They’d grabbed their drinks from the bar and were weaving through the crowd, looking for a seat, when Harper spotted Maddox, Jada and Atticus. They seemed to notice her at the same time and quit talking, and she wondered if she should wave or pretend she hadn’t seen them.

In the end, she waved. She couldn’t help herself. She really liked them. And they waved back, but she could tell they felt awkward, too.

“Are you okay to stay?” Karoline murmured when she witnessed the exchange.

“I don’t really have a choice. It’ll look too weird if we turn around and leave,” she replied.

“I wonder where Tobias is.”

“I have no clue.”

“He could be on his way.”

“Or in the bathroom.” Her heart thumped harder at the thought that he might be that close, after all.

“We’d better not stay long.”

Harper agreed and yet she took her time sipping her beer and watching the hallway that led to the bathrooms as well as the front door.

Finally, she put the bottle down and stood. She wasn’t going to see him. She’d have to leave town without so much as a final glimpse.

That was a good thing, she reminded herself as she followed Karoline to the front. But just before they could step out, the door opened—and there he was.

Her breath caught in her throat. Because he was coming in when they were going out, they were only about an arm’s distance apart.

He was looking down at his phone, didn’t notice her until she said, “Hello, Tobias.”

His head snapped up and Harper felt the same zing of sexual energy she always felt when she saw him. She looked up at him hopefully, wishing they could take this opportunity to find a little closure.

But he stepped back as though coming too close might burn him and, with a polite nod to acknowledge her greeting, walked past her and Karoline as though he barely knew them.

Tobias had thought Harper was gone from Silver Springs. He’d figured, now that she was probably getting back with Axel, she’d leave town as soon as possible. So when Maddox had called and asked him to come to the Blue Suede Shoe for a game of darts with Jada and Atticus, he hadn’t even considered the possibility of running into her.

Tamping down the emotions he’d been wrestling with ever since he first met her, he forced a smile as he approached Maddox and the others at the table. “Hey,” he said, acting as though that brief encounter hadn’t started his pulse racing.

“Can you believe Harper was here?” Maddox said. “I swear, I didn’t know that when I called you.”