was one of the few, maybe the only one, who made a point of wondering how I was doing. I knew my dad cared, and my family and friends cared. It’s just that Dmitri actually took the time to ask. And although he usually couldn’t keep a secret if his life depended on it, he’d kept mine. He knew all about Jason and had never told a soul.
I gave his arm a quick squeeze. “I wish I’d find one, too. Currently Leo is on the ‘catch and release’ plan, so we’ll see how that goes. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I walked from the meeting room and over to the bar. Leo was leaning on his elbows on the surface and reading the latest book by Lee Child. Badass Tequila Girl was gone.
“Where’s your friend?” I asked, hoping I sounded like I was teasing.
“My friend?”
“Yeah, Biker-Chick Barbie. Where’d she go?”
He chuckled and folded the corner of his page before closing the book. “I have no idea. She wasn’t very chatty.”
“She’s not our typical tourist.”
He nodded. “Yes, I picked up on that. She said she was headed to the Upper Peninsula.”
“She realizes this is an island and not connected to the UP, right?”
He stared down at me for a moment, and I realized I sounded kind of bitchy, but he smiled and leaned over toward me again.
“We didn’t really get into it,” he said. “I was too busy watching you run the city council like a boss. Sounds like they were excited about the community center.”
My tension eased. “I think so. Now we just have to find the money.” I stared at him a moment longer, unable to tear my eyes away. A moment of sentimentality overtook me. Because the holidays are apt to do that to a woman. Especially a woman who’d just had some delicious naked-wrangling with a new fella. “Hey, by any chance are you busy tomorrow? And before you answer, let me tell you why I’m asking. We do a big Thanksgiving shindig at Gigi’s every year. It’s not just family. Dmitri comes, and Brenden and Xavier come. They’re the two guys I told you about who own the bed-and-breakfast. Gus Mahoney will be there, and my sister and Ryan. My dad. Not sure who else. Anyway, it’s a big crowd, and there’s tons of food, and it’s, you know, Thanksgiving, but I totally understand if you don’t want to come.”
He didn’t hesitate at all. “Why would I not want to come?”
“Because it’s my family. I don’t . . . I don’t want you to think I’m making assumptions about stuff just because of . . . because of . . . you know.”
“Do you think your dad still wants to arrest me?”
“Arrest you? No. Toss you off the Petoskey Bridge? Maybe. The jury is still out on that. But if you come for dinner, maybe you can use your nice table manners and show him what a stand-up guy you are. Unless the idea of spending the day with my family weirds you out. I’d totally understand. And I’m sure you could go to Vera’s for dinner.”
He chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. Hair that I now knew was incredibly soft. “That’s a hard no on spending the day with Vera, but I think it would be nice to come to your grandmother’s house.”
“Really?” My heart did a flippity-flop.
“Sure. What time should I be there?”
“We eat the meal around five, but everybody shows up around three. I’ll let you decide how much Trillium Bay ambiance you’re prepared to handle.”
He gazed up at the ceiling as if to ponder. “I can handle quite a bit. Speaking of handling things,” he said, holding up his hands and wiggling his fingers, “I wish I was handling something in particular right now.”
I flushed at the memory of his expert handling. “Me too. Do you work tonight?”
“Yeah, until midnight. What would happen if I stood in your yard at midnight-o-five and threw pebbles at your window?”
“I’d probably invite you in, even though in the playbook, that is totally a booty call.”
“I told you, there’s no playbook. There is only new territory to be explored.”
I wanted to say yes because, well, because I wanted to! Leo and I might not have much time together. He could get a job offer any second, so I really needed to make the most of this.
“Text me when your shift ends. I’ll leave the front door unlocked.”
Chapter 20
It was Thanksgiving Day but felt more like Christmas