A week later, on Saturday morning, Emma was back in Tea for Two. Her friends spent most of their time here now, so she’d been hanging out here a lot in the last week too.

Ryan was present as well this morning, so they were sitting at the same table. Patrick was working in his office for a few hours, even though it was Saturday, and Noah hadn’t made an appearance.

She’d seen Noah a couple of times in the last week, and she’d assured herself she’d acted cool and unconcerned.

What happened had happened. It had really hurt. But she wasn’t going to be foolish and dwell on it, and she definitely wasn’t going to let anyone see how wounded she actually felt.

“You want one?” Ryan asked, gesturing toward his plate of beignets. He had sugar on his mouth, which he wiped off with a napkin.

Emma hesitated at the sight of the warm, brown pastries dusted with sugar.

Ryan picked one up and waved it at her. “They’re really good.”

“I know they’re good,” Emma said. “Everything Carol bakes is good. I’ve just already had a lot of sweets this week.”

She’d felt like she’d needed them for emotional purposes, but she didn’t want to go crazy. She wasn’t like Ginny—who could eat anything she wanted and still stay slim. Emma actually had to be careful.

But the beignet looked and smelled so good, and Ryan’s taunting her with it was so funny that she finally nodded and reached out for it.

When she took her first bite, she sighed in pleasure.

Ryan was licking the sugar off his fingers. He must have seen her watching him because he quirked his mouth up and said, “You’re thinking about where my hand has been recently, aren’t you? I promise I wash my hands all the time.”

She laughed. Ryan was a large animal vet. He worked for the Animal Science department at Virginia Tech, and she preferred not to think about what he did with his hands all day. “I really wasn’t. I was just thinking about how messy the sugar is.”

“It’s worth it.” His eyes roamed around the small shop with what looked like satisfaction. “Pretty good crowd here this morning.”

“It really is. It might still level off some more after a couple of weeks. New places always get more traffic. But it can level off a lot, and they’ll still be in decent shape financially.” Every time she came in, Emma automatically took account of the number of customers and what they were eating and did some quick math in her head. Every time, she was happy about the result of her calculations.

“I’m so relieved,” Ryan admitted. “I’ve been kind of worried about it. It’s such a risk to open a place like this.”

“I know. But they’ve done all their homework and are making smart decisions. Carol and Ginny are both pretty smart.”

“I know they are.”

Emma had finished her beignet, and she was trying not to eye the two remaining on Ryan’s plate too lustfully. She sighed and glanced at the front door when the bell jangled. Two middle-aged women who looked like they were out shopping or doing errands this morning.

She wondered if Noah would stop by today. He came by fairly often, to say hi or hang out for a while.

Emma recognized that he must really be trying to be a better friend and brother. Despite the way he’d blown her off last weekend, he was making an effort.

She was glad. It wasn’t good for him to isolate himself the way he’d been doing for so long. And she’d like to see him more connected.

She couldn’t really hate him the way she might want to. She’d known him too long. She understood him too well.

She could see exactly what happened from his point of view. She still felt hurt and used, but she was sure he hadn’t set out to treat her badly.

Things like that just happened sometimes. And people were who they’d always been.

Noah would probably never commit to a woman.

And Emma would probably always choose the men who didn’t really want her, the ones who would never choose her.

“You okay?” Ryan asked, breaking into her reflections.

She gave him the perky smile she’d been using all week to mask her mood. “Yes. Of course. Just lost in my own thoughts.”

Ryan’s blue eyes were studying her more closely than usual. “You sure? You seem kind of… down. You have all week.”

For just a moment, she felt a flush of mortification—thinking that Ryan knew what had happened between her and Noah and was feeling sorry for her. But she checked his expression and concluded that he really had no idea.

He’d just noticed something off about her. He was a nice guy. He liked her. He was merely checking in.

“I’m really fine,” she told him with a more genuine smile.

“If your Man-Fast is bringing you down, then you should give up on it. No need to hold onto an idea if it isn’t working for you.”

“It is working.” That was an outright lie, since she hadn’t even made it two weeks before having sex with Noah in the back of a car. But since she hadn’t really given her Man-Fast a fair shake, she was convinced it could still work. “It’s not about that.”

“Okay.” He accepted her word without question, and then gave her a little smile. Reaching over, he stroked her jaw with his thumb. “I like to see you smile for real, and I haven’t seen it much this week.”

