The small hairs along my forearms lifted. When he’d come into the shop, he’d been friendly, but not like this. Right now, the way he was focusing on me sat so wrong that I shifted uneasily in my seat. Was he flirting?
"Thanks," I managed. "That's nice of you to say.”
Rhodes had gone very still across from me, his eyes shifting to Alan with the watchful quality that my brothers, especially Wade, often had. He’d stiffened and turned his entire body towards the other man, seeming somehow even larger and more threatening.
Opal, oblivious and perfect, held up her latest drawing. "Do you like cats?" she demanded.
Alan blinked and looked at her like he'd only just noticed she was there. "Sure," he said after a beat. “I like cats.”
"We're getting one," she informed him, with the solemn authority of a person announcing a state policy. "Probably two."
"Opal," Rhodes said, soft and even, but he didn’t look away from Alan. “We aren’t getting two. I’m not even sure we’re getting one.”
"What? We are." She began coloring determined stripes across her cat’s back. “Orange ones.”
Not able to hold back the muffled laugh at the thought of Rhodes wrangling two orange cats, I just added solemnly. “Orange cats are great.”
Everyone knew they were crazy at best, and psychotic at worst. It was just Rhodes’s luck that Opal wanted an orange one.
The silence stretched a beat too long—Alan still standing there, and me suddenly painfully aware how weird this was. Most people, after they’d said what they wanted, either shifted on their feet or showed some sign that they were about to move on, but this guy just stood there.
“I’m sorry. This is Rhodes and his daughter, Opal. They’re new to town.” I reached for my glass of water with the deliberate ease of someone who was not going to let this feel strange.
“Nice to meet you both.” Something flickered in those pale eyes, and then he smiled again, the full-face smile that felt like a lamp switched on in a room you'd thought was empty.
“Looks like you’re busy. Don't let us keep you." Rhodes’ words were clipped and unmistakable. It was obvious he was dismissing him. In a normal situation, I’d be a little pissed off that he was being rude, but this wasn’t normal. I was uncomfortable.
"Right, yeah." He straightened. "It was really good to see you, Sage." The name sat differently in his mouth than it did in other people's—careful, precise, like he'd practiced the sound of it.
He turned and walked back toward the kitchen without saying anything else.
"Friend of yours?"
“No. He’s a customer at the shop.” I pulled the placemat back toward me, smoothing it flat with my palm. There was a faint tremor in my fingers that I tamped down before it became anything—and picked up the crayon. "He's new in town, too.”
He watched me for a long moment before his gaze moved deliberately toward the kitchen. "How new?”
“A couple of months, maybe." I drew a leaf on the placemat to go with my ladybug next to the greenhouse floor plan.
His jaw flexed once, almost imperceptible, and then Betta arrived with the pizza, and Opal let out a sound of pure adoration that filled the whole booth. Just like I’d promised, thepepperoni curled exactly right, the grease pooling in the tiny copper cups.
"See?" I said, diverting the conversation. “Perfectly curled goodness.” I wanted that chill gone that our visitor had brought.
Rhodes looked at the pizza, then at me. “Mark it on the calendar. You were right," he said. “For today.” He gave me a little smirk and gentled his eyes to let me know that he was letting the conversation go about Alan.
I appreciated that he let the heavy moment pass as he served a slice to Opal and then another to me. Losing myself in pizza was easy, but I enjoyed hearing my tablemates’ sighs and moans as they bit into their slices. I had been hoping that they’d like it as much as we did.
“Best pizza ever.”Opal skipped beside me as we left the pizzeria a little later, with leftovers in a box she’d been trying to convince her father would make a great breakfast. Rhodes remained unswayed, but it sounded like she ate cereal most of the time anyway, so I wasn’t sure why it mattered.
“Maybe you’ll share with your dad?” Rhodes had been holding her hand as we went through the parking lot, where his hulking truck was parked near my van. “He looks like he eats pizza for breakfast and maybe tickles little girls.” I gave her ponytail a tug.
She giggled and danced away. “All for me.”
He made a growly noise and swooped in on her, making kissy noises on her neck before he swung her up and over hisshoulders. “Better hold onto that pizza tight—you’ll wake up, and it’ll be all gone.” Opal made protesting noises as he opened the back door of his cab and settled her inside. “Buckle up, Oppie. I’m just going to talk to Sage for a second.”
“Bye, Sage!” She waved happily at me. “Thanks for coming to dinner and for my plant.”
“I had fun.” More than fun. Spending time with her (and her dad) was easy, and it felt right all the way down to my toes.
