“It was,” he replied easily.
Silence stretched for a second, but it didn’t feel awkward to him.
To me?
A little.
“So,” he said, shifting slightly, “everything good while I was gone?”
“All good,” I said.I should have told him about my tire, but I kept that to myself.“Just getting ready to close in five minutes.”
“Good,” he said.“I just wanted to see you,” he added.
That should’ve made my heart do something.
Skip.
Flip.
Anything.
I smiled at him.“Well, here I am.”
He reached out, resting his hand lightly on the counter, fingers tapping once like he was thinking.“You want to do something soon?”he asked.
“Sure,” I said easily and with no hesitation.I was still holding out hope that this thing with Jesse was what I needed and not Jude.
This was normal.This was what I was supposed to want.
“Tomorrow?”he asked.
“I work,” I said.“Twelve to six.”
He nodded.“Then after?”
“After works.”
“Alright,” he said.“I’ll swing by.”
Lark’s voice cut in from behind me.“Time to flip the sign,” she said, already moving toward the door.
Jesse glanced over his shoulder, then back at me.“I’ll let you get to closing,” he said.“Like I said, I just wanted to see you.”
There it was again.
“Okay,” I said softly.“I’m glad you did.”
He gave me one last look, something a little more focused in his eyes than before, then pushed off the counter and headed for the door.
Lark flipped the sign to “Closed” as he stepped out.
She leaned against the door, watching through the glass as Jesse walked to his bike, started it, and pulled away.
Then she turned around and squealed.“He just wanted to see you!”she whisper-yelled, bouncing on her toes.
I laughed, grabbing the container of dirty scoops from under the counter.
“Why aren’t you jumping up and down and happy?”she demanded, following me behind the counter.