His words and gesture were slightly flirtatious, but Emma knew they didn’t mean anything except Ryan liked her and she was of the female persuasion.

She smiled back at him. “How’s this one?”

“Much better.”

Emma had heard in the back of her mind the bell jangle on the entrance a minute ago, and now she was aware of some kind of presence there.

She turned to look and felt her stomach drop when she saw Noah standing at the front of the shop, staring at her and Ryan.

Determined not to let anyone know how unsettling she still found being around him, she pushed down her first response and gave Noah what she hoped was a cool, casual smile—as if she was acknowledging his existence but didn’t care about it that much.

His eyes had narrowed, and he didn’t look happy. Hot as hell in jeans and a black T-shirt, with bristles on his jaw that proved he hadn’t shaved that morning, but not at all happy.

Ryan had seen him too now. “Hey, Noah! Come on over.”

Noah walked toward them, still not smiling. “Am I interrupting something here?” he asked, an edge to his voice.

Emma and Ryan shared a look that was slightly confused, as if both of them were trying to process Noah’s strangely forbidding tone. Then Ryan grinned and said, “Of course not. We were just hanging out and eating beignets. What’s up your ass this morning?”

With an instinctive understanding, Emma suddenly knew what was bothering Noah. He’d seen Ryan smiling at her in that flirtatious way, stroking her face with his thumb.

And he was all annoyed about it.

Annoyed.

By Ryan’s innocent, friendly flirting.

When just last weekend, Noah had fucked her and then blown her off as if she was nothing.

Emma was so angry at this realization that she had trouble not snapping her teeth at him.

What the hell was wrong with the man? Did he really think she existed just to worship at his feet, whether he really wanted her or not?

Schooling her expression, Emma moved over to the other side of the table, next to Ryan, and gestured Noah into the seat she’d vacated. “You’re welcome to hang out too if you want. But you’ll have to get your own beignets. Ryan’s only sharing with me.”

She was sitting a lot closer to Ryan than she normally would have, and she reached over to take one of the remaining beignets from his plate, smiling up at him as she took a bite and then licked the sugar off her lips.

Ryan, as laidback and good-natured as always, evidently found nothing strange about her behavior. He grinned and moved his plate out of her reach. “Did I say you could have that one?”

“No. But I took it anyway. And maybe I’ll have the other one too.” They had a little scuffle over the remaining beignet, both of them laughing, while Noah looked on, a low-level snarl on his face.

Having proven her point, Emma finally gave up the scuffle and moved her chair slightly away from Ryan.

“Hey, are you free for dinner tonight?” Ryan said, turning back to Noah and evidently completely oblivious to any undercurrents. “Carol is having everyone over to her place. You’ll come too, won’t you?”

Noah blinked. “Uh, yeah. I guess I can. Everyone?”

“Sure. Me and Emma and Ginny and Patrick. Everyone.”

Noah glanced over at Emma briefly and then looked away. “Okay. I’ll be there too.”

“Good deal.”

Emma was getting the feeling that Ryan was about ready to up and leave, and she didn’t want to be left alone at the table with Noah. So she stood up, saying, “I’m going to check things out in the kitchen.”

She touched Ryan’s shoulder as she left to let him know she appreciated him, and she didn’t look at Noah at all.

When she went to the back, Ginny was sitting in a chair, staring down at her tablet.

“Hey,” Emma said, sitting down beside her.

Ginny looked up with a frown. “What was going on out there?”

“What do you mean? It’s a pretty good crowd.”

“I mean with you. Do you have a thing for Ryan now?” Ginny looked confused, unhappy.

Emma’s mouth dropped open. “No! Of course not.”

Ginny’s face relaxed slightly. “Oh. Okay.” Her brows were still drawn together.

Emma realized her friend had seen her foolish behavior, and she was suddenly embarrassed about it. She sighed and slumped forward. “I was just trying to prove I wasn’t still upset about Noah,” she admitted.

Ginny’s expression softened even more with understanding and sympathy. “Oh. Shit, I’m sorry. He was really an ass with you.”

“I don’t think he meant to be.”

“I know he didn’t. But still…” Ginny shook her head. “I’m so mad at him about it.”

“You shouldn’t be mad. It was… upsetting, but it’s not the end of the world. I can see how it happened. I really can.”

“You’re really a good person, you know.”

“I don’t always feel like one.”

