She gave a small smile. “I hope you’re right. Thank you again for the pie, but Iampaying for it.”
“Absolutely not. Besides, I don’t know how much longer my little shop will be in business.”
Aspen straightened. “Why’s that?”
“Notenoughbusiness. Unless things pick up, I’m afraid I’m down to my last few months.”
Aspen’s heart gave a sad little kick. “What can I do?”
“You’re already doing it by coming and drinking my tea every day.” The older woman gave her a small smile before heading away from the table.
There were a couple of people at The Tea House today. An elderly man at the counter and an elderly couple in the booth by the window, having what looked like a high tea. No one remotely close to her age.
This was probably the busiest Aspen had seen it, so she shouldn’t be surprised Mrs. Gerald might need to close. But itstill hurt. She came here almost every day. It had become her sanctuary, and Mrs. Gerald her sounding board.
She sipped her tea. She’d chosen wild lavender today. It wasn’t too bad. It did kind of taste like she was drinking a flower, but it beat the coffee.
She lifted the fork. Lordy lordy, the pie looked and smelled delicious. Or maybe that was her starving belly talking. She’d run out of the house so fast this morning she hadn’t grabbed anything to eat.
The starving belly was worth it though, to save her from running into Jesse and having the awkward “how was the date?” conversation.
A date. He’d been on adate. Why was that so hard to accept? He was young, fit, with the best dimples she’d ever seen. Of course he was dating.
He’d gotten home shortly after her and insisted again that it hadn’t been a date. Something about a guy from work setting him up with a woman from yoga? Honestly, even if he had been set up, the woman was gorgeous. Exactly the kind of woman someone like him should date.
Plus, as Aspen had told him,shewasn’t ready to date. And she’d never expect him to wait for her. That would be silly and selfish.
So why did the image of him sitting at an intimate corner table with a beautiful womanstillmake her want to scratch her own eyes out?
She put a huge forkful of pie into her mouth.
Holy hell in a handbasket. It was phenomenal. An explosion of flavors in her mouth and easily the best pie she’d ever had. A mixture of blueberries and apple. And the pastry…it was buttery soft, like a small drop of heaven on her tongue.
Mrs. Gerald was marketing this place all wrong. It shouldn’t be The Tea House. It should be The Best Pies in Montana House. Heck, the best in America.
She shoved another gigantic forkful of pie into her mouth as a shadow suddenly loomed over her table. A huge shadow.
“Hungry?”
She looked way up into Jesse’s chocolate-brown eyes and almost choked on the food in her mouth. “What are you doing here?” Or that was what she’d tried to say, but the words were mashed up between dough and apple.
Jesse chuckled as he lowered into the booth opposite her. “I’m not due to start my shift for another hour, and this place was on the way, so thought I’d pop in and check on you. I missed you this morning.”
Missed her as in didn’t see her? Ormissed her, missed her?
She swallowed the pie. “I wanted to get an early start.”
He nodded, looking at her laptop. “How’s it going?”
Oh, about as well as a steam train with a broken motor. “Good. I think I’m really going to make some progress today.”
Liar.
He gave her one of those knowing smiles. Yeah, he totally knew she was lying.
“So…last night—”
“We already spoke about your date. We don’t need to rehash it. It’s your business.”
