Page 64 of Tempted Hearts
My jaw dropped. “I am absolutely not in love with Cole Ford.”
“Correction,” Delaney said. “She is in lust with Cole.”
Mae’s head swiveled between us.
“It’s not just that,” I said quickly. “I mean, it’s a little like that. But…” I looked at Mae. “You know how he and Parker came to Italy? We ended up spending a lot of time together. And I swear, before that trip, I would’ve laughed if you told me we’d be having this conversation. I thought he was pompous. Stuck-up. Borderline rude.”
“And now?” Mae asked.
“Now I know better,” I said quietly. “That was before I actually got to know him.”
Mae smiled, soft but serious. “Okay. Then we need to do some damage control.”
That didn’t feel reassuring.
Mae met my eyes. “Damage control doesn’t always mean stopping something,” she said gently. “Sometimes it just means being honest about what it costs.”
The conversation shifted after that, drifting toward safer ground. Mae’s new pastries. Delaney’s client deadline. Gossip about a couple arguing outside the post office. But even as the topics changed, the weight of what had already been said lingered between us.
Eventually, Delaney glanced at her watch. “I’ve got to head out if I want to make it to the studio before my afternoon appointment.”
Mae slid off the bench a moment later, gathering her box. “Same. If I stay any longer, I’ll end up oversharing and blaming the caffeine.”
She paused, then looked at me more seriously. “Just be careful, Jules. Whatever this is, it’s already bigger than you want to admit.”
“I know,” I said, though I wasn’t sure I did.
Mae squeezed my shoulder before leaving, Delaney following her after one last pointed look that promised this conversation wasn’t over.
I stayed where I was, staring into my untouched coffee as the space across from me emptied. The Coffee Cabin buzzed on around me, life continuing as if nothing had shifted.
But something had.
It wasn’t just that I liked Cole. It was that once I’d seen him clearly, I couldn’t unsee him. Not the restraint. Not the way he’d held back when he wanted more. Not the look in his eyes that said choosing distance cost him something.
I gathered my things and stepped outside into the warm summer air, the scent of cut grass and coffee lingering together. Cedar Falls looked exactly the same as it always had. Familiar. Predictable. Safe.
And yet, for the first time since coming home, it felt temporary.
As if the town itself were waiting.
Because somewhere between Italy and now, Cole Ford had become more than a memory. More than a mistake. And I had the unmistakable sense that his story here wasn’t finished yet.
Whether I was ready for it or not.
25
COLE
“Off the record, this is exactly the kind of trajectory we like to see,” Dr. Whitman said, folding his hands on the conference table between us. “Strong teaching evaluations, a solid publication record, and your grant work has been consistently impressive. So I want you to know, before anything becomes formal, that the department will be recommending you for tenure this fall.”
I nodded, the practiced response kicking in automatically. “I appreciate that,” I said. “I don’t take the vote lightly.” Which was true. Tenure was the goal you worked toward quietly for years, the thing you didn’t say out loud until someone else did first. Dr. Whitman smiled, satisfied, already moving on to timelines and committees, to course reductions and long-term planning, speaking as if my future had just settled neatly into place.
And maybe it had.
That was the problem. Because instead of relief, what I felt was the sudden, unmistakable sense of a door closing somewhere behind me.
After the meeting, I hit the campus gym, pedaling faster on the bike than ever before. Replays of my time in Italy with Juliette ran through my mind over and over again. Parker reluctantly gave me her number, since there was little use hiding from him what he already suspected, in Milan on that last night. But I hadn’t used it yet.
