Tom had accused Nick of being weird yesterday—too quiet, too brooding, even more than usual, as Tom put it. When they’d stopped for a cold one in town after the ride, Tom had pried it out of him. Nick finally explained his dilemma, in as few details as possible.
“I knew this had something to do with a girl.” Tom looked victorious even before Nick had finished his beer. “From the minute you didn’t say a word.”
Nick was generally not extremely talkative around most people, but Tom always knew something was up when Nick was quiet even around him.
“Is that right?” Nick had asked.
“That is right,” Tom had said, throwing a dart at the target. “So, ask her out. You never know—you might get to know her and change your mind. She might not be your speed, or she might just be a headache. It’s worth finding out before you beat yourself up over it, if you ask me.”
Nick had laughed. “But I didn’t ask you.”
Tom slapped him on the back. “Sure, you didn’t, buddy.”
Another swig and they’d finished their game of darts and retreated to the baseball game on the bar’s flat screen.
Nick sat up in his seat and scanned Victoria’s property, then turned the conversation to the state of her beloved pink hydrangeas in front of the porch.
“Yes, my gardener is doing a wonderful job with them this year. Thank you for noticing.”
Nick allowed his thoughts to turn back to Courtney. Tom was usually pretty smart about these things. But he was way off on this one. Because the only problem with Courtney—she was exactly Nick’s type.
She was the whole package—smart, funny, easy to talk to, a girl next door. But she was also smoking hot.
It would only be a matter of time until he saw the same look on her face.
He knew it.
Victoria broke the silence, one eyebrow raised. “Fine, Nickie. You don’t have to stop in and visit her for your sake. But do it for hers. That no-nonsense photographer she mentioned sounds delightful, but she and I can’t be her only friends all summer. Young girl like that—she needs a nice young man to show her around town, like you.”
Nick chuckled, his focus on the lawn. At least that meant Kira was behaving. But Victoria kept a steady eye on him. She wasn’t going to let it go, was she?
He sat up and Ash stretched then jumped off of his lap. “Okay. Fine. You’ve got me. I’ll go see if she’s home.”
Victoria grinned triumphantly. “Now, that’s my boy.” She took hold of the arm of the chair and started to pull herself out. Nick jumped up to lend a hand.
“Thank you for stopping by. You take care now, dear. Come again, soon. And tell your big brother and that flashy father of yours that I said hello. And your mother!”
Although they hadn’t been to see her in quite some time, the rest of the Binghams regularly kept in touch with Victoria, since she’d been such a good friend to Nick’s grandparents.
“You’ve got it, Victoria. I will. You too. Bye, now.” Nick gave Victoria a peck on the cheek and helped her back inside the house. He heard her lock the door and he started down the stairs.
A few moments later, Nick shook his head and laughed when she reappeared at the living room window, where she waved but stayed put. Apparently, she was going to make sure he didn’t leave without knocking on Courtney’s door.
Nick returned a wave and frowned, wrinkling up his face.
Victoria was from a generation that found it perfectly acceptable to show up at someone’s door out of the blue. But he was not. Courtney would probably think she had a stalker. He didn’t even have her number so he could text her.
Apparently, Victoria and Courtney had become friends, which was great. But that meant Victoria would probably tell Courtney if Nick had hightailed it out of there without saying hello. Then he’d look like an idiot. Or rude. Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Just go do it.
He marched past his sporty black Jeep in the driveway and headed toward the cottage.
At the entrance, he hesitated then tapped a fist at the white metal paneling on the screen door.
No answer. He glanced back at the driveway. Her car was still there. Maybe she was busy—or sleeping?
He turned to leave. At least he’d tried.
Just then a voice called out from a distance. “Hey, stranger!”
Nick turned.
Was it?
Courtney. It was.
She’d been out. Jogging.
Okay, he hadn’t thought of that.
Nick’s cheeks burned and his heart skipped a beat. “Hey, there!”
Courtney slowed as she reached him. A soft breeze blew in from the lake, cooling off the evening air, and Nick stretched out his shoulders, trying to relax.
She was smiling.
She looked good. Black yoga pants and a peach tank top. High ponytail. Athletic. A little sweaty. Gorgeous. Chill out, dude.
She reached up to wipe the sweat from her brow. “So, what brings you here?” she said, catching her breath.
“I—uh, I stopped in to see Victoria.” He motioned to the house. The old woman waved from the window and they both waved back. A moment later, the curtains closed and Victoria was gone.
“Oh.” Courtney glanced at the window and then off into the distance.
Shoot. That hadn’t come out right.
“Yeah, I didn’t get into it before, but I actually come to visit her every couple weeks, make sure she’s doing okay.”
“Oh, how nice of you.”
“But actually, I saw your car, so I thought I’d knock on your door, see if you were around.” He motioned to the door. “No answer. I figured you were busy.” He shot a look at the trail she’d just taken. “And now I can see you were out for a run.”
“Yeah. I just ran down to the docks. Nice night for it. Oh, and I saw your shop.”
“Oh, you did?”
Had she been looking for him, too? Nick fiddled with his keys.
“I must’ve just missed you. We close a little early for another week, before it starts getting really busy.”
“Ah.” Courtney wiped her brow with her forearm.
Awkward silence.
He switched his weight from one foot to the other. “So Victoria says you two hit it off.”
“Yeah! I like her. She’s very sweet.”
This was not going how he’d hoped. It probably sounded like he hadn’t meant to run into Courtney at all, when, in fact, he couldn’t stop thinking about her all weekend, as much as he’d tried not to. Still, he’d already thought this through. It wasn’t going to work.
Courtney lifted a foot behind her, grabbed hold of it, and began to stretch. “Great weather this weekend, eh?” She dropped her leg to the ground.
His head was telling him stop but the rest of him was telling him go.
Get over yourself, dude. It was now or never. Enough small talk. Ask her. He cleared his throat.
Nine
“This is going to sound strange, but I have a favor to ask.” Courtney blurted it out before Nick could open his mouth and not ask her out again.
“Oh, yeah?” Nick said, hesitating. “Sure.”
“I have to write another story this week for the blog. It’s about a farm that’s supposedly somewhere nearby. I can’t think of the name right now, but it has all kinds of baby animals, and it’s open to the public. Have you heard of it?”