I ducked my head, heat crawling up the back of my neck.
“She would’ve loved June,” Loretta added, giving my arm a pat. “Not just for who she is, but for what she brings out in you. Now…don’t you dare let that girl slip away.”
June met my eyes like she knew exactly what we were talking about, and the heat crawling up my neck spread across my whole face.
“You ready to go?” she asked.
I nodded, though I wasn’t sure I was ready for anything.
And then, with a tupperware stuffed full of ambrosia, we stepped out into the Georgia sun.
CHAPTER 15
June
Silas was being weird.
Weirder than usual—which I needed to clarify because Silas Ward was, without a doubt, very weird. But this…? It was a new flavor of weird. Quiet, nervous, and not nearly as gruff as normal.
We pulled up to the church and parked in the gravel lot behind the parsonage, Silas pulling his keys out while I carried my tote bag full of notes and the tupperware of ambrosia in my hands. He was quiet as he unlocked the door—taking a peek up at the security camera he’d had installed a few days before—and then he insisted on doing a quick sweep of the parsonage while I walked into the kitchen. I told myself it was just paranoia…that he was probably just nervous from all the shit that had happened to us since I’d come back to town.
But when I turned around, he was standing at the threshold to that tiny little kitchen, watching me…and I knew this wasn’t paranoia.
It was something else entirely.
I cocked my head and put my stuff down, then crossed my arms.
“What big teeth you have,” I murmured.
He blinked at me like I’d spoken another language. “Excuse me?”
“You just um…” I paused, laughing. “You kind of look like you’re going to eat me. Didn’t get enough ambrosia back at Loretta’s?”
He didn’t laugh. Instead, he rasped, “I don’t want the ambrosia.”
He stepped into the kitchen slowly, like he wasn’t sure I was something he was allowed to touch. There was barely enough room in here for one person, let alone two, and it brought us into agonizingly close proximity, my eyes tracking up to meet his.
My stomach flipped at the heat in his grey eyes.
“You’ve been real quiet since brunch,” I said, my voice a little hoarse.
“I’ve had a lot on my mind.”
“Like?”
He took another step, close enough now that I could feel the heat of him, smell the scent of sawdust and soap and sweat. Then he reached out to cup my cheek.
“You’re really somethin’, June Fontenot,” he murmured.
Maybe I was reading too much into it, but the way he said those words…it was like they held a thousand meanings. I knew that Silas wasn’t a big talker, that he was reserved, kept to himself—but his voice shook.
Somethingmeanteverything.
“Silas,” I started, but he pressed a finger to my lips.
“Give me a second,” he chuckled. “I’m…not real good at this.”
My lips twitched, but I gave him the silence he asked for. Satisfied, he moved his hand from my lips to my hip, taking yet another step closer—so we were breath to breath, almost kissing.
