Page 94 of Kiss Me Like You Mean It

‘Gahhhhhh!’ Kat covers her face. ‘Immediately too much, Tara. Immediately.’

My friend giggles, and she looks so happy that I might even temporarily be able to put my own romantic worries out of my mind.

‘I knew it was all about to kick off the second you saw each other,’ I say smugly.

‘Was it that obvious?’ Tara asks.

‘Well, you do start humming “Cowboy Take Me Away” every time you see him,’ I say.

Tara’s mouth drops open. ‘I thought that was happening in my head.’

‘I get it.’ Mei scoops up another nacho. ‘It’s easy to imagine Luke as a sexy sheriff. If you’re into that sort of thing.’

‘Gross,’ Kat grumbles, but Tara is nodding eagerly.

‘Right?’ she says. ‘I’m trying to convince him that he needs a Stetson.’ She flicks a glance at me. ‘He actually asked if I’d consider changing my flight home, maybe stay a bit longer. What do you think?’

‘Are you kidding?’ I exclaim. ‘Of course you should stay, and not even because the sexy sheriff asked you to. I want you here, I just didn’t know it was an option.’

‘We’re all just fine with sexy sheriff now, are we?’ Kat huffs.

‘Sorry,’ I say. ‘We’ll wait until you’re in the bathroom to talk about your hot brother like the respectful friends we are.’

‘That’s all I ask,’ Kat replies.

‘So you’re going to stay a bit longer?’ Mei asks Tara, who nods. ‘Then I think we should definitely celebrate with another round of pink squirrels.’

‘I’ll help you.’ Kat jumps up from her seat. ‘I think I saw Tyler over by the bar earlier, and I want him to get a good look at me in this miniskirt.’

‘God, that guy is the worst,’ Mei mutters as the two of them disappear into the crowd. Clearly, Dollyoke is quite the event, because the place is packed tonight and we only have such a prime spot because Darlene put a hot pink ‘Reserved’ sign on the table for us.

‘I’m so glad you’re going to stay.’ I give Tara’s hand a squeeze. ‘When do you think you’ll head back?’

‘I’m not sure,’ she says and bites her lip. ‘You know I can do most of my job remotely and my boss can’t function without me, so he’ll be fine. Another couple of weeks, maybe. After that…’ She blows out a long breath. ‘I know it’s insane, I know I only met him a few days ago, but this thing with Luke… I don’t want to jinx it, but I figure there’s no harm in sticking around, to see if there’s anything there.’

I experience a pang of jealousy at her words, at the way she feels free to explore her feelings for Luke.

‘What about you?’ Tara says. ‘How long will you stay?’

‘The trustee is due to leave on the fourth of November,’ I say, fiddling with the edge of a beer mat.

‘That’s not what I asked.’ Tara’s voice is soft.

I shrug. ‘That’s the answer, though. I’ve booked my flight. I can’t stay in Roseport, I have to get home.’

‘To your grandmother?’

I nod. ‘She’s not the only reason, but she’s the main one.’

‘Are you two talking yet?’ Tara asks, her voice laced with sympathy. She may not have been in my life as long as Nico, but she knows me well enough to understand how important my relationship with Gran is.

‘We’ve been texting. I keep thinking I should call her,’ I say. ‘But somehow the longer it goes without us talking, the harder it is. This silly argument seems to have taken on a life of its own. And she doesn’t know I’m here, doesn’t know about Nico. I’m not even sure what I’d tell her.’ I summon up a weak smile. ‘It’s less than ten days until this whole situation is all sorted and I’m back home. I suppose we can talk about it then.’

‘If you only have ten days left here, don’t you think you should make them count?’ Tara asks.

‘What do you mean?’

She gives me a long look. ‘You know exactly what I mean.’