Page 26 of Bad For Me (Rock Canyon, Idaho 5)

“Okay,” Callie said. “That was the worst Irish accent I’ve ever heard.”

“Mmmm, I thought I nailed it . . . and it was Scottish.”

Callie burst into laughter. “Hashtag, fail.”

“You are just on comedic fire tonight. Okay, so accents aren’t my thing. You know what totally is, though? Bacon cheeseburgers from Jensen’s.”

“A bacon cheeseburger sounds great.”

“Good. Now, Gracie said you two were planning Gemma’s baby shower. Please tell me she’s kidding about not finding out the sex?”

“I wish I could,” Callie said. “It’s driving Gracie nuts.”

“I am so glad my sister found out they were having a boy. I hate shopping for unisex stuff.”

“When are you having Valerie’s shower?” Callie asked, a slight pain in her chest. Everyone around her seemed to be moving on and planning for the future.

You could have that, if you would only let go of the past.

“Not until January. I’m going to make her a baby book with pictures of her and Justin at certain ages, so they can compare and see who the little guy looks like.”

“Wait—you’re going to scrapbook?” Callie asked.

“No, I’m ordering it online. I’m not fucking Martha Stewart!”

Callie snorted. “We all know that.”

“Oh, I have another favor to ask!”

“Um . . . no?”

“Shut up. Look, I was going to avoid it, since about sixty-six percent of Rock Canyon’s citizens still hate my guts, but Val and Justin are putting together the Rock Canyon Harvest Festival out at the Silverton farm on Saturday, so I feel like I need to go support them. Wanna be my date?”

Callie made a face in the dark. She had avoided most of Rock Canyon’s community functions, mainly because she just didn’t like being in a crowd, but it had more to do with the location and who she’d be most likely to bump into.

You can’t avoid Everett forever.

No, but she had managed to not bump into him once, prior to last week. As long as she avoided his home, and even his dad . . .

Oh, God, what if he told Fred he was interested in her? What would Fred say?

No, she was definitely avoiding the festival. Besides, the people of Rock Canyon were a touchy-feely bunch when they liked you. Even Mrs. Andrews had patted her arm once to tell her how much she enjoyed a segment she’d done. Callie had thought Gracie and Gemma, who were with her, were going to fall over in shock.

The thing was, she hated to be touched, but especially by people she didn’t know.

Except when it comes to a certain former marine. Then you become a quivering puddle of goo.

She had been thinking about his offer of friendship all day and was half tempted to show up on Saturday with Caroline, just to shock and surprise him for a change. But then the little sane voice in her head piped up, screaming about what a bad idea that was, how she just needed to keep her distance, and that she had all the friends she needed.

“Ellie is going to be dressed up in the haunted corn maze. And you know they’ll have elephant ears . . . what do you think?” Caroline asked.

Callie leaned her head back and sighed. “You know I hate crowds.”

“I’ll be your buffer, and you know how intimidating I can be.”

Callie almost smiled. It was true; even though she was only five foot three, Caroline had an icy stare that froze most people in their tracks. Those closest to her knew it was all an act, but if anyone was going to chase people away, it would be her.

“Fine, but you’d better not ditch me, or you will face the wrath of Callie.”