Her heart began to pound. She’d been so tempted to contact him, so tempted to see him again.

Telling herself she wouldn’t respond, she slid her phone back in her purse. But when everyone else was preoccupied with choosing a Disneyland sweatshirt to take home, and she stood off in a corner, waiting for Everly to try hers on, she couldn’t resist taking her phone out again—just to read and reread those three words with his name attached.

After parking in his own drive, Tobias checked his phone one last time. Harper hadn’t responded to his text.

He told himself not to be disappointed; after all, it was what he’d expected.

Still, he couldn’t help feeling let down as he climbed out of his truck. When he closed his eyes, he could still smell her hair, feel her skin. He’d never been so into someone.

It’s probably only because you can’t have her. Forget you ever met her.

Trying to shrug off the melancholy that’d set in along with some more bad weather, he turned his focus to the night ahead. On his way home from work, he’d stopped and bought groceries. He didn’t feel like going out, so he was planning to cook. But since he’d missed learning the basic skills most other people picked up in young adulthood, he wasn’t very good in the kitchen. He could make a few things—mostly breakfast. If he did dinner, it involved a steak, a burger, some kind of fish, a burrito or a chicken salad. Or he simply opened a can of soup. Not a very extensive repertoire, but he got by. And normally, whenever he went to the trouble of making a meal, he invited Uriah to join him.

Uriah did the same for him. They were both often alone at night, so it made sense. They usually finished the evening with a game of chess. Unlike cooking, chess was something Tobias was very good at. Uriah couldn’t beat him, but he liked to try.

Thinking it was time to give the old man another chance, Tobias left the groceries in his truck and started toward Uriah’s house. They’d grown so comfortable with each other that he would often knock, open the door before Uriah could even respond and shout that dinner was at his place tonight. But before he could get that far, he considered the possibility of having to invite Carl, too, and changed his mind. If Carl was going to be there, he’d rather eat alone.

Reversing direction, he strode back to unload the groceries.

He’d already put the perishables in the fridge and formed his meat patty when he realized the onion he’d bought hadn’t made it into the house.

Damn. He needed it for his burger.