Page 72 of Her Favorite Fumble
He wasn’t ready to talk about it yet, to anybody. Not until he’d talked to Coach and made a decision.
“Where’s Mattie?” he asked, making a show of looking around. “She’s such a great bartender. Just gives me what I ask for and minds her own business.”
“Hey, don’t be a rude customer on my last night.”
Nick froze, not sure he’d heard her correctly. “What?”
She nodded. “Nicole’s going to be here next weekend, so I’m all done. I’m a little sad about it, to be honest. This has been one of my favorite places to work.”
Then don’t go.The words were on the tip of his tongue, but he bit them back. Even if she did stay in town, she couldn’t take the job away from Nicole. And this wasn’t her dream.
First Helen had come home. Now Lucy was working her last shift at the Keel. It was the next step in her plan to get in her car and leave Wayward Harbor behind.
To leavehimbehind.
He cleared his throat. “So what are you doing early Tuesday morning?”
“I don’t know. How early?”
“Like two o’clock in the morning early?”
Lucy recoiled, but then understanding dawned and she grinned. “Did you get a reservation? Are we doing it?”
“Ididget one. I know it’s short notice, but it has to do with how they release the reservations to try to make it fair for tourists already in the area. So sunrise on Cadillac Mountain on Tuesday?”
“Definitely.” She wrinkled her nose. “The logistics, though. Maybe it would make the most sense if I just stayed at your place since we have to get up and leave in the middle of the night.”
Maybe itdidmake sense, but Nick’s brain short-circuited at the idea of Lucy sleeping in his bed. Of course, she might have been implying she was going to crash on his couch, but he hoped not with every misguided fiber of his being.
“We’re too old for all-nighters, so you might want to cut off the coffee tomorrow earlier than usual,” he warned. “We’ll have to sleep before that drive.”
“I’ll work in the yard all morning so I’m tired from the fresh air,” she said.
“Good idea. I took tomorrow and Tuesday off, but I have some stuff to do in the morning, so I’ll be home by early afternoon.” He paused in spreading butter on his roll to give her a stern look. “Dress warm. And then bring something warmer to put on when we get there.”
“Got it,” she said as a guy down the bar called her name. “I guess I should see what he wants. It would suck to get fired on my last day.”
Nick let himself watch her walk away before going back to buttering his dinner rolls before they got cold. He’d come here to get just a little taste of Lucy’s company. And now she was coming for a sleepover at his place.
He wasn’t sure that was progress, but he wasn’t turning her down.
Chapter Eighteen
Good morning, Wayward Harbor! You’ll notice extra donation jars at many of our local businesses for the foreseeable future. Dolly’s fine! But there was a close call earlier this week when a very kind tourist tried to “rescue” her. Luckily, as those of us who’ve taken a turn transporting Dolly to the vet have learned, Dolly isn’t a fan of car rides and was fairly vicious in rejecting the attempted adoption. We’re raising money to make cute, funny signs for the windows in town and for lodging establishments introducing our Dolly and asking visitors not to rescue her.
First comment: An attempted adoption? More like a cat burgling!
Next twenty-two comments: *groan*
Twenty-fourth comment: Meow, meow, everybody. Don’t get your whiskers in a bunch!
—Wayward Harbor Online Community Group
On Monday morning, Lucy went into town with a plan to buy small bins for repacking her belongings. It would all be going back into her car, and then she’d be in Sydney’s guest room temporarily. Her wardrobe needs in Maine had been simple, but she’d want easy access toallof her belongings in Florida, so reorganizing everything was on her to-do list.
But somehow she ended up at the Scuttlebutt instead. Business had definitely picked up for Willow over the summer—which was why Lucy was parked two blocks away—but she was able to grab an empty table. It was the smallest one, with only two chairs, and didn’t have a window view so it was the seating of last resort for visitors.
It was nearly twenty minutes before a lull allowed Willow to sit down with her, and Lucy knew she might get two minutes or she might get an hour, so she started with the important stuff.
