d lost count. A lifetime wouldn’t be long enough. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Brayden spun around, following her gaze. “Who’s she?”
“She has some nerve.” Ava’s fists balled at her sides, watching Laurel laugh alongside one of her sisters, oblivious to the daggers Ava was shooting at her with her eyes. Worse, Kinley sat beside her. It was her best friend who first noticed Ava’s narrowed glare. Apology flashed in her expression.
Ava pulled off her apron and threw it against the counter.
“Ava,” Brayden said, his tone low and cautious as one set of eyes after another seemed to settle on her from the audience. “Don’t do anything rash.”
“Rash?” Ava repeated. That was exactly what she needed to do, something rash. Something drastic. Something that sent a clear message. But as a local business owner, she had a reputation to protect. She spun on her heel and marched to a side door without a coat to keep from causing a scene she couldn’t take back. Her anger boiled hot enough to keep her plenty warm.
She made it across the street before Laurel called after her. “Ava, wait.”
“Go. Away.”
“Can we please talk?”
Ava continued marching toward her car, but then remembered Mom had driven. Dang her luck. She headed for the intersection. A right turn would lead to her shop, three blocks away. She could run if it came down to it. She had time before frostbite was a serious concern.
“Ava, please.” The crunch of snow behind her warned Ava that Laurel was running.
Ava picked up her pace, hoping to make the corner and take cover in the hardware store. She’d hide out in the storeroom if she had to. Harold wouldn’t mind. At least, she hoped not. Black Bear Coffee was too far away unless she made a mad dash, and Laurel would follow her in anyway.
But at the corner, Ava came to an instant halt.
Ed stood on the sidewalk, munching on a wreath hanging from a light post. “You again?” Ava felt like screaming, but she kept her anger in check because a couple across the street was snapping pictures of the moose in downtown Sunset Ridge.
“Ava—”
Ava yanked Laurel hard by the arm to keep her from running out in front of her and startling Ed. In his current position, the giant moose was impossible to spot until one reached the corner of the brick bank building. She might have a grudge against her former best friend, but she didn’t want her to get trampled by a berry-obsessed moose.
“Oh, my. I— Just wow.” Laurel shuffled backward, her wide blue eyes never leaving Ed. “I forgot howbigmoose are.”
“Guess they don’t have a whole lot of those in the Bahamas or Cancun or wherever you’ve been.”
“Florida,” Laurel said.
“Oh, that’s right.” Ava spotted Kinley and Brayden, both trotting toward them with coats, and decided it was best to get her jabs in now before someone tried to silence her. “You save the extra exotic beach locations for secret elopements. Tell me, have you married anyone else since my brother? Or should I say how many?”
“Ava, that’s not fair.”
“Does Chase know you’re back for a visit?”
“I’m not visiting.”
Ava stared at Laurel as though she’d grown a second head. “What do you mean?”
“I moved back home.” Because Ava was too stunned to warn Kinley and Brayden of the impending doom around the corner, Laurel did it for her. Ed huffed at the intrusion, but it wasn’t enough for him to charge or abandon his post.
