Page 20 of Hold Me Instead (Elmwood Falls #1)

“Had to check on a few things for the cookout. One of our vendors backed out, and my list of other options was here.” She stood, hair hanging loose just past her shoulders. A breeze lifted the strands and pasted them to her lips. She swiped at her mouth. “Why are you here?”

“Needed to keep busy. This vendor, was it a big one?”

“Unfortunately. They make great dog treats. There was a supply issue, and a large account of theirs took precedence. So they can’t commit to our event. They’ve been with us since we started inviting other businesses.”

“Oh.” Her noted her shoulders were hiked.

“I have a few others I’ve been meaning to reach out to, so apparently now’s the time.” She held up a notepad.

Zachary nodded. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

She pulled her jacket close against the crisp air, regarding him. Maple nudged her thigh, and Charlie smiled and patted her head in return. “Thanks. Though, it seems you’re keeping yourself pretty busy as it is. You know I’m happy to help with all those files, right? ”

“Trust me, it’s best I sort through the mess myself. Also, this from the woman planning a community event. A forty-year celebration at that.” A feat he kept allowing himself to forget, one he truly wanted to recognize his father for.

“Yeah,” she murmured.

He shrugged. “Just trying to do what I can while I’m here. Much as Dad might hate it.”

She tilted her head. “I’m sure he doesn’t.”

He scoffed, unable to look her in the eye.

“How is he?”

“Ready to get out of there.”

“I bet. Do they know when that’ll be?”

“Doctor’s hoping this week.”

“I can’t imagine him staying there all this time. He could barely sit at his desk long enough to enter notes.”

“Yeah. He’s really antsy. Visitors are a good distraction actually, you can stop by anytime.” It would make Zachary feel better, knowing there were more people with him. Even though his dad had already grumbled about how no one left him alone.

Her eyes darted around the quiet parking lot. “Uh, yeah. I’ve been meaning to. Lot going on, you know…”

“He’d love to see you . Both my parents, actually.”

Her eyes locked with his, and just when he thought he caught a glint of tears, she blinked her gaze away.

He didn’t want her upset. He was on a high—yesterday morning he’d achieved an entirely new reaction from her, sparked by a gesture he’d meant as friendly, but then it had escalated into suggestive. Quite literally by his own hand .

He wanted to at least make her smile again.

“My mom is crocheting him a blanket.”

Charlie put a hand over her heart. “I love that.”

“He’s pretending not to care, yet he keeps making sure it’ll be big enough.”

“Those two. Sounds like he’s making sure there’s room for both of them.”

“What? No.”

She laughed. “You’re reacting like I mentioned them having sex.”

When he gave her a look, she laughed again. Maple’s tail wagged from her seated spot on the concrete, and he agreed with his dog—they should make Charlie laugh as much as possible.

“I adore their relationship. My mom has always been happiest on her own, but my aunt and uncle had that kind of love before she passed. Pretty amazing to see what it can grow into.” She swallowed.

“For their last anniversary, your dad brought a change of clothes to work, bought her favorite flowers, and picked her up for their date. Seriously, how cute is that?”

“That’s sweet,” he murmured, while Charlie squatted to pet Maple’s ears. He appreciated her point of view, despite its glaring contrast to where else he’d failed in life. “How was your evening?” He immediately felt frustrated with himself for mentioning the night she’d turned him down.

“My evening?” She grinned, and he suddenly felt lighter. “Really good, actually. Haven’t hung out with my friends like that in a while. We all needed it.”

He ran a hand through his hair, oddly satisfied .

“We used to do that a lot more, but Cleo’s been working to expand her shop. And my cousin Amber, well, she’s got three jobs right now.” Her words tumbled faster with each new name mentioned.

He watched her rifle through her coat pockets and purse until keys emerged.

“Then there’s Magnolia. She’s prepping to open a shop. It’s on Main Street too,” she added, pointing with a key as though he didn’t know where she meant. “Like Cleo’s.”

He bit back a smile, teasing her hard to resist. “Don’t worry, Harris. I get it. You had ‘plans.’” Adding air quotes as he motioned for Maple to follow him to the door paid off.

“Wait, no, I’m serious!”

