“He has?”
“Yeah. You’ve just been promoted to sheriff, right? After retiring from the military?”
What the hell was going on? He eyed his phone suspiciously before looking back to the woman. “And how do you know Luke?”
“Yoga.”
Jesus Christ.“Excuse me while I respond to a text message.” He lifted his phone.
Jesse: You’re not coming, are you?
Luke: Shit, man, I’ve gotten caught up helping my sister with something. Stay though, have a meal with April. She’s lovely. And very…bendy.
Asshole. He knew how Jesse felt about Aspen. Did he think he was doing Jesse a favor? He wasn’t. Jesse was gonna kill the guy. Murder him with his bare hands.
“Luke’s not coming.”
April frowned. “Oh, I know. This is…I mean, it’s a date for you and me. Why would Luke come?”
So Jesse was the only one who’d been out of the loop.
She lifted the menu. “Have you been here before? I’m not big on Chinese, but Luke said it’s your favorite.”
Of course he did. “It’s better than pizza.”
She laughed, and all he could think was that it wasn’t Aspen’s laugh.
He cleared his throat and leaned forward. “Look, April, this is nice, but if you’re not into it, we don’t need to—”
“You don’t like me.”
Shit. “No, it’s not that.”
“Am I not what you thought I’d be?” She started touching her hair as she looked down at her dress like there was a problem with her looks.
He was an asshole. “No. You’re beautiful.” The small smile returned to her face. “It’s just, I didn’t realize this was a date. I thought I was meeting Luke tonight.”
She frowned. “He didn’t tell you?”
“No. And I don’t like surprises.”
Her brows flickered. “Okay. But we can still have a nice night, can’t we? I mean, we’re both here, and we’re hungry. You don’t look like terrible company, and I can assure you that I’m not either.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. He clearly took too long to answer, because red tinged her cheeks like she was embarrassed, and she started to push her seat back.
He reached over the table to touch her wrist. “Hey. Wait. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you, I just…I’m interested in someone else.”
“Someone else?”
“Yeah, and Luke knows that, so he never should have set this up. And trust me, when I see him, I’m going to kick his ass.”
“Oh. That’s a shame. But I get it.”
He was still holding her wrist when the restaurant door opened and Aspen stepped in.
“It’s not that embarrassing.”
Aspen’s fingers tightened around the phone. “Callie, did you not hear the part where he held my hair and rubbed my back while I threw up?”