“Well, of course not. Who does? But a lot of girls wouldn’t take this thing with Noah so well.” She paused. “Just don’t go flirting with Ryan in retaliation. The poor doofus might take you seriously.”

Emma laughed. “He’d never do anything of the kind. The most he’d ever do with me is pat me on the head.” She noticed a lingering expression on Ginny’s face, and it made her gasp. “You don’t still have leftover feelings, do you? From all the way back in college?”

“No!” Ginny straightened up. “Of course not. That’s ancient history. I just… Don’t flirt with him, even if he flirts with you.”

“I won’t. It was just a temporary pettiness that I shall now dutifully rise above.”

“Good for you. You’re supposed to be on a Man-Fast anyway.”

“Right,” Emma said. “The Man-Fast.”

She’d almost forgotten.

***

That evening, Noah had come to the rather depressing conclusion that Emma hadn’t been as into him as he’d thought, as he’d wanted.

She’d completely gotten over him in a week.

Earlier that week, he’d thought maybe she was putting on a brave face so she wouldn’t look too upset or depressed, but by the time dinner was over on Saturday night, he could no longer hold on to that tentative hope.

She couldn’t be faking. She looked natural, casual, happy even.

Whatever had happened between them last weekend had obviously meant a lot more to him than it had to her.

It wasn’t a good thought.

In fact, it made Noah want to pummel something.

He still felt terrible about everything—about how he’d acted, about how he hadn’t been able to control himself, about how he’d dismissed her so heartlessly after their night together. He couldn’t stop dwelling on it. Torturing himself with the memory of their earth-shattering sex in the car and the tender way he’d felt afterwards. And then torturing himself even more by pulling up their text messages from the following afternoon and replaying in his mind Emma’s face as she’d realized he wasn’t going to call her.

He’d been miserable all week, unable to get her out of his head. Unable to get his body to stop responding to the thought of her, the sight of her.

And here she was, perfectly happy—as if nothing had ever happened between them.

He realized he probably deserved it, but still… It would have been nice if she hadn’t been able to get over it quite so easily.

They’d hung out at Carol’s apartment—in one of the newer apartment complexes on the outskirts of town—most of the evening. At about eleven, things seemed to be wrapping up, and he was thinking about leaving so he wouldn’t have to be tortured by the sight of Emma’s pretty, laughing face anymore or her lush, little body in her jeans and sleeveless white top.

“I think I’m going to take off,” he said, standing up from the couch where he’d been sitting and trying not to let his eyes stray over to Emma yet again.

“So soon?” Carol was at the dining table, playing Scrabble with Patrick.

“Soon? I’ve been here for hours.”

“I’m ready to go too,” Emma said. She’d been sitting next to Ryan on the floor—which Noah wasn’t at all happy about—but now she stretched out her legs and stood. “You ready soon, Patrick?”

Patrick glanced over at her, but he was clearly more focused on the game than he was on his sister’s readiness to leave. “I’m winning.”

“You are not winning,” Carol objected.

Emma gave a little groan. “Well, how much longer do you have in the game?”

“I don’t know.” Patrick looked up from his tiles again. “Hey, if you’re leaving, Noah, can you drop Emma off at home? It shouldn’t be too far out of your way.”

Noah’s heart did a ridiculous little clench. “Uh—”

“It is out of his way,” Emma put in quickly. “I can just wait until the game is over.”

“Why should you? I don’t know how long it will be. Noah, do you mind?”

Noah looked at his friend and then over at Emma. It was perfectly clear to him that Patrick had absolutely no idea what had happened between Noah and his sister.

Everyone else knew—except maybe Ryan—but Patrick had no clue at all.

It made Noah feel guilty, dirty, like the biggest ass in the history of the world.

There was nothing else he could say at the moment, though. “Sure. I can do it.”

“Thanks.”

The conversation was evidently over. Patrick and Carol were once again absorbed in their game. Ginny and Ryan were watching a sports wrap-up on cable and were clearly not leaving at the moment.

Just him. And Emma.

Together.

Noah swallowed hard. “Ready?” he asked, hoping he sounded casual.

“Yeah.” She gave him a flustered smile, so at least she wasn’t completely cool about the idea of riding home with him.

In Nan’s old Cadillac.

Where they’d had incredibly hot sex just a week ago.

They said their goodbyes and walked out of the apartment and then down the stairs to the ground level.

