“Grabbed a beer last month.”
“For twenty minutes before you disappeared to finish some project.”
Elijah considers this. “Fair.”
He’s right though. Between my shop, Milo’s bar, and whatever projects Elijah’s always working on, we don’t get together as often as we used to. It’s been months since it was just the three of us with nowhere to be.
Elijah takes the other end of the couch, beer resting on his knee. The cabin feels warmer with them here, less empty. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about how quiet this place is when I’m alone, but I notice it now.
The contrast.
“So.” Milo’s voice is casual. Too casual. “You going to tell us why you’re avoiding Tessa Lang like she’s got the plague?”
And there it is.
“I’m not avoiding her.”
“You ran out the back of Millie’s.”
“Why does everyone know about that?”
“It’s Honeyridge Falls, Ben. Everyone knows everything.” Milo takes a sip of his beer, eyes on the game but clearly not watching it. “What’s your deal with her anyway? She’s just trying to put together a charity event.”
“I know what she’s trying to do.”
“Then why won’t you help?”
I don’t have a good answer for that. Not one I can say out loud, anyway.
Elijah’s quiet, but I can feel him listening. The guy doesn’t miss much, even when he’s pretending not to pay attention.
“I just don’t want to be in a bachelor auction, okay? Is that so hard to understand?”
“Yes,” Milo says flatly. “Because you love attention. You literally thrive on it. Remember the hot dog contest?”
“Why does everyone keep bringing up the hot dog contest?”
“Because you won and then took a victory lap around the town square.”
“That was celebratory! It was for charity!”
“And this is also for charity.” Milo’s not letting this go. “The community center roof. You know, where the seniors do their knitting circle? Annie Winslow had to put out buckets last week.”
“I heard about the buckets.”
“Then you know it’s important. And Tessa’s killing herself trying to make this event work.”
Elijah clears his throat. We both turn to look at him.
“She’s been working really hard,” he says quietly. “Tessa. On this event. It would mean a lot to her if you said yes.”
Something about the way he says it makes me look at him more closely. There’s a softness in his voice that wasn’t there a minute ago. A warmth.
Huh.
“You spent time with her recently?” I try to keep my voice neutral.
Elijah’s jaw tightens. Just slightly, but I notice. “Delivered some pieces for the auction yesterday. We got lunch.”
