Page 39 of The Perfect Heart

But after blinking, Halle laughed. “I borrowed it from Emily, who got it in New York, so yeah, not from around here.”

I shook my head, running a hand over my hair, my smile rueful. “I think I need to start again. Hi, Halle, and wow, you look incredible tonight.”

Even in the darkness outside the door, the backlight from the apartment throwing Halle into shadow, I could see the flush that reddened her cheeks to her ears.

“Thanks.” She stepped back from the door. “Come in for a second? I’m just about ready.”

Following her in, I closed the door, but not without a peek outside first. In the few days since I had seen the guy with a mask watching the bar who had probably damaged my car, I couldn’t be too cautious, especially where Halle was concerned.

She disappeared into the small bathroom, and I waited around, shuffling from foot to foot. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been this nervous.

Get a grip. This is Halle, not some random chick you don’t know.

Then again, the fact that it was Halle and not some random chick made it that much worse. Was this thing going to work out? Were we going to screw everything up before we’d begun? Would I lose her friendship a second time when we were still trying to build it back up?

Breathe, man. One step at a time.

Oddly enough, my internal monologue had Jonas’s sarcastic edge to it. Well, maybe not odd. I’d called him in a panic earlier, and he’d said those exact words to me.

One step at a time. I could do that.

Halle reappeared from the bathroom, slipping earrings into her ears—the same large diamond studs she’d been wearing the first night she had stumbled into the bar. I remembered because they had caught the dim light in an expensive way, the winking and shimmering the only thing that had been able to draw my attention from her face.

She slipped her feet into the heels before pulling on her coat and grabbing her purse as we headed toward the door. Then she looked over her shoulder at me and smiled, and I nearly tripped over my own feet as my heart skipped wildly.

Halle stopped at the bottom of the stairs and stared at Jonas’s truck parked by the old garage.

“Your car is still in the shop? I thought it was just a tire.”

Shit.

“Oh, yeah, well, Doc found a few other issues, so it’s still in the shop. He’s great, but you remember how slow he is.”

I still hadn’t told Halle what had actually happened to my car. In fact, Jonas was the only one who knew, though Doc had to suspect—tires didn’t slash themselves.

Halle’s smile was indulgent. “If he was slow when we were kids, I can’t imagine what it’s like now.”

Shrugging, I opened the truck door for Halle and gestured grandly for her to get inside. She laughed, but I didn’t miss her flush as she slipped into the seat.

I had decided to take Halle a little farther out, driving the half-hour to Wenatchee. It wasn’t a big city, but it was certainly larger than Leavenworth. And it had the added benefit of anonymity. I wasn’t ready for everyone, including my other employees, to know Halle and I were out together on what was clearly a date. Jonas knew, and apparently Emily, but that was it, and I wanted it to stay that way until we figured out this thing between us a little better.

“Where are we going?” Halle asked as I took the road south out of town.

“Remember I had that beer tasting a while ago? Looking for new beers to carry?”

Halle nodded.

“It’s at this great place—a brewery, but also an award-winning restaurant with this great chef who’s won all these awards for his innovation.”

Halle’s eyes lit up. “Wow, that sounds great. I can’t wait.”

“Plus”—I winked at her—“I know the owner, so we get special treatment.”

I expected Halle to laugh, get excited, or at least smile. Instead, her expression closed off, and she turned to look out the window. Glancing over, I could see the pensive look on her face mirrored in the glass.

“Halle?”

She didn’t respond right away, and I wondered if I had inadvertently screwed up the night before we had even reached the restaurant.