“Yes, please.” The one she’d gotten for the road had been awful and prepared wrong—sheneverwanted hazelnut flavoring, for the record—but coffee places were hard to find in the northern part of New Hampshire, apparently. And she hadn’t wanted to deal with finding a place to pull the truck and camper in without having to back up more than necessary.
The need for caffeine was strong, though, and so she’d spent the entire drive sipping the disgusting coffee, swearing, and then sipping it again. She really hoped Corinne’s Kitchen served a good brew because she intended to drink her fill of it.
When Kenzie returned with her coffee, Hannah was ready to order. “I’d like two scrambled eggs, with bacon and wheat toast, please.”
“Sure thing. Do you want home fries or beans with that?”
“Home fries, please.” She’d been in this part of the country before. Getting her master’s degree in history from the University of New Hampshire had been her way of exploring Boston without actually staying in Boston, and one of the first things she’d learned was that a lot of New Englanders ate baked beans with their breakfast. While she’d wanted to immerse herself in a historically rich part of the country, that was one of many local customs she’d chosen to skirt.
The coffee was delicious, and if she’d been alone, she would have moaned with the pleasure of it. But she wasn’t, so she just took another sip and savored it in silence. It was probably a good thing it was piping hot or she might have embarrassed herself by chugging it as if she was at a frat party.
After setting the mug down, she flexed her fingers, which ached from strangling the steering wheel for the last hour. She’d pulled her parents’ camper before. And she’d driven her dad’s truck often enough to be comfortable doing so. But towing all the way across the country—especially alone—was new.
And the logging truck that was determined to go faster than her despite being behind her had been the cherry on the stress sundae. With nowhere to pull over and let him pass, she’d had to cope with his menacing presence in her mirrors, pushing her to the limits of her speed comfort zone. If she’d known she was going to make such good time due to the pressure, she would have slept in a little longer.
Kenzie walked out of the kitchen balancing a tray laden with plates, and Hannah watched the French toast pass by with a pang of regret. It was a dish that was either regrettably forgettable, woefully undercooked or exceptional. Since she didn’t like to gamble when it came to enjoying her first meal of the day, she rarely ordered it, but that French toast looked exceptional and before she’d even received her own breakfast, she knew she’d be back.
The four men at the other table laughed a lot. She wished she could tell which voice and which laugh belonged to the guy with the charming smile, but she guessed it wasn’t the guy who kept grumbling about text messages.
Hannah kept her eyes on her book, though, holding it open with her right hand while she ate with her left. It took her several tries at reading the same paragraph before the story grabbed her enough to displace thoughts of those blue eyes, but eventually she lost herself in the reading.
Until chairs started scraping behind her as she took her last bite. The urge to look was strong, but she simply pushed her plate back and held the book in front of her. Then she took another sip of her coffee, which was a good distraction because she forgot Kenzie had just topped it off and it was hotter than she’d anticipated.
And speaking of things that were too hot, the man with the smile slid onto the seat next to her bag and nodded toward the paperback in her hand. “You have great taste in books.”
The domestic suspense set on a remote island was definitely geared toward the female market, and she wondered if he’d actually read it. “So far, so good.”
“I probably wouldn’t have picked it up, but my mom recommended it and by the time I got to the part where she finds the knife in the bottom of her bag—and I can see you’re past that, so no spoilers—I was hooked.”
How was she supposed to resist a guy who had a great smile, read booksandwhose mother was in his book rec trust circle? But she found herself nodding anyway. “I don’t usually love an unreliable narrator, but it’s very well done.”
“I’d love to know what you think of the ending. Maybe we could get together when you’re finished and talk about it? Maybe over dinner?”
Her sister often joked that the surest way to kidnap Hannah would be in a food truck that also offered a lending library, so as pickup lines went, dinner and book talk would probably—under different circumstances—be a winner. “I’m just passing through, so it’s not likely our paths will cross again.”
Disappointment dimmed his expression slightly, but his smile rallied. “That’s too bad. I think you and I would have made a good book club.”
Oh, he was good. Hannah almost wavered. She was going to be in the area for three months, after all, and there was no reason she couldn’t enjoy herself while she was here.
But there was something about this man that promised more than just a good time, and she had enough on herfiguring out my lifeplate without adding a potential relationship on top.
“Just passing through,” she said again, adding a dash of finality to her tone.
He stood and gave her one last smile. “Safe travels.”
“Thanks.” Hannah forced herself to turn her attention back to her book rather than watching him walk out the door with the others.
A few seconds after the door closed, she heard a burst of male laughter and winced. She’d let him down easy, but she’d still turned him down, and it sounded like he was going to take a ribbing over it.
It wasn’t often Hannah regretted letting a man walk away from her, but this had been a tough one. She would have liked to be a part of his two-person book club, so it was probably for the best it was unlikely she’d ever see him again.
Chapter Two
Somehow Rob had gotten the short end of the stick again. Actually, it wasn’tsomehow. As the youngest of four boys, he’d learned early that by the time things trickled down to him, they were crap. Whether it was hand-me-down clothes or chores left on the list, he got what his three brothers didn’t want.
Today was no different. Joey and Danny were in the store. Joey was greeting people because, according to him, he was the most personable. That was actually Rob, but whatever. And because Joey was also the most organized, he was stocking the shelves in between campers arriving. That part was actually true. Rob would have just stuck the stuff on the shelves wherever and let people hunt for what they needed.
Danny was handling the paperwork because the guy who spent his life sitting at a desk was a logical choice for being behind a desk. In theory, he could sneak some writing in, but Rob didn’t think that was happening. He could tell how the writing was going by his brother’s temperament, and Danny wasn’t a lot of fun right now.
