Page 65 of Goode Tidings

Eden gives me an I told you so look on the way out of the room. We are slipping our feet into our shoes and grabbing our personal belongings from a cubby when Marie Claire accosts me.

In fairness, she doesn't really accost. Her intensity and volume make it feel that way.

"I told you not to hurt the puppies, but I didn't mean for you to hoard them, either."

"Um. I⁠—"

Her gray eyebrows shoot up her forehead. "Didn't hoard them? You sure did. They wouldn't leave you alone."

"I don't see how that's my fault."

"Hmph," she grumps. "Guess you'll have to work the puppy adoption booth at the Fall Foliage Festival next weekend."

"Uh, no." I shake my head. "Thanks for the offer, though."

Marie Claire makes the saddest face known to man. "All I have is a wish and a prayer that someone comes along and adopts those puppies. Otherwise, I'll have to send them to the pound. And we all know what happens when the pound can no longer keep them. I sure hope you cemented into your memory their puppy smell, and their sweet kisses. Your memory might be all that's left of them not too long from now."

Eden cups a hand over her mouth to hold in her laughter. I drag a hand down my face. I am so screwed. "Fine."

Marie Claire smiles wide, revealing a smudge of raspberry colored lipstick on one of her teeth. She walks away, probably to ensnare some other poor soul.

"You folded like a cheap suit, my friend." Eden's getting way too much entertainment out of this.

I squint playfully at her. "I don't know why you look so happy. You have to work the puppy adoption booth with me."

Her smile does not waver. "I already planned to. Marie Claire signed me up last week."

The hum of anticipation fills me. A day spent beside the woman who makes me laugh more than anybody ever has? Not exactly a hardship.

The Fall Foliage Festival is already looking up.

We stop at the coffee shop on our way back to my vehicle. Eden orders a toffee crunch latte. I get my usual, but hers smells delicious. She must see me glance at it, because she offers me a taste. When I decline, she teases, "Afraid I have cooties?"

"Ha ha," I deadpan. Then I take her cup. Place my mouth directly where hers was. My gaze remains locked on her while I take a sip.

Eden's tongue slips out, the tip poking at the corner of her mouth. Her chest rises and falls, and I imagine her pulse thrumming. Her eyes widen just a little, her pupils dilating.

A majority of the time I'm around Eden is spent somewhat dazed. I'm unbelievably satisfied that I have finally managed to return the feeling.

CHAPTER 30

Callum

"Northern Arizona has two to three weeks of peak fall foliage season," Oliver reads from his phone as I drive the three of us to the Fall Foliage Festival. "Leaf peepers from all over the state descend on the town of Snowflake for the vivid color, the hot apple cider, and Ms. Marion's famous sticky toffee pudding."

"Toffee?" I glance at Eden. She sits in the passenger seat, sun visor down and mirror flipped open, applying a tinted lip balm. "Isn't that your thing?"

"Oh yes," she says, tapping the balm into her lower lip. I think she might be teasing me. "Toffee is my thing."

"I mean that you like it," I amend. I turn up the heat, then decide it's too hot and turn it back down.

"I do like it. I even love it." Eden shoots me a playful grin. "I plan to eat sticky toffee pudding and drink apple cider and give myself a proper stomachache."

"No throwing up in my car," I warn.

"Is that your thing?" She waggles her eyebrows at me.

"Ha ha," I deadpan, focusing my attention forward. I can't keep looking at her, even though I want to catch all her expressions, add them to my catalogue.