“Did he explain why he’d been hanging around outside for so long?”
For the first time that morning, Lauren smiled. Dryly. “If you can believe it, he was trying to get up his nerve to come in. Brad had shown him a picture of me. I wasn’t quite what he’d expected.”
“That’s marvelous!” Beth’s eyes grew rounder. “The handsome prince was so taken with your beauty that he was actually awestruck. I love it!”
Lauren screwed up her face and carefully enunciated her words. “Handsome prince? Taken with my beauty? Awestruck? Whathaveyou been reading, Beth?”
“Come on. I think this is great. Are you seeing him again?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“Just that. He didn’t say anything about seeing me again, and I wasn’t about to put him on the spot.” Lauren reached for a can and began to spoon fresh coffee into a filter.
“ ‘Put him on the spot.’ ” Beth snorted. “Straight from the mouth of the old you. The new you is sought-after. You’d be doing him a favor toconsiderseeing him again…. Well?”
“Well, what?”
“Are you?”
“What?” Lauren measured out water and poured it into the top of the coffee maker.
Beth sighed in frustration. “Considering seeing him again.”
“I don’t know.”
As coffee began to trickle slowly into the carafe, Beth rolled her eyes and muttered, “This is absurd. We’re going in circles. Do you or do you not want to see the man again?”
Lauren turned toward her friend. “I don’t know! Damn it, Beth, how can I give you a better answer if I don’t have one myself? Yes, I liked him, and under normal circumstances I’d be glad to see him again. But these aren’t exactly normal circumstances. In the first place, the man lives on the West Coast. He’s only here doing business, most of which keeps him in the western part of the state. He’ll be going back to San Francisco and he hates to fly. I don’t exactly have the time to zip out to see him every weekend—not to mention the money, when there are so many other things I have it earmarked for.” She sucked in a breath. “And in the second place, he was Brad’s friend. You’re right. My parents would go bonkers.”
“You’re an adult. They didn’t want you to go to the Bahamas, but you did it. They didn’t want you to leave Bennington or open this shop, but you did both. You don’t need their permission. You can do whatever you want and see whomever you want.”
Lauren sighed loudly. “I know that, Beth. I’m not asking their permission for anything. I have qualms of my own about seeing Matt again. He was a friend of Brad’s. He sees me and my parents through Brad’s eyes. And he’s a confirmed bachelor who loves taking off with the guys and shooting the rapids for a week. So what’s the point?”
“The point,” Beth murmured, wiggling her brows, “is that he’s single and gorgeous.”
“I thought he was too rugged for you.”
“For me, yes. For you, no. The two of you looked great walking out of here together last night. I’m telling you, see where it leads.”
“You have a one-track mind,” Lauren grumbled, brushing a wisp of hair from her low-belted, apricot jersey dress.
“And you’re in a lousy mood. Where’s your sense of humor? Hey, I’ll bet Matthew Kruger would be theperfectone to ward off the ghost that’s hanging out at your farm.”
“Humph. I’m beginning to think I need something. That ghost was at work again.”
Beth blinked once, then again. The coffee continued to trickle in the background, its rich aroma wafting from the carafe and spreading through the small room. “Excuse me?”
“That ghost. I swear it went through my things yesterday.”
“Wait a minute, Lauren. There are no such things as ghosts.”
“You’re the one who’s been touting them.”
“I was teasing.”
“Then I guess you’ve teased once too often. I’m almost becoming a believer.”
