My friends’ stares are heavy, their smiles—everyone except Penn’s—uncomfortable. I take a long drink of wine and look at my phone instead of dealing with them.
The home screen is locked with a picture of Mia and me at a church ice-cream social over the summer. She’s sticking her blue-tinted tongue out at the camera as I make a duck face. And just like that, my thoughts go from the church to Lorene, and back to Trevor.
“Maybe you’ll run into him again,” Neely says carefully. “Like you said, it’s not hard to do in this town.”
“It doesn’t matter if I do or don’t.”
“Damn right,” Penn says. “He’s not your type.”
“Oh, really?” I ask, turning to face him. “What’s my type, Penn?”
He looks down at his body, holding his arms out like he’s giving himself a once-over. “I’d say five-ten. Stocky build. Dark hair. Tattoos. Charming.”
“That puts you out of the running,” Neely teases.
Penn grabs another breadstick and waves it toward her. “I’ve always liked you. Until now.” He chomps off the end of the breadstick.
I take a lungful of air and let it out slowly. My insides are still buzzed with talk and thoughts of Trevor. But in a very un-Haley-like way, I’m not obsessed with it. And I didn’t text Joel again today either. It’s progress.
“You know what, Dane?” I ask. “You might be right. I might’ve tried so hard for guys to like me that I jumped into their arms.”
“I don’t recall you ever jumping into mine,” Penn says. “Just saying.”
“There’s a reason for that,” I tell him. “Maybe two. Or ten.”
“I’m here when you need me,” Penn says. “Now that we’ve settled that, I need to go. I’m meeting a girl in twenty.”
Dane starts laughing. “And you wonder why no one takes you seriously, man.”
“What?” he asks. “I would’ve called it off with her if Haley had taken me up on my offer.” He looks at me. “You’re always my first choice, babe.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“You’re welcome. And if things don’t work out and you wanna relieve some stress, you know where to find me.” He grabs another breadstick, shoots me a wink, and disappears as quickly as he showed up.
Neely laughs. “That boy is a mess.”
“Always,” Dane grumbles.
I grab my phone and shove it in my pocket. “I’m going to say good night to Mia and then head home. I need a hot bath and a notepad.”
“Um . . .” Neely raises a brow. “A notepad?”
“To take notes,” I say. “In all honesty, I’m feeling excited. I need to get a plan together. Or two. Or three.”
“Slow down, Tiger,” Dane says.
“I have bills to pay. I just need to figure something out.” I think once again of the flower shop and smile. “Hopefully this wine doesn’t put me to sleep before I can get my head wrapped around everything.”
“You drank three mouthfuls,” Dane points out.
“I’m a lightweight.”
“We might be out back when you come downstairs,” Neely says. “I tried to restore an old table today, and I want to show Dane. I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong.”
I head toward the stairs. “That’s fine. I’ll let myself out.”
“See you later,” Neely says.
“Thanks for dinner.”
“Anytime.”
I bound up the stairs, leaving their voices behind me.
Trevor
My stomach growls. It’s a loud, raucous-sounding gargle emitting from my gut, reminding me I haven’t eaten anything since the protein bar before I left home this morning. Much to my dismay, the Dogwood Inn doesn’t offer dinner.
I drop onto the white duvet covered in little purple flowers and look around the room. The walls are cream with a floral-print border. A television just a bit bigger than a large pizza box sits on top of a dresser that’s currently white but that I’d bet my last dollar has at least five layers of paint beneath it.
It’s so quiet I can hear myself breathe. There are no sirens, no car alarms, no dogs barking from a neighboring yard. I’m not sure what to do with myself.
Grabbing my phone out of my pocket, I dial my brother.
“Well,” he says, answering on the second ring, “how’s it going?”
“The site looks great, actually. The guys we hired are thorough as hell. I figured I’d get here and find a hundred corners cut, but there’s not one I can find. Everything is done to a T.”
Jake whistles. “That’s shocking.”
“I know, right?”
“A guy I know used them on a remodel a while back. Said they did a real good job, but you never know how