When they reached the parking lot and took a look at the car, Noah pulled to an abrupt halt. “What the hell?”

He’d parked in the only available visitor spot when he arrived—right next to the dumpster at the very end of the lot.

In the last few hours, someone had evidently decided to make a parking spot of their own, against the curb.

In the space Noah needed to back out.

The big Cadillac was nearly trapped between the dumpster, the car beside it, and the illegally parked car behind it.

“What a jerk,” Emma said, assessing the situation. “We can have Carol call her management. They can have that car towed. That’s definitely not a legitimate parking space.”

Noah groaned. “That will take forever. I think I can get it out.”

Emma raised her eyes. “You think?”

He’d done some quick geometry in his mind, and he nodded. “Yeah. I think I can do it.”

“All right.” Emma didn’t sound convinced, which only made Noah even more determined to back out of the parking space.

They both got into the car, and Noah turned on the ignition.

When he looked in the rearview mirror, he had a sinking feeling that this maneuver wasn’t going to be a sure thing.

Emma was sitting beside him, looking up at him in the dim light with those big brown eyes.

Any doubts he had flew out the window.

He was going to do this.

He put it into reverse, turned the wheel, and backed up as much as he could without hitting the car behind him. Then he put it into drive and turned the wheel again sharply as he pulled it a few feet forward.

He repeated the move again.

And then again.

And then again.

And then again.

Emma was watching him silently, occasionally looking out the back window as he reversed.

“You want me to get out and signal when you get too close to that car?” she asked after a few minutes.

“No,” Noah muttered, washed with the heat of annoyance and frustration and a kind of embarrassment he almost never felt.

Damn this selfish idiot who had parked right behind him.

Damn him straight to hell.

Emma didn’t argue. She sat in silence as he kept reversing and pulling forward, gradually getting the car turned inch by agonizing inch.

After a while, he was breathing heavily, and he couldn’t help but glance back over at Emma.

Her eyes were wide, but her mouth was trembling just slightly.

She was trying not to laugh at him.

Noah felt another surge of exasperation as he kept inching into a clear turn.

This was like a nightmare.

Trapped in an ancient Cadillac with a beautiful woman he was crazy about.

A beautiful woman who was laughing at him.

After countless numbers of back-and-forths, Noah finally couldn’t contain his frustration. He let out a loud bellow. “Damn it!” He slammed his hands against the steering wheel, wishing he was anywhere but here.

“You’re getting there,” Emma said.

He could tell she was trying to keep her voice neutral, but it was audibly uneven.

When he glanced over, he saw laughter dancing in her eyes.

“Damn it,” he growled again. “You’re laughing at me!”

“No, I’m not,” she lied, even as a little giggle escaped her lips.

He dropped his head against the steering wheel with a loud groan. “Damn it,” he muttered again, this time without much heat.

Emma stopped trying to hide her laughter. She giggled uninhibitedly. But she said, “It’s not your fault, Noah. It’s that jerk who parked there.”

“I know,” he groaned. Despite himself, his humor had finally kicked in, and he was smiling just a little. “Do you want me to get Carol to call the management?”

“No.” She looked behind them and then out her side. “I really think you’re making progress. If you let me get out and signal, you might even get this tank out of the spot.”

He let out a long breath. “Okay. Go ahead. Thanks.”

Emma got out and positioned herself where she could see clearly. He backed up, watching her closely so he could stop when she signaled.

That actually did work a lot better. After about ten more back-and-forths, Noah had finally cleared the car beside him and was able to pull the Cadillac straight.

Emma ran over and jumped into the passenger side, her face alight with laugher. “Victory!” she cried.

Noah just groaned as Emma put on her seatbelt.

His chest had unclenched for the first time all week, though. He felt better. He felt like he and Emma were close again.

Maybe not as close as he wanted but not with that painful distance anymore.

Emma couldn’t stop laughing, and he didn’t even mind that she was laughing at him.

He slumped against his seat before he put the car back into drive, closing his eyes in exhaustion at the thirty-point turn he’d just made in this old clunker.

“You ready?” Emma asked him.

He opened his eyes. “Yeah. I’m really sorry.”

“I told you, it’s not your fault. It’s that jerk. I’m tempted to leave a nasty note.”

“I didn’t mean about that,” he admitted, meeting her eyes. “I’m really sorry, Emma.”

Her laughter faded as she realized what he was talking about, what he was saying. She gave him a serious little nod. “I know,” she murmured.

