She opened the fridge. Nothing. No food in sight. Well, nothing she’d made, anyway. There was plenty of Jesse’s food. Food she was sure he wouldn’t mind if she ate. Food shewouldn’teat. He was already giving her ridiculously cheap rent. She didn’t like taking his food too.
Callie sighed. “That was really sweet of him.”
“I know. Heissweet. And cute and protective and a million other things.” She still got goose bumps when she thought about how he’d handled the guy at the bar, even if they had fought about it after.
She stepped into the pantry. There was rice. She could have that for dinner. Maybe add some tuna and soy sauce.
“You know,” Callie started, “you could always—”
“Don’t say it,” Aspen cut her friend off. “He and I arefriends. He offered me the room in his house as a friend, and even if I did a complete one-eighty and decided I wanted more—flower girl.”
“Flower girl?”
“You can’t have forgotten. He bought someone roses.” And she was grabbing on to that excuse with both hands to stay away from him.
“We still don’t know that they were for a girl.”
“Of course they were.” She lifted the can of tuna and wrinkled her nose. She’d been living off rice and tuna for the last week. Why? Because it was cheap, and she was trying to be smart with her money while she hadn’t released a new book for a while.
“I saw your mom the other day, by the way.”
Aspen put the tuna back onto the shelf, trying not to tense at the mention of her mother. “Where?”
“In the grocery store. She was arguing with one of the managers. I think I heard her say she was going to sue.”
Aspen rolled her eyes. How many people had the woman threatened to sue in her lifetime? So many she’d lost count.
“Sounds like Mom.” She lifted a packet of noodles. She could cook those with an egg.
“I saw Dylan the other day too.”
The noodles slipped from her fingers. “Really? Where?”
“He walked past Sugar and Spice and glared at me through the glass. Lock was a step away from getting up and going after him.”
She shuddered. Even thinking about the guy made a sick feeling swirl around her belly. “It makes The Tea House sound a bit better.”
“The Tea House?”
“I’ve been going there almost every day. The coffee’s terrible, but the coffee’s terrible everywhere in Amber Ridge. And I really like Mrs. Gerald, the older English woman who runs the place. She kind of feels like the grandmother I never had.” They talked every day. About little things. Big things. Work. She’d even mentioned her rocky relationship with her mother.
“It sounds nice,” Callie said.
“I’m kind of liking tea now, too.”
“You are not.”
“I am. I’ve tried a dozen different types, but I think Earl Grey is my favorite.”
“Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?”
“I’m a tea-drinking Amber Ridge woman now.”
Callie chuckled, but that chuckle became a sigh. “I miss you.”
“I miss you more.”
“All right, Lock’s calling me for dinner. Chat tomorrow?”
