Page 38 of Harvest Heat

Caleb would have happily listened to all the details of her horrible case because he cared about her, not just because it would keep him from having to reveal too much about Rhys. “You know I’m here to listen to whatever you need to share.”

“It’s even boring to me.”

“Ugh, it must be bad.”

“Wow. Thanks.”

“You’re the one who said it.”

She huffed. “How was apple picking?”

“Fun. I brought home tons of apples, and I’m playing around with an apple puree for drinks.”

“Did you get some of the famous doughnuts?”

“Of course, and they were everything they were hyped to be. It’s too bad I can’t get those to sell in the shop.”

She hummed her agreement. “You should see if Tessa and Finn can make some.”

“I don’t think they want to add frying doughnuts to their busy baking schedule.”

“I guess that would be a big production. Is that why doughnuts usually have their own shop?”

“Yes.”

“Was Rhys there?” Caleb was surprised it had taken her that long to get to the question she surely wanted to ask first.

“Yes.” He wasn’t going to lie, even though he was tempted to.

“Any new developments?”

So damn many, but he wasn’t going to share all of them. Their kiss felt too private. For now, it was only for them. He was certain Rhys wasn’t going to tell anyone since he didn’t even want his friends to know they were working together.

“We talked some. They have rabbits there, and he loves them, so we stayed by the hutch, feeding them treats for a while.”

“Just the two of you?” He heard the interest in her voice, but he wasn’t going to encourage her. Things with Rhys were fragile at best.

“Yes, but don’t read too much into that.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

She obviously didn’t believe him, and telling her about their partnership was only going to add to her skepticism, but he needed someone he could talk to plainly about the festival. “We decided to work together on the festival after all.”

“Ooh, that’s exciting. Are things going better?”

“We’ve only met once, but yes. We made an apple pie latte that isn’t perfect yet but we both agree is a viable candidate. We’re going to try some other ideas tomorrow night.”

“The two of you. All alone. At night.” He didn’t need to see her to know she was smiling maniacally.

“Kate, I told you how difficult it would be for us to be anything but friends.”

“But you would say you’re friends now.”

“Tentatively.”

“He’s not being as ass to you, is he, because⁠—”

“No. He’s not. He knows he doesn’t compromise easily, but he’s trying. I promise he’s nothing like Adrian.” The thought of comparing the two of them was laughable. Rhys might get scared and run from whatever was happening between them, but he wouldn’t deliberately hurt Caleb or deceive him. Caleb was sure of that, and he’d known Adrian was an asshole all along. He’d just taken forever to admit that Adrian wasn’t going to change. He wasn’t going to be fooled like that again. “I’m also not the same person I was when I met Adrian.”