When the store was empty once more, she connected her phone to the Bluetooth speaker behind the counter and got to work restocking the candy shelves. She was about to attempt to match Mariah Carey note for note when the bells over the door jingled. She tapped her phone to turn off the music and turned to greet the customer but found Tate standing with the door open wide, his eyes tracking something out of her view.
“What’re you doin’?”
He held up a finger.
“Tate Bellamy Riggs. Are you stalkin’ someone again?”
“Donovan and Brady are at Batter & Bliss. They’re about to come out.”
“Quit starin’ at my brother,” she told him, grinning wide.
“But he’s so damn yummy.” Tate walked in, letting the door close behind him. “Were they here?”
“For a minute.”
“Man. I always miss the good stuff.”
So he said. For some reason, Reilly had been under the impression Tate was avoiding her brother this past week. Ever since the birthday party, he’d been acting strange. Well, stranger than usual. When she tried to pry answers out of him, he told her it was nothing. She didn’t believe him, but she was giving him the benefit of the doubt. She thought maybe he was still trying to deal with the fact his lying, cheating whore of an ex-boyfriend had come creeping around. As much as she wished Tate would never think about that guy again, she knew it wasn’t that easy. Ben had really hurt Tate when he cheated.
“Where’re they off to?” Tate asked as he approached.
Reilly shrugged. “Probably to brood and grumble.”
That was what they were good at. Reilly wasn’t sure what it was with all the guys in this town, but their grumpy meters seemed to be maxing out these days. Especially Brady’s.
“They did say they’ll be at the park tonight,” she told Tate as she passed him a box of Hershey bars so he could make himself useful.
“Did you tell ’em you’re gonna be there?”
“Where’s the fun in that?” She tossed the empty box into the recycle bin behind the counter and grabbed another box. “Are you comin’?”
“Dunno.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?” she scolded. “I just told you Donovan’s gonna be there. Now’s your chance.”
Tate’s gaze darted away from her.
“Unless somethin’ already happened,” she told him, watching for any sign that he was keeping a secret from her.
When he didn’t answer, she knew he was. Tate hated to lie to her, so he tended to bottle up whatever he didn’t want her to know.
“Tate?”
“Hmm?”
“Did somethin’ happen?”
His eyes slowly moved to her face. “It was nothin’.”
Reilly stared, unable to hide her curiosity. “Whatwas nothin’?”
Tate looked away, then quickly looked back, fidgeting with one of the chocolate bars. “Fine. I kissed Donovan.”
She resisted the urge to squeal her delight. She was so happy for him, but based on his expression, he wasn’t nearly as exuberant as she was.
“He won’t even look at me now,” Tate admitted, tossing the chocolate bar onto the shelf.
“Have you seen him since?”