“Do you?”

“Yeah. I know. You didn’t mean for it to happen the way it did.”

“I really didn’t. But I knew better. I should have stopped myself.”

She gave a little shrug. “I was part of it too. We’re both adults. It’s not the end of the world.”

“I’m still sorry.” He couldn’t remember the last time he’d apologized to someone like this, but he felt so incredibly guilty and he desperately wanted to feel better. “I should have done better by you.”

She smiled at him, just slightly. “I’m really okay.”

“I know you are.”

He did know.

Emma seemed to appreciate the apology, but she was genuinely fine with everything that had occurred between them.

It was Noah who was still a wreck.

And he just couldn’t stop himself from wanting her.

He kept expecting it to get easier, but each day that passed made him want her even more.

***

The following week, they all got together again on Saturday evening—this time at Ryan’s place in the countryside about twenty minutes from town.

Ryan had bought the property two years ago, and Emma had been to it often enough. It was about twenty acres, most of it wooded, but there was enough pasture for him to have three goats, as well as a bunch of chickens in the back yard and a pond with ducks. Not to mention two dogs.

Ryan was an animal person.

Ryan cooked out, and Emma enjoyed the food and the company and the way the painful tension had broken with Noah.

She was allowed to like him again. Not anything more than that, but at least she could like him.

She did like him.

A lot.

He was laughing more this evening, and their eyes met a lot when someone made a joke or told a story.

Their eyes had met a lot like that when they were teenagers, and she’d assumed it had meant something.

She’d been stupid back then.

She wasn’t stupid now.

Friends was as much as she could hope for with Noah.

Friends would be enough.

After they ate on Ryan’s big patio, Emma announced that she was going to feed the ducks. She always did when she came to visit. She loved the two big labs Ryan had, but other than the dogs, the ducks were her favorites.

“Doesn’t Ryan feed his own ducks?” Noah asked, looking genuinely curious.

“They get plenty of food,” Ryan told him. “They’re pretty much self-sufficient anyway. But Emma likes to give them extra.”

“They’re always hungry,” she said with a smile.

Ryan rolled his eyes and shook his head. “They know how to put on a show. They’re just like dogs. Always begging for food. You should go check them out, Noah, and try to keep Emma from giving them too much.”

Emma thought Noah might refuse, since they hadn’t been alone together since last weekend in the car, but he got up from his seat with an easy smile and walked with her to the barn, where Emma filled up a bucket with the mix of dried corn kernels and scratch grains Ryan kept in a big tub.

“They eat that much?” Noah asked with a dubious look.

“They’d eat way more than this if I gave it to them. There’s a lot of them.”

“Okay.” Noah’s eyebrows were still raised.

She gave him a little scowl—mostly for show—and walked toward the pond. She smiled when a couple of the white ducks saw her approaching and started running in her direction.

The other ducks, always following each other’s examples, started toward her as well, some of them having to paddle over from the other side of the pond and a few flapping their wings in their urgency.

Emma laughed as they surrounded her and Noah. About half the ducks were domestic—the white ones and a few Muscovies with black bodies, white heads, and red patches on their faces. Then there were some mallards who hung out at the pond and took advantage of the easy food. And some migrating Canada geese came and went as well. There were about five of them here today.

“Jesus,” Noah breathed, staring down at the flock, who were eagerly pecking at the ground as she threw out the scratch. “What a crew!”

“Aren’t they cute?” Emma leaned over as one of the Muscovy ducks waddled up and wagged his tail feathers at her. She gave him a little pile of food of his own for being so cute.

“What kind of bird is that?” Noah asked, looking on with interest. “He’s not very good-looking, is he?”

“Yes, he is! He’s a duck. A Muscovy. He’s domesticated, just like the others. It’s not his fault he’s not as traditionally handsome as the white ones. He’s my favorite! I’ve named him Ugly.”

“You named the duck Ugly?”

“Yes. But it’s affectionate. He likes it.”

“Sure he does.” Noah was chuckling though, and his green eyes were warm as she threw out all the food and enjoyed the sight of the ducks eagerly pecking away at the ground.

“Do you feed the chickens too?” Noah asked after a few minutes.

“Sometimes. But they don’t have as much personality as the ducks. I like the ducks better.”

“I can see that.”

Something in the tone of his voice drew her attention. She glanced over and froze at the warm appreciation in his eyes.

