Page 150 of Timid (Lark Cove 2)

“Caught that, did you?”

“They either hate each other.” She giggled. “Or don’t hate each other at all.”

“Hazel would never admit it, but she’s got a thing for him. When I first moved here, he used to come into the bar all the time when she was working.”

“Really? Did they ever date?”

“No. She turned him down every time he asked.” I shot a look over my shoulder. “Kind of like someone else I know.”

The red in Willa’s cheeks got brighter. “I eventually gave in.”

“It was the sticky notes, wasn’t it?”

“And the Snickers.” She wagged her eyebrows. “So what happened with Sheriff Magee?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “He just stopped coming in to see her one day.”

“Nooo,” she groaned. “They’d be so cute together.”

“He’s like ten years younger than she is. I think the age difference freaked her out at first.”

“That’s too bad. I like him.”

“So do I. Did you know I bought my house from him?”

“You did?”

I nodded. “When I moved here, I rented it from him. Hazel set it up. I didn’t have shit at that point and I was broke all the time. There were a couple of months where I wasn’t going to make rent by the first and he worked with me. I did improvements for him. He cut me a break. After I got on my feet, I told him I wanted to buy my own place. He said he’d sell me that one so I didn’t have to move.”

He’d given me a fair price and had been patient while I’d gotten a loan. It wasn’t much of a payback, but when Dakota had moved to Lark Cove and needed a job, Thea and I had hired Magee’s nephew immediately.

It was a win for the bar too. Dakota was good at his job, and as a bonus, he entertained the single ladies who used to drool over me.

“I’m glad you bought that house,” Willa said.

I paused and looked back. “You are?”

“Yeah. It’s got such great potential.”

“Potential, huh?” I asked. “Does that mean you want to help me do some remodeling?”

“I might have a few ideas brewing.” She smiled, excitement dancing in her blue eyes.

If she wanted to redesign the entire house, I’d let her. I couldn’t afford to build her some fancy house on the lake or a lodge in the mountains. What I could give her was a nice home in town, someplace we could call ours.

“Come on, babe.” I reached back for her hand.

She took mine immediately and I held it tight, my gloves to her mittens, as we walked around the last bunch of trees o

n the trail toward the clearing where I was taking her. When we rounded the evergreens and hit a flat spot, I stopped and turned around.

Willa’s eyes were on the ground, watching her steps. But when she looked up, the happiness on her face nearly blew me over. “Need a break?”

“Yeah.” I smiled at her, then jerked my chin so she’d look past my shoulder.

When she did, her smile fell. Her eyes got big and she looked between me and the tree. “What’s going on?”

I kept her hand and pulled her toward the tree in the middle of the clearing—the tree that Ryder and I had decorated with silver and gold Christmas ornaments this morning.