Winter Longing by Tricia Mills Page B

Lindsay’s dark skin tone.
    “I’ll take an order of bread sticks and a Coke.”
    Hmm, didn’t sound like a big, dinner-type order. Was it just an excuse to come in and see Lindsay? Did he regret how he’d allowed Drew to steer him away from her? If so, I had to give the boy some credit. Maybe by being new in town, he’d just needed time to figure out the lay of the land socially.
    I tried not to be too obvious about staring as Lindsay wrote down Caleb’s order and called it back to Casey.
    I watched Caleb’s face. He did have a nice smile, and his eyes seemed kind.
    “I couldn’t work here,” he said as he leaned against the counter. “I’d be as big as a house.”
    Lindsay quirked her eyebrow. “Somehow I doubt that.”
    He leaned forward. “Maybe I should see if I can get hired on. Then we’d see who’s right.”
    Lindsay nearly spilled the Coke she’d poured.
    Caleb chuckled. “You okay?”
    “Yes.” Lindsay, poor thing, wasn’t very convincing. She couldn’t even bring her eyes up to meet his.
    Caleb, however, didn’t take his eyes off Lindsay. I was surprised the undercurrent wasn’t visible. If nothing else, I believed he was genuinely attracted to Linds.
    If Drew got anywhere near the restaurant in the next few minutes, I’d tackle him and drag him across Town Park by his nostrils.
    I caught Casey’s eye as she prepared the order, and she gave me one of those raised-eyebrow looks.
    Caleb took a sip of his drink but still didn’t take his eyes away from Lindsay, even when she had to pause to take another order.
    “I thought of something else I want,” he said the moment she hung up the phone.
    “Okay.” She reached for the order pad.
    Caleb placed his hand over hers. “You won’t need that.”
    I held my breath, and I’m pretty sure so were Lindsay and Casey.
    “Oh?” Lindsay said.
    “I’d like to take you out for dinner sometime.”
    “Oh,” she said again, disbelieving.
    “What do you say?”
    Lindsay opened her mouth, and for a few seconds, she looked like a fish out of water. She glanced at me, and I found myself nodding.
    “Sure.”
    “Chow’s, tomorrow night?”
    This time, Lindsay smiled. And I saw a joy in her dark eyes that I’d never seen. It made me sad and happy at the same time.
    “Sounds nice,” she said.
    “Great. I’ll pick you up around six.”
    Panic flared on Lindsay’s face, and I knew what she was thinking. She didn’t want Caleb to see her meager home, which sat above the confluence of the Naknek River and Pebble Creek.
    “How about we meet there?”
    Caleb, agreeing, didn’t seem to notice anything strange.
    By the time he left, I was about to combust.
    Lindsay waited until Caleb walked across the park and disappeared before bouncing back to our booth.
    “Oh my God! He just asked me out!”
    I saw the look of worry mixing with her excitement—worry that this would hurt me. Just because I felt Spencer’s loss had left a hole where my heart should be didn’t mean my best friend couldn’t move on and find a shred of happiness.
    “I know. I heard.”
    “Eavesdropper.”
    I let out a laugh. “Tell me where I could be in this building and not hear what you said.”
    She met my eyes. “Is this okay with you?”
    It took all the willpower I could muster to keep the pain from showing on my face. I pushed the idea of the dates that never were back into the recesses of my mind. “Of course it’s okay. I’m happy for you.” I just hoped it didn’t end in heart-break for her. “Of course, if he hurts you, I’ll have to run him over with a snowmobile this winter.”
    She smiled at me, and that joy I’d glimpsed seemed to glow within her.
    “You know,” Casey said from the doorway into the kitchen. “If I were a decade younger, I’d give you a run for your money. I feel like a dirty old woman saying it, but that boy is not bad to look at.”
    “Good thing you are old,” Lindsay teased her.
    “Careful, missy, or I’ll dock your pay for