His eyes were resting on her face like they were caressing her. That was exactly what it felt like.

Like he was touching her.

Her cheeks warmed, and her breath hitched in her throat. She gazed at him, trying to remind herself that things were good between them now and it would be ludicrous to mess it up with more impulsive behavior.

“Stop it,” she murmured, when his warm gaze didn’t break.

“Stop what?” His voice was husky, delicious.

“Stop looking at me that way.”

“I can’t help it.” He inhaled slowly and then let it out. “God help me, I just can’t help it. I know it’s wrong. I know I’m supposed to be good and never touch you again. But I can’t seem to stop wanting to.”

Heat washed over her, and her body tingled with excitement, pleasure, arousal. They were standing about a foot apart, but he might as well have just kissed her. That was exactly how it felt.

She gulped. “We can’t. It will be even more of a mess.”

“I know.” Noah gave a little groan and turned around, showing his back to her. “I know. Damn it.”

She stared at his back, aching with a longing that was emotional as much as physical.

It would be so much easier if all she felt was simple lust for him.

But this was so much more than that. It went all the way down to her core, to her heart, to her most inner being.

She wanted him all the way.

She sighed and put down her bucket. One inquisitive duck stuck his head inside to see if there were any more goodies. Emma couldn’t help but chuckle at the duck’s indignation at finding the bucket was empty.

Noah turned around to see what had diverted her.

“He’s throwing a temper fit,” she said, nodding toward the duck who was taking out his disappointment on his comrades, hissing and snapping at them and trying to scare them away from the food.

Noah smiled at the duck, and then he smiled at her.

And then, before she knew what was happening, he was kissing her.

And, oh God, it was exactly what she wanted. She opened to the advance of his tongue and twined her arms around him, arching her body into his as deep pleasure and deep need overwhelmed her.

He walked her backward until they reached a tree, and he used the tree for support as he slid his hands down to her bottom and then lifted one of her thighs to wrap her leg around him.

Emma was throbbing, pulsing, blazing with need. She clawed at Noah’s shirt and moaned into his mouth.

He was rocking against her, his own arousal hard and very evident beneath his jeans. “Oh, fuck, Emma, baby. I just can’t keep my hands off you,” he murmured against her skin, trailing kisses down her jaw.

She arched her neck to give him better access. “We shouldn’t… shouldn’t be doing this.”

“I know,” Noah replied thickly, raising a hand to tweak one of her nipples through her shirt. When Emma cried out in pleasure, he did it again. “I know,” he repeated. “It’s wrong. It’s so wrong. I was going to be good.”

“Oh God!” she gasped, grinding her arousal against him eagerly, unable to hold herself back.

“Why can’t I stay away from you, baby?” He bit down gently on a sensitive spot just under her ear, and she writhed in response, nearly choking on the pleasure.

“Noah! Noah!” The voice came from the distance, and both of them immediately recognized it.

Ginny. Calling for her brother.

Who at the moment had Emma pressed up against a tree, his hand on her breast, her leg wound around him shamelessly.

Noah grunted like he’d been hit and dropped his hands, taking a step backward, away from her.

Emma whimpered at the loss of his touch, although she was straightening up and smoothing her hair in automatic response to Ginny’s voice.

“Damn it,” Noah muttered, flushed and rumpled and so sexy Emma could hardly stand to look at him. He blew out several deep breaths, and Emma knew he was trying to get his body back under control.

“Noah!” Ginny called again. Her voice was closer this time, and it sounded strangely urgent.

“I’m here!” Noah replied.

Ginny had come into sight now, and Emma’s stomach twisted in concern. Something was wrong.

“What’s the matter?” Noah asked, raising his voice to cover the distance. He must have seen something wrong in his sister’s presence too.

“It’s Nan,” Ginny explained, hurrying toward them. “She’s fallen again.”

“Is she all right?” Noah asked. He was totally focused on this new crisis, as if he hadn’t been hot and heavy with Emma just a minute before.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. A neighbor called. He found Nan in the garden. She must have been there for a while before anyone knew.”

Emma went ice cold at this news, and she saw a similar expression on Noah’s face.

Poor Nan. Surely she was going to be all right.

Noah didn’t waste any more time with questions. He started back toward the house, followed by Emma and Ginny.

And soon Emma could hardly believe she’d been in his arms just a few minutes earlier.

It was just as well they’d stopped when they had.