“Yeah, it all sounds very true. You had some names in the chamber.”

“People I was with .”

“Mentioned their jobs. No info on what you did last night, but I’m assuming they’re real people. And that you actually saw them.” He propped open the door with an outstretched arm, and Maple lumbered inside like it was her second home.

“Zachary.”

He turned, grinning, unaware she was directly behind him, and the door jolted him forward an extra inch.

Which wasn’t enough, he realized, as he looked down into her face, a conflict of emotions playing across it.

A tendril of hair brushed her cheek, enticing him with its flutter.

Hugging her had unlocked a new level, inviting physical contact into their relationship.

He resisted, wondering when he’d get the opportunity again.

Just bring her more cookies .

Swallowing, he tried to figure out why he was feeling this way.

Why his body warmed with her near, or why her scent seemed to imprint on him.

Why it made him happy that Maple adored her.

He also wondered why he got excited to come to work and see her every morning, or why he saved his least favorite shirts for Thursdays when she might be off.

He was curious as to why he looked forward to seeing which scrubs she’d wear and which color in her eyes they’d highlight.

The brown tortoiseshell pair of glasses she wore, paired with a green jacket, shocked the hazel swirl of color in her eyes now.

She chewed her lip, and the longer he looked at her, the farther a flush traveled down her neck.

He chuckled, attempting to shake himself away from fantasy territory. To the reminder that he’d like to regain her friendship, and that was all it should be. “I’m just messing with you, Harris. Besides, even if you had been making it up, you’d have every right to.”

Her attempt to look stern was thwarted by a grin breaking free and a small shake of her head. “I wasn’t, it was real.”

“It was real,” he repeated softly.

Her eyes flitted between his. “I’d still like to take you up on your offer,” she added.

His body hummed. “Sounds great.”

“To go over things, of course.”

He winced, and when she raised an eyebrow, he went for broke. “Or not,” he said.

Her eyes widened.

“I’ve missed this. Our friendship.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair .

“Me too,” she said. “Though, until yesterday, I was starting to think I’d imagined us ever being friends.”

Yesterday. When he’d bit a cookie from her hand, her fingers a breath from his lips.

“No,” he replied. He hated she questioned it. “We were.”

He remembered her favorite sandwich from More Than Bread on Birch Street. Certainly a friend thing to know. He’d gone to her graduation party, which was a very friend thing to do. And he didn’t know what she used to smell like—a very good friend boundary.

Lavender . She smelled like lavender. Sometimes coffee and cinnamon in the mornings, if he was lucky to be near her before lunch.

He stayed silent, since he was spiraling down a bright stairway of broken boundaries.

Her nod was slow, likely trying to decipher whatever she saw on his face. Had his stomach fallen to his feet? Because it felt like it.

“Well, good.” She smiled and backed away, pulling more strands of hair from her lips as the wind whipped it around her. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow?”

He nodded, made sure she got in her sedan, then shoved inside the building.

Tomorrow . Not soon enough . How was that possible?

He yanked off his coat as he stepped into the office, Maple on alert. “Fuck, what am I doing?” With a groan, he sat and plugged his face in his hands. Maple waited a beat, then settled.

As he picked through the pile on his desk, his mind picked apart his behavior. How pleasantly surprised he’d been to see her. What his reaction to her meant .

His hand hovered over the envelope at the bottom of the pile, tucked there in haste before he’d left the office the night before.

Its return address shouted at him, the font clean, exact.

Thick, rounded letters stamped out the name Neptune Corp , a candy company diversifying its assets by buying up privately owned veterinary clinics around the country.

While they weren’t the only business doing so, they were known to be overly involved in the day-to-day, micromanaging until the clinic fit their mold, with barely a hint of the old practice left.

Zachary pulled out the contents, finding brochures of the company and pamphlets of practices transformed claiming positive experiences. A glossy file geared toward convincing the seller that this was the best decision they’d make in their life.

The seller. Dad .

A small piece of paper floated onto his desk, the scrawled handwriting unsettling:

Daniel, Looking forward to the cookout!

The signed name was illegible, and every other document was generic to the company and not the rep communicating with his father. But it was clear—Zachary would find out soon enough how big a deal the cookout would be.