“I love you, too. Wanna go grab a coffee? Get some fresh air.”
“Sure, let me go put this paperwork away real quick.”
When he comes back we walk next door to Lakeside Grounds. It’s pretty busy for it being the middle of the week but we’re able to find a table outside on the patio.
As we’re talking about some final touches for the Inn, I watch Miles’ face turn up at the same time a hand rests on my shoulder. Turning around, I see Elaine's smiling face greeting us.
“Hi, boys,” she waves to Miles, “I thought I saw y’all as I was driving past.”
“Hi, Ms. Winslow,” Miles greets at the same time I say, “Hi, Elaine!”
“First name basis, huh?” Miles mumbles under his breath.
“Shut up,” I say, and Elaine chuckles.
“I wanted to see if you guys were free any Sunday night coming up,” she asks. “We do our family dinner on Sundays and though I know you two aren’t technically family, I wanted to invite you two over.” She eyes Miles specifically. “You too, Miles.”
“That sounds wonderful, Ms. Winslow,” Miles responds, and I’m shocked that he isn’t coming up with an excuse not to go.
“We will see you then, anything we should bring?” I ask.
“Just bring your two selves and an empty stomach! It’s pesto gnocchi night!”
“Sounds delicious, I can’t wait,” I reply.
“I gotta run back to work but I appreciate you giving me your time.”
“Bye, Elaine.” I smile and Miles waves at her as she heads toward the direction of Ruby’s Diner.
“Thank you again for making me go to her birthday party the other night,” Miles confesses. “I ran into some buddies from high school that I hadn’t seen in a while. It was nice to catch up.”
“As long as they don’t steal my title of being your best friend.” I laugh. “Do you remember when we were like seven and made each other sign contracts that we would always be each other'sbestfriend?”
“I totally forgot about that, clearly it worked well enough.” He chuckles back. “They invited me to go to the bar in the town over next weekend, you’re more than welcome to come.”
“I think Maisie has Saturday and Sunday off next week so I was planning on taking her on an actual date.”
“Wine and dine, huh?” He lifts his brows.
“Something like that.” I laugh. “Speaking of, if you’re going to be out, do you care if she comes over and we use the kitchen? There aren’t many restaurants to choose from so I figured I would cook instead.”
“As long as you clean up after yourself.” He raises his eyebrows, and I get the hint.
“Don’t worry, I’ll use protection.” I wink.
36
MAISIE
“Can I get three swirl cones, please?” I order one for myself, Henry, and Miles at Scooped, the ice cream shop in Ruby Lake. Instead of going home after work, I decided to walk down to the Inn to surprise Henry—and Miles—with ice cream.
“You sure you got enough hands for that?” the cashier asks in a very monotone voice.
“I’ll figure it out,” I smile, “I’m not going too far.”
Handing over my card, she runs it through the register and gets started on filling the cones. Now that I’m here and with my thoughts, I’m starting to overthink a bit.
I’m not sure what we are and I know we’re not dating, but we did cross a line I originally wouldn’t allow myself to cross. I don’t want to come across like I’m his girlfriend or anything. But also what we are feels like we’remorethan friends.
