what she’d felt a second ago—sorry to Nick more than Quinn. But she couldn’t say that. She was pretty sure Quinn already knew he had a strange effect on her, which was why he was pressing her to admit it. “Nothing. Never mind.” She whirled around and started gathering up the notepads she’d used to collect information during the meeting.
He watched her for several seconds before he said, “You really won’t go out with me?”
The nave suddenly seemed small and confining, as though the walls had started closing in on them. Eager to escape, she pulled her purse strap over her shoulder and grabbed her phone as well as the notepads. “I’m married, Quinn.”
He lowered his voice. “I don’t mean any disrespect, Autumn, but your husband has been missing for nineteen months. Surely... I mean...that’s quite a while, isn’t it?”
“That doesn’t make it okay,” she insisted.
“How long does he have to be gone before it is okay?” he asked.
That was a good question. Unfortunately, there was no instruction manual for what she was going through, no one to tell her when she was released from the obligation of waiting and could still feel good about herself if she started seeing other men. “I don’t know.”
He studied her so closely she felt herself flush under his scrutiny. “What?” she said.
“If I was someone else, would you go out with me?”
“Maybe.”
“So it’s not Nick.”
“What difference does the reason make? You’ve never been interested in me, anyway.”
“It’s been twenty years since we were in high school. A lot has changed.”
“I don’t think attraction changes. You’re either attracted to someone or you’re not.” She tried to go around him, but he cut her off.
“I don’t believe that. I was already involved with someone else. That’s all.”
She glanced around. She hadn’t seen Chris’s pastor—Pastor Todd—since he’d told her he had a conference call in his office, but he had to be around somewhere. “Considering that this is such a small town, where everyone knows everyone else, it can be difficult to find a—” she whispered the next two words “—sexual outlet without a lot of complications. Considering how I acted before, I can understand why you might think I’d be a good candidate, especially because I’ll only be here a couple more months. But as tempting as that arrangement might be, I’m not ready for that sort of thing.”
“Sounds like you’ve put a lot of thought into it.”
She didn’t know how to respond to that.
“But I don’t remember hitting you up for sex.”
She should’ve been embarrassed. He was essentially saying she was presuming too much. But she laughed instead. “So you still don’t want to have sex with me. Good to know that I was worried for nothing.”
He caught her arm as she tried to go around him. “I didn’t say that. If it happens, it happens. I admit I wouldn’t be unhappy if it did, but that’s not the only thing I’m after. Truth is, I can’t help wondering if I missed out on something special—someone special. I haven’t been able to quit thinking about you since your aunt called me out of the kitchen at the restaurant and you acted like you wanted to slip under the table rather than face me.”
“I didn’t want to bother you at work.”
“You didn’t want to see me at all,” he said with a laugh.
“Because it would be easier on both of us if we avoided each other whenever possible.”
He dipped his head to hold her gaze. “Or we could just start over—as friends.”
Pastor Todd came out. He wasn’t close enough to speak, but he was making his way toward them, and with how briskly he was tidying up as he went along, Autumn got the impression he was eager to say goodbye to her and get on with the rest of his night.
“Autumn?” Quinn prompted as she deliberated on what to do. “We can be friends, can’t we?”
How could she say no to friendship? Feeling some pressure to wrap this up, out of courtesy to Pastor Todd, she put out her hand. “Here, give me your phone. I’ll type in my number and...and maybe we can grab a drink sometime.”
He grinned as he took the files from her. “How about I walk you out and we go tonight instead?”
* * *
“This can’t be happening,” Taylor said, sinking down onto the closed lid of the toilet. “My mother’s going to kill me.”
Sierra didn’t speak right away. She studied the receptacle with the pink line that indicated Taylor