open, and I found his gaze focused on me, the last thing I wanted to do was ruin this perfect moment. But I had to bring up what happened earlier. We needed to talk about Olivia.
“I need to tell you something,” I said. He stilled his thumb from stroking my skin as our eyes connected. I hesitated briefly before continuing. “Olivia came to see me yesterday.” His face fell, and he shifted in his seat uncomfortably. “She’s upset and said she wanted to see me for herself,” I continued. His jaw ticked, and the last thing I wanted was to anger him, but I felt he needed to know. “I don’t want to be the person causing her sadness, Ryan. It was evident she was upset.”
“I’ll talk to her,” he assured me and turned around to open his driver’s-side door. I watched as he crawled out and walked around the front of the truck before opening the passenger door. He held out his hand and helped me down.
He was silent as he walked me to my door, and just when I thought he was going to kiss me, he pulled me in for a quick hug. His lips brushed over my temple, and then the warmth of his body was gone as he stepped away and forced a smile. “I’ll talk to ya later.”
I stood frozen in the doorway of my apartment as he spun on his heel and charged off toward his truck. He climbed in, and the taillights quickly became the only indication he had been within reach just moments ago.
It had been an amazing, almost perfect day, until now.
***
The next day started out crazy. We were overwhelmed with customers, and to top it off, our oven was going out. I didn’t have time to deal with even more issues than Olivia and her obvious dislike of Ryan and me dating today. My mind was boggled at Ryan’s reaction last night. By the time four o’clock rolled around, Bailey and I were beat. We both collapsed in the stools at the bar, resting our arms against the countertop and heaved out a relieved breath now that the day was finally over.
“So what are we gonna do about tomorrow? We can’t cook goodies without an oven.”
Her statement only reminded me that my day wasn’t over yet. I wanted to curl up in bed and forget about the last twenty-four hours—well, except my time with Ryan at the ranch.
I leaned forward and let my forehead rest against the cool countertop. “I need to call the repair man,” I groaned as I lightly banged my head against the marble.
A knock at the front door brought out an unrecognizable growl from within me. I didn’t even raise my head to see who it was, so I was startled when Bailey started squealing in excitement.
As I spun around in surprise, the stool beneath me began to tip, and I gripped the counter to stabilize it. Instantly my eyes pooled with unshed tears of happiness. “Alena,” I squeaked and ran toward Bailey and my cousin as they stood in the doorway hugging one another.
Alena was a few years younger than me. After she graduated college with a business degree, she took a year off to travel. She’s more like a sister than a cousin, and she, Bailey, and I were inseparable growing up. We got ourselves into a little trouble back in Chicago, I’ll admit. When she decided to travel, I was heartbroken, knowing I would have to go without seeing her for so long. Now here she stood before us, and she was like a breath of fresh air already blowing away the remnants of my horrible day.
Bailey and Alena released their hold on one another just in time to accept me into their little circle.
“Oh my God, what are you doing here?” I asked, squeezing Alena hard. “Not that I’m unhappy to see you, but I wasn’t expecting it.”
“I told you I was flying straight here when my trip was over. A year is a long time to spend without my two favorite people,” she said.
She was right, a year felt like forever.
“But you still had two more weeks,” I replied.
“Yeah, I know.” She shrugged. “I missed my girls, so I cut it a little short.”
We locked the front door before dragging her straight upstairs to our apartment, where we gathered on the couch as she began sharing stories of her travels. She fanned her face when she talked about the guy