“No, I will not!” Fresh tears sprang to her eyes, making their depths resemble the blue of tropical lagoons that he’d seen in travel brochures. “And there’s no need for you to apologize, because everything you said was true.”

Wyatt’s heart sank. He’d used words as weapons, and they had wounded her far more deeply than he’d ever intended. He had to think of some way he might get through to her. If he failed in that, she might carry the pain with her for a long time. Sudden inspiration struck him, but he hesitated. He’d be opening up a can of worms. Only he could think of no other way to make her listen to him.

“No, Erin, I lied to you. Nothing I said was true, including the bit about me not being attracted to you. I do find you attractive. Too attractive for my own good, actually, because feeling this way is dangerous for a guy like me.”

That got her attention. She stared down at him with a mixed expression of incredulity and bewilderment. Then, saying nothing, she bent over to retrieve the dropped flowerpot and chucked it into the garbage bag. From there, she advanced on the large containers that bracketed her door mat, upending them inside the plastic bag to dump out the soil and dying flowers.

“I still don’t get why you’re getting rid of everything,” he said. “Petunia starts don’t come cheap.”

She rounded on him, allowing him to once again see her face. “I tried to make my porch look pretty like Julie’s!” she cried. “She got petunias, so I got petunias. She got wind chimes, so I got wind chimes. But she has a knack for decorating that I lack. No big surprise! She’s good at everything: picking out clothes, doing hair. There’s very little she doesn’t know about makeup. In short, she’s ultra-feminine. Maybe you should hang out more at the Morning Grind!”

Wyatt winced. “Erin, I said some really shitty stuff. I wish now that I’d handled the conversation differently. That’s why I came to talk with you—to hopefully set things straight. My pride got the better of me when you implied I was gay.” He held up a hand. “I have nothing against gay men or women. It’s just that I’m straight, and no straight guy likes having his sexual orientation questioned.” He paused to gather his thoughts. “Well, I didn’t like it, anyway. Maybe I’m oversensitive because I’m deaf, but my first reaction was anger. I’m sorry about that. I struck back at you, and I shouldn’t have.”

The stiffness left her shoulders, and she came to sit on the step. He didn’t miss the fact that she kept some distance between them. Looking directly at him, she said, “Okay. I get it. I just misread the situation, I guess. But you don’t have to lie and say you’re attracted to me in order to apologize. Let’s keep this honest, at least.”

Wyatt realized that she was trying to protect Kennedy. “You didn’t misread my signals, Erin. Kennedy came down to the creek after you left. He was worried, because you appeared to be upset, and he confessed that he told you I was gay.”