I could feel myself grow warmer, too, and knew from experience it was likely making my cheeks redden. I may have a smidgen of Cherokee in my DNA thanks to Grandma Jo’s branch of the genetic tree, but Mom’s Nordic/Irish ancestors won out in the most overt ways, which meant I had blue eyes, light blonde hair, and my future was destined to be filled with lots of sunscreen and blushes I could never hide. Like now.

It was then I got a divine Hail Mary in the form of a phone call from the one person I least wanted to talk with: Mia.

The buzz of the incoming call from my former bestie shattered the silence in the library.

I flinched.

Arthur didn’t.

Make no mistake, I absolutely did not want to talk with Mia, but this was the only distraction I had available. So before I could second-guess myself, I hit the phone’s green button.

“Hey,” I said, as if I hadn’t been dodging every form of outreach from Mia for the past few days.

“Finley?” She sounded as surprised as I felt.

“Yeah, hold on.” I put the phone against my shoulder and stood, facing Arthur. “Sorry, I have to take this.”

He nodded then turned away from me, his back once again straight and formal as he resumed his focus on the books. His shoulders were broader than I remembered. Had they always been like that?

I blinked at myself. What the hell was wrong with me lately?

“Finley?” Mia’s voice was muffled against my sweater.

I fled the library, happy to be away from Arthur as fast as possible.

Seven

The spa for the Hoyden Inn was tucked away on a first-floor corner of the main building. Grandma Jo was always looking to make additions or improvements, so she’d added the spa a few years ago, but it was very small for her overall vision.

However, when it was closed, it was a great place to have a private conversation.

Thankfully it was closed and I ducked inside.

“Finley?” I heard Mia say again.

“Hold on,” I answered, with no effort to disguise my irritation.

The spa wasn’t much more than four rooms: a check-in area, a changing room, a massage room big enough for two tables if couples ever wanted to go together, a sauna that I was pretty sure had originally been a storage closet.

I wound up in the massage room.

The lights were off but enough moonlight streamed in through the double floor-to-ceiling windows that I could see where I was going.

I stood by a window and took a deep breath to calm my nerves.

“Hey,” I said, and Arthur’s earlier commentary on the greeting echoed in my memory.

“Hey,” was Mia’s response.

A long silence followed.