God help him. He fisted his hands to keep from reaching out and touching her. She’d fly across the room, and the last thing he wanted was to scare her away when they were finally communicating.
Thunder rumbled through the room, rattling the windowpane. He ran his hand through his wet hair. His cowlick was probably sticking up. One of the reasons he’d let it grow out was so that he could control it.
“When did you cut your hair and shave your bushy beard?” Lauren asked, as if reading his thoughts.
“Back in June, I guess.” He arched a brow. “Miss it?”
She rolled her eyes. “I was just going to congratulate you on your excellent decision.”
He rubbed his bare jaw. He’d stopped shaving when Monica left. Just didn’t feel like bothering. Okay, maybe he’d been a little depressed.
She shot him a quick look, eyes teasing. “You did it for me, didn’t you?”
“Absolutely not.”
She laughed. “You did too.”
“Did not.”
“All right, Pinocchio, whatever you say. Tell me who the Joneses are.”
“What?”
“Mr. Jones and hisunwife...?”
He chuckled. “Oh, them. Who told you about that?”
“You mentioned them in one of your notes.”
He dropped his head back. “Ahh.” So along with the dinner napkins, she’d found his notes. He used to leave them on her deck railing, weighed down with a rock or a coffee. What other keepsakes might she have stumbled upon?
“Hello?Mr. and Mrs. Jones?”
“They were a couple who came to stay for a few days back in, let’s see, I think it was July. He left behind an expensive pair of sunglasses—you knew the brand name—and you called to let him know. You were gonna ship them, but for some reason you didn’t have an address on file.”
She leaned forward, peering at him, and a damp strand of pale blonde hair fell forward.
He resisted the urge to tuck it behind her ear. “Anyway, when Mrs. Jones answered his cell phone, you explained what had happened.” He lifted a brow. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t Mrs. Jones who had accompanied him on the trip.”
Lauren gasped.
“The real Mrs. Jones thought he’d been at a podiatrist convention in Boston.”
“Oh no. What did I do?”
“You apologized profusely and promised to smash the sunglasses to smithereens.”
Lauren laughed. “I did not.”
“You absolutely did. She was pretty upset, but you took the time to talk to her. She’d had her suspicions and it was the last straw for her. She said she was gonna leave him.”
“I feel so awful.”
“You felt terrible at the time too. But you weren’t the one in the wrong.”
“Did she ask me about the woman?”
“I don’t think so. She probably already knew who it was.”
