Page 48 of Not Until I Found You

Every head at the table swivels toward me. I nearly choke on my bite of cookie, coughing once as I grab my drink. Nobody cares to give me time to recover, which is nice of them.

Edna’s brows furrow. “Who’s Maxinne?”

“Ashton’s little sister who’s in town for the summer, and she and Zane went on a date yesterday. Keep up, already,” Wren says impatiently, waving her fork around.

I narrow my eyes at her. “It wasn’t a date, but how did you even figure out that we were together?”

“Because Felix Grady saw you two at his store yesterday,” she says smugly. “And then he told half the town.”

A groan leaves me as I lean back in my chair. I’m not surprised, because there’s no faster form of communication in Covewood than Felix Grady, or Edna, spotting something mildly interesting.

“He said you ran into Lily while you were there also,” Wren adds, her voice gentler this time as she studies me.

Olivia’s eyes widen immediately. “You ran into Lily? Are you okay?”

My gaze drops back to my phone screen. Maxinne’s last message is still sitting there, waiting for me, her little eyeroll emoji somehow making me feel lighter than I have in days. It’s such a small thing, but something in my chest loosens anyway.

“Yeah,” I reply after a pause. “It just sucked more than I expected, I guess.”

The table grows silent. Lily has become one of those names everyone treats delicately around me. They’re afraid that, by saying it, it’ll crack me open again. And maybe they’re not wrong, because seeing her yesterday stirred up old feelings I thought had finally settled into something dull and manageable.

“Maxinne helped me get through it.” I shrug one shoulder like it doesn’t matter as much as it does.

Wren straightens instantly in her seat, eyes sparkling with vindication. “Aha!”

“Come on, Wren, not this again. It wasn’t like that.”

“Sure it wasn’t.”

“She needed someone to help show her some hiking trails around town.”

“And you just so happened to accidentally develop heart eyes along the way?” Wren asks innocently.

“I do not have heart eyes.”

Luke’s stare bounces between us as he takes another bite of cake. “I don’t know, man. Your eyes are doing something.”

“My eyes are normal.”

“I have an amazing idea. She’s really into plants and herbal stuff, right?” Wren continues, still entirely too invested in my personal life. “You should take her some of these lavender cookies. They sound like her vibe.”

“Yeah,” Olivia agrees excitedly. “I bet she’d appreciate the lavender—unlike some people at this table.”

You’d think the teasing would annoy me more than it does, but honestly, they’re not entirely wrong. There’s something about Maxinne that’s gotten under my skin—and fast…but not in a bad way. Maybe it’s how easy she is to talk to. Or how she studies the world like everything in it matters. Maybe it’s the way she knelt in the dirt on that hiking trail, grinning up at me mid-sentence about medicinal plants, like she’d just found buried treasure. Being around her has made life...lighter.

When I first wrote down my ideal-woman list, I did it for a reason. It’s to help protect my heart, and I’d be smart to avoid getting swept up in the chemistry between me and her, because Maxinne doesn’t fit my list. She doesn’t have a relationship with God. She doesn’t know what she wants outside of going back to college. And speaking of college, she can’t stay in Covewood.

She checks none of the boxes I carefully convinced myself would keep me safe, and yet I can’t stop thinking about her. Please make it make sense.

I rub my thumb against the edge of my plate and stare down at the crumbs there. I already know where a relationship with her could lead, and I have no interest in reopening old wounds. Running into Lily already did that enough.

“You should invite Maxinne to dinner Thursday,” Olivia says suddenly, pulling me from my thoughts.

I blink. “What?”

“She should come to dinner,” she repeats casually while cutting herself another sliver of cake. “I want to meet her.”

I groan and drag a hand through my hair. “Ryland said the same thing yesterday.”