Open Your Heart (Kings Grove #4) - Delancey Stewart Page 0,8

was super dark and rich and . . . did you use an espresso roast?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I didn’t pay attention.”

She stood and went to the counter next to the sink where the coffee bag still sat. She picked it up and eyed it, then opened it and stuck her nose inside, inhaling. “Oh yeah, this is good. Can you buy this in town? At the grocery?”

“Yeah.” Where else?

“Huh.” She shrugged and put the coffee bag back down on the counter and turned to face me. “Well, thanks, Cameron. You’ve saved my life.” She lifted a small hand and punched me lightly in the shoulder as she passed, heading for the door again.

“Sure,” I said, unable to access the bulk of my vocabulary.

She lifted a hand in a wave of goodbye and then let herself out the door, making her way barefooted through the soft brown dirt between my house and hers.

When Harper had left, I shoved my wallet into my pocket and headed out to the diner for coffee I could actually drink before I went to work.

“Hey.” My sister greeted me as I stepped into the diner, and Adele gave me a smile from her eternal post at the podium by the door.

“Cameron,” she said. Adele had been sweet to me since Jess had died. It made Maddie suspicious—Adele was never nice to her.

“You okay?” Maddie asked, walking me to my usual booth. “You look . . . you look different.” Her eyebrows and nose wrinkled as she watched me sit, like scrunching her face would help her figure me out.

“Fine. Just worried about being late for work. Spent a little more time at home than I’d meant to.”

“Well, order quick and we’ll have you on your way. Chance was just in here though, and I doubt he’s too worried about it. He said progress was good on the Outpost.”

I lifted a shoulder. I’d been working construction since I’d come back to Kings Grove, slaving away for the Palmer brothers, doing my best to exhaust myself every single day so my mind didn’t torment me at night. Sometimes it worked, but my old life was prodding me more often lately, tugging at my sleeve and asking for attention like a neglected child. I’d been a film producer, and though walking away had been easy enough when Jess was sick, construction didn’t seem to scratch the same itch. Right now I was helping set up an offshoot of the new Kings Grove Inn—a fine dining restaurant halfway up the ridge that was part warming hut in the winter months, part open-air dining in the summer. It was called the Outpost. “Mostly need coffee,” I said, sliding my menu away. “Some scrambled eggs.”

“Be right back.” Maddie tucked her pencil into her apron and disappeared.

I turned my head to stare out the window at the central parking lot, which was flanked by the trees that had given Kings Grove its name. The sun had risen hours ago, and the sky shimmered with late-spring heat. It was going to be a hot summer. The Post Office and grocery store sat directly across the lot from the diner, and as I sipped the coffee Maddie placed in front of me, I watched a familiar little silver Subaru pull into a spot directly in front of the grocery, and felt my heart tick up a notch.

Harper.

She popped out of the driver side in jeans and high-heeled sandals, a loose floral blouse tied at her waist making her look very “city” for the landscape. I watched, unable to look away, as she leaned back into the car to reach for something, and I had a hard time swallowing my coffee as her legs and butt swiveled as she reached. I didn’t like admitting it, but Harper was damned attractive, and this particular view only cemented my opinion.

When she’d retrieved her bag, she stepped back out of the car and closed the door, turning to look around her. If she’d grown up here, she was probably curious about all the changes. Kings Grove had grown slowly over the last decade or so. I know I’d been surprised when I’d come back here two years ago.

Harper’s blond hair bounced in curls around her shoulders and down her back, and mirrored aviator shades covered her eyes. Her perfect little lips stood out, even at this distance, painted a deep plum color.

“Oh Lord, what is that?” Adele had spotted Harper out the window. “Princess, is