Page 39 of My Three Hometown Hard Hats

“Well, I like her.” She leans down, rubbing her head until Nova rests against Hadley’s feet.

“She doesn’t usually like women very much,” Con says.

“I guess I’m special, then.”

She’s more than special.All three of us stare at her as she continues to pet Nova.We are all gone for her.

“So how did all of you meet?” she asks.

“In college,” Austin answers her, unable to look anywhere else.

“And your business?”

“I knew I wanted to move back here after graduating. These two decided they didn’t want to be in the city anymore, either. We all wanted to do the same thing, so opening a business together just made sense.”

“You made your dreams come true,” she says, giving all of us a wistful smile.

The three of us guys share a look. “Part of them, yeah,” Con says.

“What about your dreams?” I ask her.

She leans back in her chair, puffing out air. “Uhh… I don’t know how to answer that. I have a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in something I don’t really care about anymore. I know what I don’t want to do, but I haven’t figured out what I actually do want to do.”

Austin reaches over, giving her hand a squeeze. “You’ll figure it out.”

She smiles at him and nods but doesn’t say anything.

“You guys ready for s’mores?” I ask.

“I am,” Evelyn yells, slamming into my back.Where the hell did she come from?I guess I was so lost in Hadley-land, nothing else registered.

“You scared me, kid,” I say, clutching my heart.

“Good. Point for me,” she says, holding up one finger.She’s learning too much from me. Maybe I should stop teaching her things.

Nah. It’s too fun.

We all grab our sticks and start roasting our marshmallows. Con plays some music on his phone in the background.

Evelyn sets her first marshmallow on fire and, in her freakout, sends it flying across the yard. Austin made sure it wasn’t going to start a forest fire, but came back laughing.

“Don’t tell Grayson about that. He’d give you a lecture.”

“Yeah, he would,” Hadley says, laughing.

“It will be our little secret,” Evelyn says, wiggling her fingers with Hadley, who’s doing the same.

Hadley pulls her perfectly toasted marshmallow out to inspect it. When she moves to get up out of her chair, Conrad grabs a graham cracker he had set out on the edge of the fire that has the chocolate halfway melted.

“Here.” He holds it out to her.

“What? That’s yours.”

“No, it isn’t. I made it for you. Mine’s right there,” he says, pointing to his.

“Oh.” It’s getting dark, but I swear I see a blush creep up her cheeks.

She holds the marshmallow in place as he presses the two graham crackers together and hands it to her.