nail technician exited the back room carrying a stack of towels. “It probably would look garish on me. I’m too pale.”
“You are peaches and cream. I’m jealous. So back to the matter at hand. You should ask Zach out, Savannah. Make a picnic and have him take you up to Heartache Falls or something.” Gabi held up one foot, then the other, so that Molly could slip her sandals on. “Make your peach cobbler.”
“Your boss isn’t the only pest in town,” Savannah said glumly. “Don’t you need to go give somebody a parking ticket or something?”
“Meow.” Gabi shot her an unabashed grin.
A few minutes later, after Gabi had left the salon, her words lingered in Savannah’s mind as Molly gave her a pedicure. And while she shopped for groceries at the Trading Post. And when she opened the shop at ten and ate her lunch at twelve-thirty and sold an eighty-seven-dollar gift basket to a tourist from Arizona at three.
Gabi’s suggestion trumpeted through her mind like a brass band when she was out on the front porch watering her geraniums and Zach drove by in his sheriff’s Range Rover. Two days later, she gave in, as much to still the voice in her head as for any other reason. At least that’s what she tried to tell herself.
At two o’clock on a Wednesday afternoon, Savannah made a phone call to Celeste, then hung the BACK IN TEN MINUTES sign on Heavenscents’ front door. She marched over to the sheriff’s office, greeted Ginger with a tight smile, and asked if she could speak to Zach for just a minute.
“Sure, honey,” Ginger replied. “Go on back.”
Savannah hesitated outside his office door, her heart pounding, her mouth dry as sand. He sat scowling at his computer screen and looked so handsome doing it that she almost chickened out. Curse the man. Why does he have to be so darned agreeable?
Summoning her nerve, annoyed that she needed to do so, Savannah rapped on his door. Zach glanced up, and surprise briefly widened his eyes before he offered a warm smile. “Hello, Peach.”
Without a preamble or a greeting or even a smile, she blurted, “Do you want to go on a picnic with me Sunday afternoon?”
He didn’t hesitate an instant. “I’d love to go on a picnic with you Sunday afternoon.”
Holy soap flakes, he said yes. Now what? “Okay, then. Pick me up at one. I’ll bring the food. Can you choose the spot?”
“Absolutely.”
“Okay, then.” She spun on her heel and exited the office. She had just reached the corner when she heard him call her name. She stopped, exhaled abruptly. He’s going to cancel. Bracing herself for the humiliation of rejection, she turned around. “Yes?”
“Shall we bring the dogs along?”
The rest of the week, Zach alternated between smugness and nervousness. The nervousness really pissed him off. His plan had worked, hadn’t it? She’d marched into his office and asked him out. He’d worn her down, just like he’d planned. So then why was he antsy about this? Women didn’t make him nervous. Not since high school, anyway.
Savannah Moore made him nervous.
“That’s what you get for being smug, you idiot,” he muttered to himself as he loaded Ace into his Jeep at ten minutes to one on Sunday.
And yet he had every right to be smug, didn’t he? His strategy to subtly seduce was working like a charm. The woman was skittish as a new colt where men were concerned, for good reason. Still—and he’d never admit this to another soul—he’d been shocked when she burst into his office, her eyes looking a little angry and wild, and belligerently asked him on a picnic.
When she answered his knock on her front door, the fake smile on her face and dread in her eyes restored his good humor for some reason. “You look like someone just drop-kicked little Inny. I’m not the Big Bad Wolf, you know.”
“No. You’re the Big Bad Sheriff.” She sighed heavily. “And this is a really bad idea.”
Well, hell. “Are you trying to chicken out?”
Her chin came up. “No. I do what I say I’m going to do. Our picnic lunch is ready and Inny is ready and I’m—”
“Beautiful.” She wore faded jeans and a pale pink camp shirt that shouldn’t have been sexy but was. “So what’s on the menu?”
“Fried chicken, potato salad, coleslaw, and peach cobbler for dessert. Zach, I haven’t been on a date since Kyle. I’m not ready for this.”