I stepped across the threshold right after her into Mabel’s Table, the only diner in town—and a popular haunt for damn near everyone who lived in Willow Grove. More than a few heads turned our way, searching for the latest gossip. I guess I should’ve known that would happen…but I didn’t particularly care.
I realized with a start that I didn’t mind being seen with June Fontenot.
In fact, I liked it.
She didn’t flinch under the scrutiny, either—just lifted her chin a little higher like she was used to being judged, eyes flicking around the room as she smiled at the diners. She was so goddamn charismatic, so bright, so forgiving…the opposite of me. I wanted to tell all these people to go to hell; she wasbeatific.
And it wasn’t an act.
That was the part that really got me.
She caught me watching her and tilted her head as we waited for the hostess to help us. “What?”
“Nothin’,” I said, and it was almost true.
Just you being you.
The place was crowded, and the hostess ended up taking us over to a tiny corner booth that barely had enough space for the two of us. We were seated side by side, my thigh pressed against June’s. But it wasn’t uncomfortable…far from it. It made me want to get closer to her, to see if some of that divine radiance might rub off on me. I caught Mabel looking at us from behind the counter and shook my head.
“Everything okay?” June asked.
“Just…reconsidering comin’ here, now that I’ve remembered how many damn gossips are regulars.”
June cocked an eyebrow at me. “What’s there to gossip about?”
She knew the answer. I knew she knew it. But she asked anyway, like she wanted me to say it out loud, to make me squirm.
I didn’t give her the satisfaction.
Instead, I picked up the menu, even though I already knew it by heart. “Could be anything,” I said. “Could be the fact that I haven’t been seen in here with a woman in well over ten years. Could be that you’re somewhat of a local celebrity after damn near the whole town showed up for your wexorcism…or could be that we’re sittin’ too close in this booth for anyonenotto have questions.”
June gave me a look—quiet, steady, amused. Her lashes lowered as she sipped from her water, then set the glass back down with a grace I knew damn well was cultivated and practiced. She may have been feeling more…but she was wearing a pristine mask.
“Silas,” she started, “what are we doing here?”
I shrugged, knowing she wanted more—and realizing I wasn’t ready to answer that question.
“Eatin’ dinner,” I said simply.
Mabel made her way over a minute later, apparently deeming us important enough to take our order herself. “Well,” she drawled, “ain’t this a surprise.”
“Evenin’, Mabel,” I said.
“Evenin’, sugar. And evenin’ to you, Miss Fontenot.”
June smiled up at her. “It feels good to be remembered—but it’s actuallyReverendFontenot now.”
Mabel’s brows shot up. “Ah…is that so? Silas Ward—bringin’ a lady of the cloth in here lookin’ like you just sinned in the baptismal.”
“We weren’t doin’ anything sinful, Mabel,” I growled.
“Yet,” she chided.
June choked on her water, coughing into her napkin while I shot daggers across the table at Mabel, who looked entirely unrepentant. If anything, she looked delighted.
“Don’t look at me like that, kid,” she said, flipping her notepad open. “If y’all don’t want the whole town talkin’, maybe don’t come strollin’ in all flushed and glowing, sittin’ thigh to thigh like a pair of teenagers behind the gym.”
June recovered, still pink-cheeked but smiling. “I know we’ve only just met, but you’ll find I’m thepillarof virtue.”
