“Oh, you’d be here too?” I tease.
He growls and then laughs, pulling back to study me. “It’s good to see it coming back.”
“What?”
“Your sassy mouth.”
We walk out of the cafe, and Tully has bent down to tie his shoe when something white rushes past me.
I look up and see a rooster circling back and charging at me.
“Ahhh!” I yelp and start running when it’s obvious he isn’t slowing down.
“Ra-ra-ra-raoooooo!”the bird yells.
My knees lift higher, my feet going faster. I’m being chased in the snow by a freaking bird. How is this happening?
“Ahhh!” I yell when he gets closer.
“Ralph!” Tully yells.“Ralph, HALT!”
I hear commotion behind me, but I’m scared to look.
“It’s okay, Lola. I’ve got him.”
I turn and see Tully holding the rooster. And the rooster has the nerve to look at me smugly, like he’s exactly where he wants to be.
“Are you kidding me right now?” I say, panting. I bend over to catch my breath and point. “You’re holding that bastard?”
Tully laughs. “He is a little jackass,” he says while petting said jackass.
I glare at both of them. “What did you call him?”
“Ralph.”
“Ralph,” I mimic, making an ugly face, which just makes Tully laugh harder.
“Okay, I’m going to put him in the coop, so he doesn’t chase you, and so you don’t murder him.”
“I would’ve been friends if he’d been nice,” I mumble as he walksRalphto the coop.
Tully can’t keep a straight face as he walks back. “Yep, the sass is definitely back.”
I poke him in the side and then slide my freezing-cold hands up his shirt, warming them on his nice, toasty abs.
“Ahhh,” he yelps.
I grin.
And then I’m being chased byhimin the snow.
It’s so hard to say goodbye to Tully, but it helps knowing I’ll be seeing him in eight days.
As I’m sitting at my gate, my phone buzzes, and I look down and get that cold rush of dread. Four missed calls, no voicemails. And then the texts start dinging one after the other.
555-323-4688
We need to talk.
