With another glance at Shelly, while I could practically feel her eyes burning holes into my shoulder blades, I rounded the counter and followed Luna into the back of the café.
“You know, I’ve never been back here,” I commented.
Luna grinned. “Most people don’t come back here unless they work here. Or unless Janet drags you back here, or me.”
“Thank you.” I took a breath, mentally sagging inside. “Are you glad you moved back?” I asked, trying not to think about Shelly.
“One hundred percent. I missed it,” Luna said firmly.
“How long were you away?”
“If you didn’t hear, my parents moved us away to be RV influencers. It totally sucked. If I had my way, we never would’ve left, but I didn’t have my way. So now I’m back,” Luna explained.
“RV influencers?” I gave my head a little shake.
“Oh yeah. They drove all over Alaska, living in an RV and posting about our lives online. Were you lucky enough not to watch their channel?”
“I guess? Not really my thing.”
“Good.” She chuckled. She thumbed over her shoulder. “Shelly seems to be trying awful hard to make it up to pretty much everybody.”
“I know,” I murmured.
“Follow me to meet my dog.” Luna led me through a back door, and we crossed the rear parking area into a separate building.
“What’s this?” I asked curiously.
“An old garage that came with the property for the café. Jasmine has her pottery studio on that side,” she added, peering through an inside window. “She’s not working right now.”
“And this is…?”
“Fuzzy,” she said as a large white dog approached, tail swinging in a wide arc and tongue lolling. “He hangs out here when I’m working.”
“Oh, he’s the sweetest thing!” I knelt down to pet him, and Fuzzy circled me with his tail thumping against my sides. “I have an old dog. Her name’s Bella. Maybe they could play together sometime. Her playing is pretty slow, but she loves other dogs. She always has.”
I finally stood up from petting Fuzzy, and Luna walked me back to the café. “You can just cut over to the parking lot if you want,” she pointed out.
I shook my head. “I refuse to let Shelly chase me away from places I want to be.”
Luna was quiet for a beat before pulling me into an unexpected hug.
Stepping back, I sighed. “It’s just… awkward, you know?”
“Oh, I do. One of the things I love about small towns is how people take care of each other. Nobody’s a stranger. The flip side to that is everybody knows everybody’s business, and sometimes that’s super awkward.”
I laughed softly. “It is. But life goes on, right?”
“It always does.”
Luna stayed in the kitchen to bake, and I slipped back out front. I decided to do what I’d planned, which was to sit down and quietly enjoy my coffee and scone, even though Shelly was there, sitting by herself.
Grateful there were plenty of other customers around, I snagged a table. “Oh, well hey there, Tori.” As soon as I heard that voice, my system jolted. It felt as if my libido was waking up like my old dog Bella, coming out of sleep abruptly and shaking off.
My cheeks were burning before my eyes even met his. “Oh, uh, hey, Kincaid.” My voice was ridiculously breathless. His cognac gaze held mine. “What are you doing here?” I asked, rather pointlessly.
He lifted his coffee. “Getting coffee.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Shelly stand from her table. I didn’t even want to risk her trying to come over and talk to me, so I blurted out, “Have a seat.”
