“It’s good to see you, Mrs. Green. I’m fine, I promise.”

“I’ve told you time and again, call me Cathy. You’re not a little girl anymore.” Her eyes flickered as Ford’s arm wrapped around my shoulders. She cleared her throat. “Ford, welcome back.”

“Thank you. It’s good to see you.”

“You, too…” Her voice trailed off as she looked from Ford to me and back again. “You two aren’t…?”

Ford’s grip on my shoulder tightened, his eyes hardening a fraction. “We aren’t what?”

“You aren’t dating. That’s what she’s too scared to say.” The voice came from the back as Mr. Green, a hulking man in his late sixties, stepped out. He’d never made sense to me as the owner of an ice cream store, he looked more like a linebacker or a mobster. His gaze narrowed on us both but then locked with mine. “But you wouldn’t do that, would you, Bell? That would be too weird.”

I swallowed hard, my skin suddenly becoming too tight for my body. “I—I—”

“What she’s too polite to say is that it isn’t any of your business.” There was a hard edge to Ford’s voice. “But I can see that you aren’t all that focused on keeping customers, so we’ll just be going.”

“No, please,” Cathy started. “We’re sorry, it was just a shock, that’s all. Please stay.”

My steps faltered, but Ford gave my hand a swift tug as he continued towards the door. I gave Cathy what I hoped was a sympathetic smile, but I couldn’t bring myself to glance in Mr. Green’s direction.

Ford strode quickly towards the SUV, and I almost tripped over my feet. “Would you slow down?”

He whirled on me. “That doesn’t piss you the hell off?”

I took an instinctive step back, the anger seeming to roll off Ford in waves. “Mr. Green? Yes. Cathy? She was just surprised.” I paused for a moment, taking in every detail of Ford’s form, the tense muscles, the blazing eyes, and my heart sank. “That kind of thing? It’s going to happen more than once. This is a small community, and people think it’s their right to share their opinions on your life. Us dating, or whatever you want to call it…people are going to talk. If you can’t handle it, we might as well call it quits before either of us gets hurt.” The words burned my throat as I spoke, and I knew that the loss of even the possibility of what Ford and I could be would break me.

A muscle in his cheek ticked, but his blazing eyes didn’t look away from mine. “I’m not calling it quits.”