“What’s that look for?” Nick grinned as he picked out a few leaves that had stuck to her hat. He knew what she was thinking. Only she couldn’t have been farther from the truth. He was not in love with Diana. He hadn’t thought about her at all during the past four and a half months. He had thought a lot about the woman standing in front of him right now.
“You’re here to make trouble, right?” Joy nodded her head in emphasis.
“No, I’m not here to make trouble. Scout’s honor. Now do I get to come in out of the cold?” He made a point of flippantly hiking up the collar on his leather bomber jacket. The wind was buffeting her back and ruffling his hair. The cold wasn’t bothering him, but he expected she was freezing, given the way she was doing a little jig from foot to foot.
“Yes, you get to come in,” Joy replied tartly and turned toward the house.
Seeing that she was forgetting her mutt, Nick grabbed the leash and dragged Maxie along as he followed her into the house. Joy went through a back door straight into the inn’s large, homey kitchen. Nick unfastened the dog’s leash and hung it up on a hook near the door while Maxie took off.
Joy quickly yanked the ugly hat off her head, stuffed it in her coat pocket and tried casually to fluff her soft brown hair with her fingers. “Are you hungry?”
“Starved. I didn’t stop for lunch. How about going out with me for something to eat? Did you have lunch?”
“I’ve had lunch.” It was going on four p.m. “I’ll make you a couple of sandwiches. There’s some cold chicken.” Joy unbuttoned her coat and hung it on a peg near the back door. She didn’t feel she’d been able to do much with her hair.
“Cold chicken sounds great,” Nick said, taking his jacket off and hanging it on a peg alongside hers. “Kevin told me Diana’s been staying here till the wedding and that he comes out on the weekend. Did I miss him?”
“No. He’ll be back.” Joy closed the refrigerator door with the side of her hip. She had a platter of cold chicken and a jar of mayonnaise in her hands. “They went to have lunch with my mother at the restaurant that’s doing the catering. They’re still debating about some of the dishes they want at the wedding.”
“How come you didn’t go with them?” He moved to stand next to her at the counter.
Joy looked at him from the corner of her eye. She’d already taken in the lean-hipped fit of his black slacks and the bulky, wheat-toned sweater, that made it impossible not to notice his wide shoulders.
“I’m too much of a junk-food junkie to be on the food committee.” She meant to speak in a joking tone, but his nearness was giving her a case of apoplexy. The words came out flat.
His eyes roved over her profile. “What committee are you on?”
“Wedding attire and flowers.” Joy took two rolls out of a bakery bag on the counter and a knife from a drawer. “And…” She was about to say more but his hand came up to her hair, ending that train of thought. “What are you doing?”
“Smoothing down your hair,” Nick said easily. “Turn around and let me get the other side.”
Joy swung around to face him. She was secretly thrilled by his attention, which was exactly what had her bristling now. “You know what surprises me?”
“What surprises you?” He took the knife she didn’t realize she was still holding out of her hand and put it down on the counter.
“I’m surprised that you didn’t come back when Diana and Kevin first started dating.” Joy watched his gaze drop to her hips as she placed her hands there. For a second Joy wondered if she was intentionally trying to flatten her red sweater so he’d know it was the sweater that was puffy, not her hips.
“Actually I didn’t know Diana and Kevin were dating. The first I heard of them being a couple was when Kevin got ahold of me and told me they were getting married. But I wouldn’t have come back even if I had known.”
My eye! Joy muttered in her head. He certainly had come back quickly enough when he’d found out they were getting married.
“Do we really have to talk about Diana and Kevin?” He smiled. “I’d much rather talk about you.”
“There’s nothing about me to talk about.” Joy turned back to the counter. She picked up the knife and jaggedly sliced open both rolls.
“We could talk about your column. Or we could talk about whether you’ve been affected by the sun or any full moons since I’ve been gone.”
Joy’s face flushed deep red. Was he intentionally trying to embarrass her by bringing up that kiss? “Did Kevin tell you how he and Diana first got together?”
“No and I didn’t ask,” Nick responded disinterestedly.
“Diana needed a lawyer to collect money from one of her clients,” Joy said. “That was three months ago.”
Nick leaned back against the counter. “I assume Kevin got Diana’s client to fork over.”
Joy nodded. Taking a plate down from the cabinet overhead she placed the sandwiches on top of it. “He’s a very good lawyer.”
“No question about that.” Nick took the plate and walked over to the kitchen table in the center of the room.
Joy made a half turn in his direction. “Would you like a beer with that?”
“Okay.” Nick took a seat and stretched his legs out.
Joy came to the table with a glass, a bottle of beer and a bag of potato chips. She placed her bounty down within his reach and then took a seat across from him.
Nick opened the bag of chips, took a helping out and put them on his plate. He passed the bag to her. Joy took a handful of chips out for herself.
She watched him begin eating his sandwich.
He watched her munch on chips.
A stretch without any conversation went by while Joy commanded herself to get her eyes off him. Her command went unheeded.
Nick finished one sandwich. “How are you doing with your column?” He had read them all, having worked out an arrangement with the owner/editor of the Greenport News to have the paper forwarded to him. He’d even spoken to her editor a few times, which was how he’d known the paper was up for sale before any official announcement. He toyed with the idea of telling her that he was her new boss, instead of waiting until tomorrow at the Monday morning staff meeting.
“It’s going okay,” Joy returned. “Nothing all that exciting.” She did have something exciting in the works, but she didn’t want to go off on that tangent now. She was hoping to ease back into the topic of Diana and Kevin. She wanted a more definitive expression from him about his intent.
“You’re the one with the glamorous career,” Joy said, directing the conversation to his globetrotting. She knew he’d been in Russia, Egypt, then Europe during the past four and a half months. She’d hunted out every picture of his that had been published.
“It’s not at all glamorous. Living out of a backpack most of the time means not always showering. And it’s almost impossible to establish any relationships. As soon as I meet someone I’d like to get to know, I’m off to someplace else.”
Joy tipped her head slightly. “That doesn’t sound at all like the way you used to speak about your career.”
Nick shrugged his shoulders.
Joy was surprised by his change of attitude. It was the excitement she used to hear in his voice that had given her the impetus to seek out a similar career for herself as a journalist. She’d just gotten a go-ahead last Friday to take on an assignment in Bolivia, three days after Diana and Kevin’s wedding. She hadn’t told anyone about it yet. She thought it only right that she give her notice