“All right,” Adam said. “I may have been a little irritated, but I’m not anymore.” He reached over and took her hand in both of his. “It’s good to see you, Joey.”
She nodded to the left. “I see a guitar over there. Did you find a teacher already?”
“Yes,” he said. “We’ve had one lesson on Saturday.”
“And you didn’t text and tell me about it?” Her eyes landed on his, and Adam felt properly chastened.
“I….” He trailed off, not quite sure what to admit. “I thought maybe you didn’t care,” he said. “About the mundane intricacies of my life.”
“Well, if we’re going to start dating,” Joey said. “Then that’s what you share—the mundane intricacies of your life. If you can’t share those with me, who can you share them with?” She lifted her eyebrows, and Adam conceded the point.
“So Saturday,” he said. “I want to go out to breakfast, because Harry’s been telling me about this really great place.” Secretly, he thought a breakfast date could turn into a lunch date, which could turn into a dinner date. It could be an all-day date with Joey, and he wanted to spend as much time with her as possible.
“What’s this really great place?” Joey asked.
“Brunch House,” he said. “Have you been?”
She shook her head. “No, but I’ve heard it’s good.”
“Great,” he said. “Is nine too early?”
She belted out a laugh and said, “Oh, honey, I get up every day at three-thirty to make it to the bakery by four. Nine is practically lunchtime.”
He laughed with her, and he felt more normal than ever now that he had a date on the calendar with the beautiful Joelle Young.
CHAPTER
NINE
Cousin movie night sometime next week?
Joey looked at Harry’s text, already feeling a bit overwhelmed with her schedule. She wasn’t sure why; she’d been working the two jobs, helping her grandparents, and hanging out with her cousins for months now.
She passed the sign welcoming her to Dog Valley, and Joey suddenly knew why she felt overwhelmed.
She hated coming to Dog Valley. She didn’t enjoy her time with her mother that much, but her sense of duty would not allow her to simply stop visiting.
She had no set schedule for when she needed to be here, other than before the trick-or-treaters came. So Joey pulled over and picked up her phone. It would be far easier if she could have a dynamic conversation with Harry, so she tapped to call him.
“Hey, Joey,” he said jovially, and why shouldn’t he be? He had an amazing fiancée, millions of dollars in the bank, celebrity status, and a brand-new house. Yes, everything seemed to be coming up roses for Harry and Belle.
Joey bit back on the bitterness, knowing that Harry had worked incredibly hard to be where he was, and Joey truly did not resent any of his success. He just seemed to have so many things figured out that Joey didn’t.
“Hey,” she said. “I just thought it would be faster if I could call.”
“You’re the busiest of us,” he said. “That’s why I asked you first.”
She nodded, feeling a bit guilty. “I usually work every evening except Wednesdays,” she said.
“That works for us.” He paused, and then hissed, “I’m not going to ask her that,” clearly not talking to her.
Joey’s heartbeat tensed inside her body.
“You ask her.”
Scuffling came through the line, and then Belle said, “Hey, Joey,” in her sweetest, kindest voice.
“Hey, Belle,” Joey said, smiling because she liked Harry’s fiancée a lot. “What do you want to ask me?”
