realization made me angry with myself, and I worked overtime to tamp down the emotion. He’d been nothing but a gentleman.
“It was nice,” he agreed, leaning against my car.
“Just like old times.”
“Well, not quite.” He winked and glanced inside my vehicle, which was a mess. I was never the clean sort and that was on full display. “Although this is familiar.”
“There’s no one to clean my car as an adult,” I explained. “I can’t tell you what a disappointment it was when I reached adulthood and figured out I would have to do things like that by myself.”
“Ah. That’s what you missed most, huh?”
Not even close. “Um ... .”
He stared into my eyes for a long moment, the atmosphere between us practically crackling. When he raised his fingers to brush the hair from my face I thought he was going to kiss me. My blood actually rioted at the thought.
Instead, he let loose a sigh and took a step back, releasing my hand in the process. I immediately missed his proximity, which only made me angrier at myself. He had a girlfriend, for crying out loud. I wasn’t the sort of person who went after other people’s boyfriends ... or husbands ... or crushes, for that matter. I wasn’t Alice, who got a charge out of the chase.
“I guess I should be going,” I said finally, swallowing hard. “I didn’t mean to stay down here so long.”
“That makes two of us.” His smile was rueful. “I have some things to check for work.”
“I thought it was your day off.”
“Technically, it is. We’re a small department, though. I work seven days a week most of the time, even if it’s only for an hour here or there.”
“That’s kind of depressing.”
“Really?” He cocked an eyebrow. “Are you telling me you don’t always have your head in possible story ideas?”
My mind was running to schmaltzy romance novels right now. Stop that! I had to get control of myself. I hadn’t felt an overabundance of hormones like this since I was a teenager. The fact that the same person managed to stir me up in both decades wasn’t lost on me. “That’s different.”
“How?”
“I’m a waitress. I don’t have a single urge to serve you a cup of coffee on my day off.”
“That’s what you’re doing right now,” he corrected. “You’re a writer. You always have been. That’s your real job. You like spinning fantastical stories. That won’t change ... and it shouldn’t. You’re good at what you do.”
The words warmed me even as a sharp pang of regret poked my heart. “I don’t feel good at it.”
“I know. You feel like a failure, even though that’s a stupid reaction.”
“Are you calling me stupid?” I meant it as a joke, but it came out harsher than I intended.
“No. I’m calling you ... sad. Regret is a wasted emotion. You have to look forward. Yes, things didn’t turn out as you thought they would. You can turn it around. As soon as you get out of your head long enough to really think about it, you’re going to do great things. You just need a little faith.”
“You sound like my grandfather.”
“That could be the meanest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
I laughed. “Speaking of that, I need to get going. I have to stop at the store to pick up a few things for that kitten I found. He can’t keep doing his business in an old flower box.”
Hunter looked amused. “I thought you weren’t keeping him.”
“I’m not, but the animal shelter isn’t open on the weekends.”
“I believe it is.”
I faltered. “Oh, well ... Monday will be easier for me.”
He didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t push further. “Well, I need to stop at the station. After that, I was thinking I would swing by the restaurant.”
My heartbeat picked up a notch. “Another visit? That’s quick.”
“I want to see if I can find your grandfather.”
I deflated. “Oh.”
“I also want to see if I can find evidence of anyone hanging out by that storage building,” he added. “If we can find proof someone was watching you that might be able to lead us to a suspect.”
I hadn’t even considered that. “You think the person I thought was watching me the other night murdered Roy?”
He shrugged. “It’s a possibility.”
“Unless I imagined it.” I didn’t want to paint myself as crazy, but it felt necessary to offer the possibility that nothing really happened. “It’s possible. It was dark. It was creepy being out there alone. You just said my