Giles held up his hands. “I didn’t say anything.”

I still felt the need to explain myself, like word vomit. “We’re both new in town, we don’t know many people. I just wanted to hang out and make it up to her after the snowboarding nightmare.”

“I think she’s half expecting that to be the surprise,” Giles said. “She told Mattie yesterday that if you parked at the base of the mountain and brought out another snowboard, she was walking home.”

That made me grin. “I should do that to mess with her.”

“She’ll like what you have planned. I’m glad you’re taking her out. She needs to loosen up a little. She’s constantly on her computer, obsessing over an interview or a rejection letter. It can’t be healthy.”

Giles had actually given me the idea of where to take Frankie.

“I’m happy to provide a distraction. It’s my specialty,” I said, not even kidding. That’s what I’d become known for—lightening the mood with a joke when things got too serious or planning a pointless day trip to distract someone from something heavy. It was the role I’d played my entire life.

“I should go,” I said, even though my only plans were to sit around alone in my apartment. “I’ll let you get to your night.”

We said our goodbyes, and Giles walked in the direction of his house while I turned toward my apartment.

When I strolled up the driveway to the stairs that led to my front door, Bev’s garage opened. I scooted out of the way as she backed her car up.

“Want me to pick you up anything from the store?” she called.

“Nah, I’m good, thanks.” I stopped at her window and leaned against my snowboard.

Bev shook her head in disapproval. “I don’t know how you exercise all day and hardly eat.”

I chuckled. “I eat. I just don’t cook.”

She brushed off my flippant response. “Fine. Whatever.”

“Have a good night, Bev.” I waved as she pulled out onto the street and drove away.

I took the stairs to my apartment two at a time and pushed open the door. The studio was a small square of a room, with a kitchen on one wall, a bed in the back corner, and a small living room setup taking up the rest of the space. It was cozy, though. Apparently, Mattie had lived here for a while when she’d first moved to Key Ridge. She’d joked with me that it was a rite of passage to falling in love with the town. I told her I had no intention of staying past the winter, but she’d just said, “We’ll see.”

I stripped off my clothes and hopped into the hot shower, cranking it up a few degrees hotter than I would normally deem tolerable. Once I’d properly seared myself, I pulled on some gray sweatpants and a worn navy-blue hoodie that said Outdoor Adventures on it from the wilderness store I used to work at.