That’s when I’ll have to decide whether I should really try dating the man or call whatever this thing is off.
I’m leaning towards off.Because really?Drumming up enthusiasm to see a man should not be so hard.
Not if I really liked him.Or wanted him.
It’s been a pretty long dry spell for me, what with the bakery and Bella and Mom taking up a lot of my attention.And I don’t mind it.
Really, I don’t.
It’s just that sex is a big deal for me.I just can’t do the wholecasual bodies in the darkthing.
Never could.
Justin and I have not had sex.
We’ve barely kissed.And honestly?I’m depressingly fine with that.
So yeah, I’m thinking Justin and I are done.Hopefully, we can part friends.
Anyway, I’m not really looking forward to that discussion, and my mind is wandering, which is probably why I don’t see the half full coffee cup someone left teetering on the counter.
“Seriously,” I mutter as I bend to pick up the garbage before running behind the counter for some paper towels.
I’m still wiping down the mess—of course it was a large hazelnut latte and now it smells like a sugar-coated crime scene—when the front door bangs open hard enough to rattle the bells.
Adele bursts inside like she’s auditioning for a Telenovela, cheeks flushed, hair wild from the wind, eyes sparkling with mischief and gossip.
“Adrianna!Oh my God—have youheard?”she practically squeals, skidding across the tile in her knockoff Uggs.
I keep cleaning the sticky streak of coffee on the floor.“Heard what, Adele?Please tell me it’s not another scandal about Mrs.Gearhart stealing Wi-Fi from the funeral home next door.”
“No, better!”She braces her hands on the counter, leaning in like she’s about to reveal the location of buried treasure.“A certainhometown herois back in town!”
I freeze.
Just a tiny hitch in movement, but enough that the rag slips from my hand and lands with a wet splat on the floor.
Adele doesn’t notice.
She’s on a roll.
“All week long,” she gushes, “contractors have been working to reopen his parents’ old place—you know, the Thorn family house?The big one on the corner of Madison with the yellow siding?”
She waits for me to nod.And I do.
Because, yeah, I know that house.It’s on the corner two streets down from my mother’s house where I currently live with her and Bella.
Do I know that house?
Um, yeah.In fact, I once lost something in the attic bedroom of that house when I was just sixteen.
And yeah, I also noticed the construction, but I just figuredMr.Important Rockstarhad finally gotten around to selling it.
“Well, apparently, it’s all because Nathan Thorn is coming back to stay!”Adele shouts, like she just won the lottery, completely oblivious to my distress.
My stomach is already clenched tight.
I don’t need her to say the name.
