“I don’t doubt it for a second.” Kristin eyed the bunch of carrots in front of her. “I’d best get chopping then.”

“Put this on.” Rita handed her an apron.

Annie watched as Kristin tied it around her slender figure. She pulled a hand through her hair. Annie had never felt underdressed in this place, but next to Kristin she did. Annie put on an apron as well and went to work on preparing the chicken. Rita stood next to her peeling potatoes and cast Annie a glance.

“What?” Annie whispered.

“I can’t believe you brought her here,” Rita hissed.

“She volunteered. What was I going to say?” Annie nodded at the potatoes in front of Rita. “And I believed you would be happy with the help. Now you only have to do potatoes.”

Rita shook her head, then went silent. She could judge all she wanted, but she was the one who had tried to talk Annie out of her guilt about this crush in the first place.

Rita turned up the radio a little louder and they worked without speaking, side-by-side. Rita cast her glance toward Kristin once in a while to see how she was getting on with the carrots—and apparently did not find any fault with how Kristin was cleaning and chopping them.

Annie was very aware of Kristin’s presence in the small kitchen. Three other volunteers were milling about and Annie’s ears perked up every time someone spoke, wanting to know if it was Kristin being addressed.

“Were you a rabbit in a former life?” Andrew asked. “You’re a beast with those carrots. I hope you come back next week.”

“Maybe I will,” Kristin said.

Annie looked over toward Kristin because she had to see if she meant what she’d just said. Their gazes crossed and Kristin smiled. Annie smiled back. When she turned back around, Rita was looking at her disapprovingly.

“What is it now?” Annie asked.

“Step outside with me for a minute.” Rita said.

“I’m about to put my chicken in the pan.” Annie didn’t much feel like getting scolded by Rita.

“Your chicken can wait a minute.” Rita was already headed toward the door.

“I get that you and Kristin work together and that you see her in the shop, that can’t be helped,” Rita said as soon as Annie stuck her head out of the door. “And while extra volunteers are more than welcome, I think you should ask her to help out on other days than us. Or get Andrew to ask her if you don’t want to do it yourself. Because this is ridiculous.”

“I can’t believe this.” Annie brought her hands to her sides. “You were the one who said not to beat myself up over it.”