“He does,” Cali answered, “if he knows what’s good for him.”
“Oh, I’m sure he knows what’s good for him.” And with that, she whisked away before he could protest.
Ethan exhaled, shaking his head with a helpless laugh.
“Don’t mind her. She’s incorrigible.” Cali took a long, satisfying sip of her coffee.
“More like a fairy godmother,” said Ethan. “I have to admit, I didnotknow about the donuts, let alone your regular order. All the credit goes to Minka there. But now you’ve got me curious. What’s in that thing?” He pointed at her mug.
As Cali went through the details, she noticed Ethan’s face growing increasingly overwhelmed.
“But Minka just calls it my Oat Couture.”
Ethan practically spit out his coffee. “That tracks! Highly specific.” He lowered his voice and leaned across the table some, forcing Cali to lean closer. “You know, sometimes, when I’m feeling frisky,” he said, “I add some creamer to mine.”
Cali chortled and hit him softly with her napkin. “Stop mocking me. You know, they don’t bat an eye at an order like this in Eastmoor. I’m just glad I found Minka and didn’t have to compromise my coffee morals when I moved here.”
“So you used to live in Eastmoor? That’s a pretty big city. What brought you to Autumn Ridge?”
From there he kept going, asking more and more—about her old corporate job, the house she inherited from her grandmother, her cat brooches, the library, the recent whereabouts of the Maine Coon, the hotly debated Banned Books Week display she wanted. Each question drew her further in, until she realized she’d been talking for half an hour straight. Ethan hadn’t offered much about himself at all. He just sat there, listening like her answers mattered more than anything going on around them.
When she finally looked down, she noticed her sandwich sat nearly untouched. His plate, though, was spotless save for a dab of ketchup at the corner of his mouth.
“What?” he asked, following her eyes to the ketchup spot and wiping it away with his napkin. He cleared his throat. “Why do women do that?”
“Do what?”
“Eat so little on the first date.” He gestured down toward her plate. “Nervous?”
She scoffed. “This isnota date. And if you hadn’t intercepted me on the sidewalk and asked about my entire life, this sandwich would’ve disappeared 28 minutes ago.”
“Then, please, finish. I won’t say another word.”
He took the bill straight from Minka’s hands when she appeared. Receipt signed, he leaned forward, chin resting on his hand as Cali finished her sandwich and donuts. His eyes lingered on her mouth, his own lips twitching like he had something he shouldn’t say. He masked it with a slow drag of his thumb along his jaw, but the scruff catching the last of the sun only made the effort look more deliberate, like he was hiding thoughts that didn’t belong in the café.
Cali caught herself smiling into her empty mug, her belly warm and full. She wasn’t sure which version of Ethan she liked better—the one hanging on every detail of her life or the quiet one watching her now. Either was better than the guy who’d tried to one-up her over a stray cat.
And still, she wanted to know more. What about the cat tail tattooed to his shoulder? Where had he grown up? Why had he taken a job that meant packing up and leaving every couple of years?
But the desire to know made her uneasy. He’d be gone by spring. He wanted her cat. The reasons not to try stacked higher than the ones that did. For now, Ethan Cross was nothing morethan a rival at worst, an acquaintance at best. At least, that’s what she told herself.
“Thank you for the meal, Ethan. But don’t get any ideas. This isn’tcoq au vin.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he said easily, though his gaze didn’t quite let her go.
That was her cue. She grabbed her trench, slipped her bag over her shoulder, and rose from the booth, smoothing her skirt as if to prove to herself it really was time to leave.
He stayed seated, watching her with that quiet, steady patience that felt like it could undo her if she lingered another minute.
Outside, the evening air wrapped around her as she walked back toward the library parking lot and under the haze of the streetlights. Only then did she realize, full stomach or not, a different kind of hunger lingered.
Chapter 6
The weekend and most of the week after it went by without fanfare. Texts about the Maine Coon with The Nine and daily library duties kept Cali’s mind occupied. But by Thursday’s drive into work, her nerves were stricken both with how dangerously close time was creeping toward the library board meeting and with how she’d likely see Ethan again tonight after Book Club.
She fumbled with her keys, skirt swishing in the fresh autumn air as she walked around to the back of the library. She couldn’t bring herself to enter through the front doors anymore, couldn’t give Ethan the satisfaction of seeing her. If she ever let down her guard again like she had last Friday at Minka’s, she didn’t know what would happen. Or maybe she knewexactlywhat would happen: He’d hold her gaze just like he had across the diner table, plush lips parted, and eyes intense, and she’d lose all of her words, all her precious wit, just for the chance he’d press those lips against hers. It was too big a risk. Innocent waves across the street and peeks out the window would be like water torture, slowly breaking down her resolve. So she kept her focus on the cats and work and nothing else.
He must’ve picked up on the change in the air, because he didn’t surprise her with his presence again. Or maybe he realized, too, that all this could be was temporary and he didn’t want to press it if it didn’t come easily.
