Seconds later, Melia showed up at the table. She dropped a hand on Simon’s shoulder and made eye contact with me, a possessive gesture that made my insides burn. Seriously? After two dates, she was all protective and defensive?

“I guess I should go find Jamie,” I said pointedly.

Simon shot me a look, apology evident in his eyes. I gave my head a slight shake. It was fine. He was fine. Melia was fine. I was just fine.

* * *

Twice over the next couple of weeks, Jamie and I hung out with Simon and Melia. Both times, it was awkward.

Melia was . . . odd. When she wasn’t giving me the stink eye, which Katie insisted I was making up even though I’d caught it happening more than once, she was sweet. So sweet. But she didn’t get Simon. And none of us got her. She had to have a brain in her head since she’d gotten into graduate school at Duke, but it’s like she avoided all potential conversation that might require her to use it. It was the weirdest thing I’d ever seen. Even Jamie noticed. It became a game to see if we could get her to discuss what she was studying, but she somehow managed to shift the conversation away from herself and onto something else every single time. We half wondered if grad school was a cover story and she was really spending all her time at the nail salon. Her nails were always gorgeous. Perfectly manicured to match her outfits. Total craziness.

It was only out of respect for Simon that the rest of us kept our mouths shut. The only good thing that came out of their weird, mismatched relationship, at least the only good thing for me, was that Melia’s presence made it much easier for me to ignore my Simon-related doubts and focus on my relationship with Jamie. I was a terrible person for even thinking it, but with Simon shifting back to unavailable—to the untouchable Hamilton brother he’d been once before—it was so much easier for me to breathe.

* * *

Thanksgiving week, Jamie called while I was on my way home from work. “Hey,” he said. “How are you?”

“Totally stressed,” I told him. “The inn sold. Today. Just like that. They still have to finalize everything, but the offer was made and accepted, and the new owner is paying cash, so it’s going to go through really fast. Like before-Christmas fast.”

“Wow. Any idea what to expect?”

“I don’t know anything for sure. April did some digging, and if it’s who we think it is, it’s a company that owns a lot of hotels up and down the East Coast. Which is probably a good thing.”

“Winding Way is a great inn,” Jamie said. “It makes sense someone would want to capitalize on that.”

“I hope you’re right.”