It's About Time (Hunt Family #5) (10 page)

I smiled when our eyes met. "Possibly," I said, being elusive.

He screwed up his face, regarding me like I was crazy for not coming clean. "Annabel," he said. He spoke my name with a whole ton of underlying meaning. He wanted me to be upfront and honest, and I was so shy about it that it was impossible to not be awkward. I sighed, knowing I was being ridiculous and I was going to have to come clean about it sometime.

"I'm not seeing him anymore," I said with a shy smile as I glanced at the front of his T-shirt.

"You broke up with him?" he asked.

It took me a second to work up the nerve, but I nodded.

"Like in your head, or actually in front of him?"

"In front of him," I said. "And it wasn't fun."

"Please don't ever say that again," he said with a little smile.

I laughed. "I mean
he
didn't make it easy. It was okay for me, though. I'm fine."

"When did this breakup happen, might I ask?" he asked, leaning toward me in such a way that said he had me in his trap and there was no escape. I didn't
want
a way to escape. I was perfectly content in this particular trap.

"The other day," I said.

"The other day, like the day I came to this town?" Evan asked, leaning even closer.

"Probably," I said unable to get a good breath of air into my lungs.

"Annabel," he said with a serious but otherwise unreadable expression.

"Yeah?"

"Why in the world are you just telling me this?"

"Telling you what?"

He smiled. "You're hilarious," he said.

"What?"

"Why are you just sharing this piece of information with me after we've been hanging out all morning?"

I smiled at him with wide eyes. "I didn't think I would really be able to tell you the right thing."

"I'm not even sure what that means, but it's certainly not a good reason to make me think you still have a boyfriend all morning."

"Would it matter?" I asked.

"Would it matter?" he asked, repeating my question like he couldn’t possibly have heard me correctly.

I giggled and shook my head. "Would it?" I asked, squirming as he got closer and closer.

He put his mouth an inch from my ear, causing me to take an unsteady breath. "It would matter very much," he said.

Chapter 13

Evan was standing so close to me that I had trouble remembering to breathe. The car door was open, and the next logical step was for me to turn and sit down, but I couldn’t make myself do it—not with him right next to me.

"It wasn't because of you," I said. "I don’t want you to think I broke up with him because of—"

"Why would you
not
want me to think that?" he asked, not giving me the chance to finish.

I shrugged shyly as I glanced down. He was several inches taller than me and broad in the chest. His presence was utterly manly, and he had the capability of rendering me speechless and breathless in a way no other man ever had. I glanced at him to see his full lips curved upward in a confident grin.

"Why would you not want me to think that?" he repeated since I hadn't answered his question.

"I don't know," I said, shyly. "I guess I just didn't want you to think it was about you or whatever."

He smiled wryly at me, and we were both quiet for a few seconds before he finally said, "You're in trouble now," as if he was just stating a fact.

I let out a little laugh. "I think
you're
the one who's in trouble," I said, sitting in the passenger's seat.

Evan had been standing really close, and I was almost certain he was going to try to kiss me, but I couldn’t let it happen. The feeling of this whole moment being too good to be true was so overwhelming that my heart felt like it was about to jump out of my chest. I did the only logical thing, and put an end to it.

Evan closed my door and crossed to the driver's side to get in. He was a tall guy with a muscular, athletic body, and I watched as he climbed into the seat. He smiled at me as he started the engine. "I was planning on taking you back to your car, but that was before," he said, pulling into traffic.

"Before what?" I asked.

"Before this new information came to light," he said.

"Where are you bringing me now?" I asked, feeling giddy at the thought of going anywhere with him.

I spent the rest of the day with Evan.

First, he brought me to the three locations he was considering for his restaurant. He was buying into a casual but upscale restaurant idea he had discovered when he was in Florida one time on a photo shoot. They made traditional style tacos with fresh, local ingredients, and Evan had believed in the concept from the first one he tasted. He told me all about it, and I thought it would be a great fit for Charlotte. I gave him my opinions about all three of the locations he showed me, and he seemed receptive to and agreed with what I had to say.

It was 4PM when we finished looking at locations. I assumed he would bring me back to my car at that point, but instead, he brought me to my mom's house to pick up Cupcake. My mom had a nice back yard with a small vegetable garden, and we ended up drinking coffee and sitting out there for a while.

Evan invited me to his parents' house for dinner. His mom was apparently making lasagna and had already invited Evan to eat with them. I hesitated to intrude, but he insisted, saying they would be happy to have me over.

I had been friends with Paige and Mia for several years, but I had never been to Dan and Christy's house. It was just as all-American as I imagined it would be. It was a white, two-story house with a landscaped yard—there was even a swing hanging from a large tree in the front yard. It was inviting and picturesque, and I couldn't help but smile as I imagined Evan and his siblings growing up there.

I was reluctant about bringing Cupcake inside and asked if we should go ahead and put her in the back yard, but Evan insisted that his parent's would love her and it was fine to bring her in the house.

"I brought company!" he called when he opened the front door.

"Who is it?" I heard his mom yell through the barking.

