I looked up to where he stood, stark naked in the entryway of the dining area.
“Yes. I just…I need to run out to see Sinclair.”
He frowned. “Oh?”
“About her campaign. It slipped my mind earlier.”
He grinned. “I distracted you.”
I nodded and smiled. “You seem to do that a lot.” I grabbed my purse. “I’ll be back later.”
I started to walk past him, but he reached out and stopped me. Again, he studied me, looking for something. I smiled, hoping he’d be satisfied with whatever he found.
“I’ll have dinner ready when you get back.”
I wanted to tell him not to go out of his way, but I was afraid how he might interpret that and I didn’t want to get into a discussion with him about what was going on between us.
“Sounds good.”
He surprised me by giving me a quick kiss, then letting me go.
When I pulled into the Jones’ driveway, I was second guessing just showing up like this. But feeling anxious and desperate to find a solution to my crazy feelings, I parked and walked up to the porch, knocking on the door.
“Miss St. James,” Alyssa said when she opened the door.
“Hi Alyssa. Is your mom around?”
“Yep.” She opened the door. “I’m not in trouble, am I?”
“No, honey. This is about your mom’s campaign.”
“Okay.” She closed the door behind me. “Mom!”
Sinclair appeared from the kitchen. “Holly, hi.”
“Hi Sinclair. I’m sorry for just dropping in.”
“Not at all. Is everything alright?”
“Yes.” I lied with a smile.
“I’m going to see if daddy’s back at the barn,” Alyssa said.
“Stay out of the workers’ way,” Sinclair said. Then to me, she said, “Do you want some iced tea? It’s nice out on the side porch now. We can sit and chat.”
I nodded and followed her to the kitchen.
“Is everything okay?” she asked when she handed me the tea and then sat on a porch chair next to mine.
“I told Alyssa I was here about your campaign. I told Tucker that too, but it’s a lie.” I shook my head. If I was lying, then surely this thing with Tucker wasn’t good.
“Oh? What’s up?” she asked.
“This thing with Tucker…”
“The fake marriage?”
“Yes and no. I mean…” Cripes, how did I explain this?