“Kell—”
“You’re doing it, Dahlia. No arguments.” With one last severe look, he flounced off in the costume I’d painstakingly helped put together.
I turned to my best friend and held up my hands. “Do you see these? I have cuts and scrapes and little needle holes all over them because I’ve helped Annie and Jake make over twenty-five costumes in the last few months. The majority of participants rent or buy their costumes for the parade, so why am I making this stuff? Why can’t we all rent our costumes? It makes no sense! I spend a third of my year making costumes for that man. When will it ever be enough?”
Bailey was less than sympathetic. “When you say no.”
I groaned and dropped my head to the table. “Life is not a fucking fairy tale.”
A deep, throaty chuckle sounded above me and skated down my spine. Awareness rushed through me, and I slowly sat up to meet Michael’s gaze. I wished he wouldn’t keep popping up out of nowhere like that.
He was distracted from his intense focus on my face as Vaughn, Cooper, Jess, and Emery returned to the stall with our food.
“What are you doing here?” I noted he wasn’t wearing his badge.
Michael’s eyes drifted over me, taking in my costume. “Day off. Nice dress. Where’d ya leave the dwarves?”
“Speaking of trolls,” Bailey interrupted as Vaughn handed her a hot chocolate. She smiled sweetly at Michael. “Word is that Dana Kellerman is on the prowl for you. Must be nice to receive such extreme attention from the town’s ex-beauty queen.”
Michael’s lips spread into a slow grin and he shook his head. “I can see why you and Dahlia became friends.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because you’re both full of shit,” he teased.
Vaughn choked on a sip of coffee while Cooper gave a bark of laughter.
Bailey, for once, was speechless, which made me smile.
“You’re right,” Vaughn said to Cooper. “I like him.”
“Watch it, pal.” Bailey narrowed her eyes on her fiancé. “I’m the one who controls your access to certain activities.” She turned from Vaughn to Michael. “How am I full of shit??
?
He shrugged. “You want to know if I’m interested in someone other than Dahlia, all you have to do is ask. If that’s not what you’re doing and you’re trying to press Dahlia’s buttons, then I’m going to have to ask you to stop.” His dark gaze came to mine. “What’s between us is between us and no one else.”
“Ugh.” Bailey shot me a look. “Blunt and up-front and handsome. He’s ridiculously likable.” I could almost hear her silent “What’s wrong with you?” at the end of her speech.
“Okay, maybe I don’t like him,” Vaughn said.
Bailey chuckled but reached out to squeeze Vaughn’s free hand. He curled his fingers around hers, and their eyes locked. They shared a look of such genuine connection and affection, it made me breathless with longing. And frustration. Because I could have that with Michael. If I could find a way to dissolve the knot of paralyzing fear in my stomach, I could be free to be with Michael.
“How are you liking Hartwell?” Jess asked Michael, snapping me out of my dismal thoughts.
“Good so far. I like the sea air more than I thought I would.”
“Yeah, Cooper said you two have been running together on the beach.”
They were? Since when?
I looked between Michael and Cooper, feeling slightly panicked that my ex was making such good friends with my friends.
“I used to run every morning back in Boston before hitting the gym. Sand adds extra resistance. It’s good.”
I took in Michael’s body. He wore a dark cable-knit sweater with a row of three buttons at the neck he’d left open so you could see a sliver of the stark white shirt he wore beneath it. Again, he was in dark-wash jeans and boots. As long as I’d known Michael, he’d favored a lack of color in his wardrobe.
Jess patted Cooper’s rock-hard stomach. “You guys gotta work off those burgers and beers, I guess,” she teased.