Home to Whiskey Creek by Brenda Novak Page B

That I didn’t befriend you or—or remember you or something like that?”
    “No! I don’t hold anything against you. I’m sorry if I gave the impression that I do.”
    He clapped. “Great. Then we’re friends?”
    She toyed with a pendant bearing the word Courage hanging from her neck. “Um, sure. Of course. But...I won’t be staying in Whiskey Creek for long, so...I’m not someone you’d want to invest any time in.”
    This surprised him. “Milly’s agreed to sell?”
    She glanced over her shoulder to make sure her grandmother was still in the kitchen and lowered her voice. “Not yet, but...I can’t imagine she’ll refuse.”
    He scratched his head. “So you haven’t asked her yet?”
    “I will. Soon.”
    “Even if she says yes, it could take months to accomplish!” he said with an incredulous laugh.
    She shifted uncomfortably. “Noah, I...I guess what I’m trying to tell you is that I appreciate what you did for me, and I don’t want to be rude, but...I’m not anyone you’d... like. ”
    What? He hadn’t even decided he was interested in her, not in that way. “Aren’t you assuming too much?”
    She flushed. “Maybe. I’m just saying...in case.”
    “In case I planned to ask you out.”
    “That’s right. I wanted to...to let you know up-front.”
    “Wow. You don’t even want me to ask. That’s shutting me down pretty hard.”
    “We wouldn’t be compatible.”
    “How can you tell? I’m cutting my hair shorter than it was in high school or...I don’t have my baby face anymore?”
    “This isn’t about looks.”
    “It’s about personality, then? I’ve already flunked the personality test?”
    “Don’t worry. There are a lot of other women in Whiskey Creek who’d be thrilled to—” she smoothed her shirt “—to gain your attention.”
    Other women. This was another first. Never had he had one woman refer him to others. “Just not you.”
    She blanched when he stated it so baldly but didn’t correct him. “Surely that can’t disappoint you. You didn’t know who I was until yesterday.”
    It shouldn’t have disappointed him, but somehow it did. He’d given her a sack of junk. How could that be considered coming on too strong? He’d been shooting for “thoughtful.” “Can you at least tell me what I’ve done wrong?”
    “Nothing.” Her lips curved into a sympathetic smile, but that only made it worse. “You’re just...not my type.”
    “Really? Because you don’t even know what type I am.” Suddenly suspicious, he shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Wait a second...”
    “What?”
    “Is this your idea of revenge? Are you trying to get back at me for...for how I made you feel in high school? Because I haven’t met many seniors who’d bother with a sophomore, no matter how smart or pretty she is.”
    Her mouth dropped open. “I’m not after revenge!”
    “You were once interested in me.”
    She hesitated as if she couldn’t decide whether to admit it. “Maybe I had a slight crush—”
    “So slight that you came to every one of my baseball games and looked like you were about to hyperventilate the one time you dared to approach me?”
    “ You remember—? Never mind.” She raised a hand. “Don’t answer. It was embarrassing enough the first time. So I had a big crush on you. Okay. I’ll give you that. But it’s irrelevant. I’m over it, er, you. That’s ancient history, a stupid schoolgirl fantasy.”
    “Maybe you think it was stupid now, but it tells me that you used to find me attractive.”
    She seemed to be getting flustered. “ Everyone finds you attractive, Noah. They’d have to be blind not to! But I didn’t know you, so it’s not as if...as if...it was real. ”
    “You still don’t know me. That’s my point. Is it that you’re embarrassed?”
    Her forehead rumpled in confusion. “That I was attacked?”
    “That I’ve seen your ass!”
    “Excuse me?”
    “I thought it was a nice ass, if that’s what you’re