Page 45

“Oh, ha ha,” she started, “no. I mean, yes. I mean–“

She waved her hand in the air with another chuckle as she babbled incoherently. Heat rose in her cheeks and she wondered what shade of crimson colored her face.

Devon narrowed his dark eyes, an amused smirk playing across his features. “So, are you going out, then?”

“Yes, I am leaving my apartment,” Paige said, pointing back toward her door. “Which is obvious. But I’m not going out. I mean I am, but just to work.”

“You’re going to work in sweats? At night?”

“It’s a long story.”

Devon wiggled his eyebrows, his chiseled jaw working as he considered her statement. He rubbed a finger across the stubble peppering his chin.

“Not really. It’s not that long. I’ve got some work to finish up with a coworker, and we figured we’d just meet up now. I figured I would probably rather be comfortable if we’re up until the wee hours of the morning or something.”

Devon bit his lower lip as he offered her meandering explanation a slow nod. “Well, uh, good luck, I guess. And you certainly look like you’ll be comfortable.”

“Thank you,” Paige exclaimed with a grin.

She hiked her bag farther up her shoulder and offered a wave as she headed down the hall.

“Thank you?” she chided herself as she rounded the corner and descended the stairs. “Seriously, Paige? I don’t think he was complimenting you.”

She grabbed her phone from her tote and checked the time as she pushed through the door into the cool fall evening. “Yikes!”

Far later than she expected, she hurried through the streets, turning away from the library and heading toward the docks.

The harbor bell sang in the distance, and salty air swept past her as she jogged up a side street and ducked through the door into Cheesy Does It. A wave of heat hit her when she stepped inside.

At this time of night, patrons packed the pizzeria. Paige fought through the crowd to the counter as the scent of tomato sauce, freshly baked breadsticks sprinkled with their signature seasoning, and baked cheese hit her nostrils. Her stomach growled at the delicious aroma.

She traced a gouge in the wooden counter with her finger as she waited for service.

A portly man with an unruly, dark, curly mop on top of his head wandered to the counter. Pizza sauce stained his white apron, and he wiped his flour-covered hands against it. “What can I get ya’?”

“Large pie with green peppers and mushrooms, two orders of sticks, and a two-liter of ice-cold root beer.” Paige shoved her glasses up and grinned at the man. “It’s my first pizza party at my new job.”

He tapped around on a screen and gave her a total, ignoring her comment entirely. The smile faded from her face. She slid her card across the counter. She stowed it back in her wallet as paper shot from within the receipt machine. The man tore it away and passed it to her with a pen.

“Be done in twenty.”

Paige winced, scrunching her eyebrows together. “Twenty? Can it be any quicker? I’m in a hurry.”

The man waved his hands around. “What do you think? We’re packed.”

Paige frowned while she added a tip and scrawled her signature across the bottom. She emphatically tapped the pen against the paper after she finished the r in Turner. It bounced from her hand, flying through the air and landing on the floor near her.

“Oops,” she mumbled, bending over to retrieve it. She backed into a chair behind her, knocking a patron into the table in front of him. Table legs screeched across the aged hardwood. “Oh, sorry!”

Paige’s fingertips hit the pen, sending it rolling away from her. Paige chased after it, running low as she attempted to scoop it up.

A patron stood and shuffled from her seat, kicking the pen farther away.

“Shoot!” Paige continued her quest for the wayward pen.

It rolled into the open and came to a stop. With a sigh of relief, Paige reached for it.

A waitress, with a full tray of dirty dishes, trod across the small object. It rolled as the ball of her foot hit it. Her leg flew out in front of her. She wobbled, her arms flailing. She lost her grip on the tray as she fought to stay standing.