But then she remembered how he’d offered—as if he really wouldn’t mind—and decided it wouldn’t hurt to ask him. He’d known they weren’t “together” when she brought the gingerbread house, and yet he’d still invited them. If he didn’t want to see her, he could always say no. She wasn’t going to make that decision for him.

Besides, he’d been there for her when she needed someone most. She would rather come away from Silver Springs feeling she’d left that brief relationship on a good note—that she could count him among her friends, at least. She cared about him, so seeing him one more time, in a totally innocuous setting with her kids and nieces and Karoline and Terrance, couldn’t hurt anything.

Gripping the phone tighter than she probably needed to, she went ahead and sent the call. Then she held her breath as it began to ring.

Tobias had just returned from an arduous hike when his phone went off. Ever since he’d spoken to Susan, he’d been expecting some kind of backlash. He doubted Jada’s mother was going to let him get away with showing up at her store and saying what he had. She’d probably called Jada and let her have it, so he was afraid the backlash would come in the way of a call from his sister-in-law telling him to back off and stay out of it—or maybe it would be his brother handling it for her. He’d only been trying to help, but he might’ve overstepped.

This wasn’t Jada, however. It wasn’t Maddox, either—or Maya or Atticus.

It was Harper.

He stared at her name on his screen. He’d spotted her SUV at the coffee shop yesterday morning and had purposely gone somewhere else. If she was getting back with Axel, he needed to stay out of the way. Seeing her only reminded him of how he felt when he was around her, and he was having a difficult time trying to forget her as it was.

For the same reason he didn’t go into the coffee shop, he felt he shouldn’t answer. He couldn’t think of any legitimate reason they had to talk.

In the end, he couldn’t overcome his curiosity or the desire he felt to hear her voice, so he hit the talk button before her call could transfer to voice mail. “Hello?”

“Tobias?”

“Yes?” Okay, this wasn’t a pocket dial. She seemed fully aware of the fact that she’d called him.

“I’m sorry to bother you,” she said.

He removed his parka and draped it over one of the kitchen chairs. “It’s no problem. Everything okay?”