“You thought I’d be here, yet you still came. You can’t want to avoid me that much.”
She sighs, her shoulders dropping, like she’s disappointed or something. “Now you’re here…”
I don’t want her to finish her thought. I don’t want her to say how we can be friends, or something that’s not about the two of us spending time together and exploring the connection we so obviously have. “You want to go somewhere and talk?”
She pulls in a breath and immediately I know she’s not going to say yes. What can I do to convince her? I can’t just let her walk away.
“I think we should stay here,” she says.
A speaker squeals from somewhere and then a guitar starts to play.
I watch Iris as she turns her head to see where the noise is coming from.
“It’s Eva. I didn’t realize she was singing today.”
I follow Iris’s gaze and see a woman sitting on a stool at the opposite corner of the bar. She has a guitar on her lap and there’s a microphone stand in front of her. I’ve never been here when they’ve had live music.
The song the woman starts to sing is familiar, but I don’t know the name.
“I love this one,” Iris says, turning a little. I’ve lost part of her attention and it’s like an arctic breeze tumbles in and blows down my spine.
I’ve lost this girl once. I don’t want to again.
She turns back to me, her gaze snagging on something behind me. “We have an audience,” she says, lifting her chin.
I turn and Worth is looking over. He’s just worried about me. Just trying to see if he can figure out if Iris and I are as connected as I think we are. He wants to be able to warn me if I’m going to get hurt, if this thing Iris and I share’s just in my head.
“Worth,” I say, a smile nudging the corners of my mouth up. “He’s like the dad of our group.”
“Like fatherly? To you?” she asks.
“Sensible and empathetic,” I reply. “But yes, he’s definitely watching us.”
The door to Grizzly’s opens and in walk two guys in jeans and baseball caps. One of them sees Iris and his entire face lights up. I can’t blame him, but a surge of jealousy hits my bloodstream, and I want to know exactly who this guy is and what he is to Iris.
“That’s Jason,” Iris says, like she’s reading my mind.
“The one who asks you out every year?”
She glances up at me. Her gaze hits me like an electrical current, and I have to fight the urge to snake my arm around her waist and pull her closer to me—away from everyone else. She looks away quickly. Has she been avoiding looking at me so she didn’t have to feel this tangible chemistry we have?
“You have a good memory,” she says.
“I’ve tried to memorize everything about you.”
She sighs. “Jack.”
“Wanna get away from these prying eyes? I feel like we have the entire town watching.”
She lets out a small laugh. “That’s because we do have the entire town watching.”
I’m still waiting for her answer. I want us to get out of here and go somewhere we can be on our own.
“A walk?” she asks.
“Anything, anywhere,” I reply.
“Let’s go.”
