CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
Adam regretted suggesting the Brunch House the moment he opened the door. Loud laughter, tons of talking, and blasting music greeted him, and he hadn’t even stepped inside yet. Joey did, as if the wall of noise didn’t bother her. It did bother Adam, and he’d already driven back from Jackson with the radio off. He liked having quiet time in his life where he didn’t have to have something coming at him all the time.
Life seemed to come hard at him constantly, and Adam often simply needed some silence to help him make the many decisions he needed to, even if they weren’t for him. Adam had learned early on that his attention to details and the way he handled events and schedules and people meant that he needed a way to cope with the stress that brought.
Sometimes, his favorite classical music and a really big order of French fries did the trick, but he’d found thatleaving his headphones home and getting on his bike and going for a forty-mile ride worked better.
Adam had not found the best way to work out in Coral Canyon, as he’d been dealing with Harry, and then this new job, and then buying a house, and now starting something with Joey. He hadn’t even had time to locate a gym and decide if he should join it. Adam didn’t love working out indoors or with other people, and he’d found himself more often than not hiking the trails around Coral Canyon by himself. With winter closing in on them, though, he knew he wouldn’t be able to continue doing that for very long.
Your new house is plenty big enough for a home gym, he told himself as he followed Joey down the hallway that had been erected by a wall on one side and a chest-high barrier on the other.
She turned back to him and said, “This place is really loud.”
Relieved that she’d realized it too, all of his muscles practically sagged off his bones. “We can go somewhere else,” he said. “Heck, lunch places are open by now.”
Joey turned and looked at the several people standing in line in front of them who hadn’t even been seated yet, and then faced him again. “Would you hate me if I said I wanted to go somewhere else?”
“Of course not,” Adam said. He had literally just suggested it.
“We can come here another time when it’s not so busy—maybe a weekday,” Joey said.
Adam turned and went back toward the entrance, squeezing out past another couple trying to come in.
“I’m not as familiar with Coral Canyon as you are,” he said. “What do you suggest?”
Joey gave him a playful look as they started down the sidewalk to go back around the buildings to where they’d parked. “How adventurous are you feeling?” she asked.
Adam chuckled. “Oh, boy, that’s a loaded question.”
“Are you a very adventurous person?” she asked.
Adam sobered and finally shook his head. “I think I would say no to that if I’m being honest.”
“Yeah, I didn’t think so either.” She bumped him with her shoulder. “The way you wear slacks everywhere is a dead giveaway.”
“Hey, I like my slacks,” he said, looking down at them.
“I like them too,” Joey shot back. “I’m just saying, you live in Wyoming now, and you manage a country music band.Theydon’t even wear slacks.”
Adam blinked and looked down the sidewalk. “Well, I don’t think I own jeans.”
“Another thing we can go shopping for,” Joey said.
He scoffed immediately, rejecting the idea. “There is no way I’m taking you jean shopping with me.”
“No?” Joey asked. “Why not?”
He glared over to her. “Because you’re not my mother.”
Joey grinned back at him, full of light and playfulness. “I think it would be fun.”
“I think we should eat,” he said.
“Right.” Joey cleared her throat and shook her hair overher shoulders. She adjusted the scarf around her neck, and while she didn’t wear the pink puffy coat, today’s outerwear was more of a buckskin-rawhide-leather color she’d paired with a scarf in bright pink, blue, and white.
“So I was thinking,” she said. “I would go by the grocery store and get everything that we need for biscuits and gravy, and then I can meet you at your house, and I could cook for you.”
