Jenna nearly choked on the first bite of her Denali omelet, which would’ve been a shame considering how delicious it was. “I can point out three women who’ve been eyeing you like the whipped topping on your pancakes since I walked in the door.” Jenna swallowed a bite. “Make that four.”
“Thought we’d hit Willamina’s Big Dipper for lunch,” Cody said, avoiding Jenna’s question completely. She let it go temporarily, but she was too curious about this man who’d befriended her grandpa to drop it indefinitely. “We can also get some shopping in since it’s raining.”
“Shopping?” Saying the word aloud make Jenna shudder.
“Number twelve.” He slid his phone across the table, displaying the photo he’d taken of the handwritten list last night. He’d zoomed in to the twelfth item on the list. “Make Jenna buy something frivolous for herself at Forget Me Not.”
“No.” Another trait about herself that her sister couldn’t stand. “I don’t do shopping.”
Cody smirked, a smudge of whipped cream lifting with one corner of his mouth. Jenna hated to admit how goofily attractive he was in this very moment. “Well, today you do.”
“Suppose there’s no point in arguing?”
“None whatsoever.”
It didn’t matter how guarded she wanted to keep her heart, or that the man across the booth would be on an island far away for three whole years. It didn’t matter that half a dozen women in the café couldn’t keep their eyes off him. Jenna already knew she was in trouble when it came to Cody Evans.
ChapterFive
Cody
Cody parked in front of the local gift shop that sat separate from most of the downtown shops. The Forget Me Not was perched on top of a hill, offering its customers a spectacular view of the bay, except when it was foggy and rainy like today.
He unclipped his seat belt but left the engine running. “I have to make a quick call. Go ahead. I’ll meet you inside.” They’d carpooled from the restaurant, agreeing to knock one more item off the list together before they went back for Graham.
“Is this really necessary?” Jenna looked as though she’d swallowed a lemon.
As antsy as Cody was to call his booking agent before Holden heard about his change in travel plans on Instagram or whatever social media platform Haylee was favoring today, his obligation to Eddie took priority. “If your grandpa put this on the list, it means something.”
“Like what?”
Cody reread the numbered item, contemplating it for several seconds. “Like you don’t ever do anything for yourself.”
“I do plenty for myself.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes,really.”
“Name the last thing you did for yourself, with absolutely no one else in mind.” He watched her lips part and close multiple times as her vacant stare at the dashboard seemed to search for an out-of-reach answer.
“I moved out of my sister’s basement.”
Cody let his gaze linger, flirting with the thought of getting lost in those dark, milk-chocolatey eyes. “That wasyourchoice? You moved out one hundred percent becauseyouwanted to?”
“Well, not exactly,” Jenna admitted, avoiding eye contact. “But it wasverysatisfying to pack up that trailer and sneak it to Alaska.”
Because Cody was afraid she’d realize she overshared and clam back up, he didn’t pick apart her comment with his many questions. It shouldn’t matter that Jenna might move to Sunset Ridge permanently when Cody wasn’t going to be around anyway. “But the reason you packed the trailer was because your sister wanted you out?”
“Okay, fine. You caught me. I don’t do things for myself all that often. Used to be painting and creating stories, but now that I’m constantly on one deadline or another, that too is to please someone else.” She zipped up her jacket and set her hand on the door handle. “Don’t be long. I’m not one of those slow-browser shoppers.”
Cody nodded, unable to tear his gaze away from Jenna until she disappeared through the gift shop entrance. He didn’t dare dissect what he was feeling for a woman he hardly knew. That would only lead to complications he didn’t have room for in his life. He’d designed things that way on purpose.
He scrolled through his phone until he landed on Holden’s number. His booking agent was going to have a hay day with the news, but Cody had already switched his flight. He wasn’t switching it back.
“Cody. Did you get into Maui early? How’s the view from your back porch? I bet the sunset is just breathtaking.”
“Still in Alaska.”
