Page 21 of Timid (Lark Cove 2)

“Hey.” He smiled at me, then looked to Hazel. “Just thought I’d come in and say hello. Thought maybe I could take you for an early lunch at the diner before I need to open the bar. With Thea and Charlie gone to New York, I thought you might want company.”

“Please,” I mumbled, rolling my eyes.

Thea and Charlie had been gone a whole day, and Hazel was fine without them. Jackson wasn’t here for lunch. He hadn’t been to the camp in years, not since Hazel had first started volunteering.

He was here to pester me again.

“Lunch, huh?” Hazel wasn’t buying it either.

“That’s right.” He grinned. “Willa, you can come too if you’d like.”

“I’m not hungry.” I took the grocery list and rounded the large stainless-steel table in the middle of the kitchen, going right for the side door that led to my office. “I’ll get these supplies today, Hazel.”

“Thanks,” she said as I walked out.

I held my breath until I was safely in my office, then I plopped down behind my computer. My stomach rumbled. I needed another Snickers, but they were in the kitchen’s candy stash.

Dropping my head into my hand, I stared unblinking at my desk. Why? Why was he here again? Why couldn’t he just leave me alone to move on with a crush-free life?

“Knock, knock.” Hazel walked into the office.

I peered around her, expecting to see Jackson on her heels, but she was alone.

“He left. I told him I was too busy for lunch and using me as an excuse to see you was lame.”

I giggled. “Definitely lame.”

She sat in the chair across from my desk, staring at me without a word. The silence went on long enough it was getting strange, but then she winked. “Make him work for it.”

My eyebrows came together. “Work for it?”

“For you. Make him work to win you over.”

“Oh, no.” I waved my hands in the air, swatting that idea away. “I’m done with that. It’s too late.”

“Uh-oh.” She frowned. “What did he do?”

Hazel knew I’d always had a crush on Jackson. Everyone knew, except for the man himself.

While I’d managed to hide my feelings from Jackson, I hadn’t been so inconspicuous with the rest of Lark Cove. Apparently, my longing looks and sheepish waves were quite obvious. I did my best to hide those, but my traitorous cheeks always flushed when Jackson was near.

Hiding them wasn’t as easy, especially in a town where everyone seemed to be watching and wondering, Will today be the day Willa makes her approach? The answer was always no. I’d never been brave enough to risk that kind of rejection.

Not that it mattered anymore.

“He didn’t do anything,” I lied. “I’m just ready to move on. He’s not the man I thought he was, and I’m at the point in my life where it’s time to get serious about finding the right guy.”

Hazel’s frown deepened. “Is this about him kissing Thea? Because there was nothing to that. He was just trying to piss off Logan.”

“No.” I shook my head. “It’s not about that kiss.”

Though, I wish I hadn’t had to witness it firsthand.

Thea had invited me to Charlie’s sixth birthday, and it took a lot of nerve for me to even attend the party since it wasn’t long after Jackson had kissed me and forgotten. But I worked up the nerve to see him again because I didn’t want to miss Charlie’s special day.

I arrived at Thea’s lakeside cottage—the one she and Charlie shared with Hazel—just in time to catch Jackson kiss Thea.

There was nothing quite like the pain of watching your long-time crush kiss another woman.