With her heart pounding and her hands trembling ever so slightly, she texted him a witty response.

TARA: Hey.

SETH: Are you working late tonight?

TARA: Do you consider nine o’clock late?

A simple yes would’ve sufficed, but why be accommodating when she could be passive aggressive?

She stared fixedly at the ellipses that scrolled and scrolled. Was he writing her a sonnet? Why was he taking so long to respond? Then she almost dropped her phone from shock when it rang. As soon as she answered, Seth’s sexy, teasing voice nibbled at her ear.

“Since I’m not a seven-year-old with an eight thirty bedtime, nine sounds great.”

“Sounds great for what?” Tara couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He suddenly wanted to see her on such short notice? Like she had nothing better to do? She was obviously overreacting, but she was nervous and confused, which made her so mad at herself.

“I’m back in town, and I thought we’d meet up to talk about that night. I expected to hear from you during the week, but … that’s fine,” he said magnanimously.

“You expected to hear from me? To say what?” To fess up that she didn’t remember a thing? No way. She couldn’t.

“I don’t know. To apologize or thank … wait a minute. Why do you sound angry?”

“I’m not angry,” she said through gritted teeth. “I’m … curious.”

“We obviously can’t do this over the phone. Can you come over to Landon’s place after work?”

“You want me to come over there?” She was repeating everything he said, but she couldn’t help it.

Was he hoping for a repeat of whatever had happened that night? You don’t know what happened. Why are you freaking out so badly? From Seth’s casual tone, he didn’t sound like a man ridden with guilt, but that could be good or bad.

“Look. I would love to meet you somewhere in Weldon, but it’s such a small town,” Seth explained calmly. “Do you really want to have this conversation in public?”

She wanted to tell him they could talk about whatever he wanted to right at the brewery, but Jack and Alex would watch them like a hawk and eavesdrop shamelessly. She didn’t want her humiliation, whatever it was, revealed in public.

“Fine. But no funny business,” she added in a rush of nerves.

“What? What funny business?” He sounded genuinely perplexed. Then silence stretched on, weighing down on her as heavy as a boulder. “God, if you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking, I’m going to be very pissed off.”

“We’ll talk later.” Tara’s stomach dropped. He already sounded pissed. “Bye.”

She hung up the phone before he could say anything else, and went back out to the hall. It was a relatively quiet weeknight, so she had plenty of time to dissect her conversation with Seth. As she was in the dark about what went down that night, she’d been at a distinct disadvantage. Since Jason, not being in complete control of a situation terrified her—things could spin out of control in the blink of an eye—so she’d taken the offensive with Seth to hide her insecurities. She couldn’t do that when she saw him later tonight. She had to be calm and reasonable.