They obviously already had a dog in the house, because a flat-faced dog that I thought might be a Pug or a French Bulldog came up to us barking it's head off and freaking out to greet Cupcake. My dog might have been five times that dog's size, but you never would have known it with the way Cupcake stood there in a cowered, submissive pose while the smaller, feisty dog checked her out. Her tail was tucked, and her ears were slicked back as she stared at me with wide eyes waiting for the inspection to be over.

"This is Nelson, girl," Evan said, reaching down to pet Cupcake's side to comfort her.

Nelson quit barking and turned to walk away but quickly turned back to stare at Cupcake like he wanted her to follow him. Cupcake looked at me for approval like she was a four-year-old child rather than a dog.

I unclipped the leash from the collar. "Go on," I said.

Before Evan and I ever had the chance to round the corner from foyer to the living room, I could hear his parents' exclamations about Cupcake. She was a striking dog, and people always reacted.

"Where'd you get this?" his mom yelled just as we walked around the corner.

"At the biscuit place this morning," Evan said. "Oh, did you mean the
dog
?" he added, joking around.

That comment made his mom glance at him, which caused her to notice me for the first time.

"Hello there, Annabel, how are you doing?"

"Just fine, thank you," I said. I held the leash, which was folded in my hand toward Cupcake, who was reluctantly getting the grand tour of the living room from Nelson. "Are you okay with her being in here?" I asked.

Evan bumped my elbow when I asked that, and I glanced at him. "I told you she's fine," he said.

"Of course she is," Christy said, petting Cupcake and staring at her like she was the most interesting looking dog she had ever seen. "You don't see too many of these, do you?" she asked, talking to me, but still staring at Cupcake.

"They're a popular breed, but we don't meet too many of them," I said as Evan and I walked into the living room to join his parents. Evan's dad was sitting in a recliner, but he had gotten to the edge of it in order to reach out and pet Cupcake. His mom sat on a nearby ottoman when she went to get a closer look, and I walked over there to sit beside her. I reached out and hugged her with one arm as I sat down.

"Hey sweetie," she said, squeezing me.

"Hey," I said.

"I'm glad you joined us," she said. "You're staying for dinner, aren't you?"

"I already promised her the best lasagna she's ever eaten, so I hope it came out good," Evan said.

Christy looked at me with an exasperated expression. "I hope he did no such thing," she said, making me giggle.

"He didn't, but I'm starving, so you could pretty much feed me a boot right now, and I'd think it was delicious.

Everyone laughed at my statement before she said, "I hope it'll taste a little better than a boot, but I'm glad you don't have your heart set on the best thing you've ever eaten."

"Well, it smells delicious," I said.

Evan's dad put the dogs in the back yard while we ate. We would periodically glance out there from the dinner table and laugh at what a funny looking pair the two of them were.

Eating dinner with his parents only intensified my feelings toward Evan, which were already at scary levels. Dan and Christy Hunt were still in love with each other after all these years, and that made them a fun couple to be around. We talked and laughed the whole time we ate. They told embarrassing stories about themselves and Evan, and made me spill a few of my own. I was completely and totally hooked on the Hunts. I knew they were a good family, but sharing a meal with them gave me a new understanding of that.

Evan had a trip to Haiti coming up soon with the environmental group he was a part of. It was something he had already committed to before he decided to move back to Carolina, and his parents wanted to know all the details about it since it would run right into their annual Myrtle Beach trip and they would have to pick him up from the airport there.

I knew they were going to Myrtle Beach, but it was the first I had heard about Evan's plans to go to Haiti beforehand. I wasn't necessarily surprised, since I knew Evan was a bit of a gypsy, but I can't lie and say I wasn't a little sad about it. He would be leaving in three days, and I wouldn't see him again until after they were back from the beach.

During the conversation, he invited me to go to Myrtle Beach with them, and Dan and Christy insisted I'd be welcome. As much as I wished it were a possibility, I had to decline. It was wedding season, and Paige and Mia would already be away for the week, so I knew there was no way to make it happen. Believe me, I wanted to say I could go, (or at least say I could consider it) but my schedule was already full for the week. There was simply no way it could happen. I tried not to be bummed out about Evan's back-to-back trips, but it was difficult. I did my best to act like I didn't care when he was talking to his parents about it.

"I'm gonna walk Annabel outside to meet Prince," Evan said after we finished the ice cream his dad scooped into bowls for us. (Mr. Hunt actually offered me a cone, if you can believe that.
What kind of family keeps ice cream cones in their pantry?
They claimed they were there for the grandkids, but I just counted it as another example of how amazing they were.)

Evan let the dogs inside when we went out to see Prince, whoever that was.

"Who's Prince?" I asked.

"He's right over here," Evan said, pointing.

It was dark out, so it was difficult to see for sure, but it looked like a water feature of some sort. As we got closer, I could see that a waterfall was cascading over some rocks into a pond. There were ferns and flowers, and it was beautifully built and landscaped.

"My dad made me help him build this years ago when he was trying to convince me I should build koi ponds for a living."

"Are there koi in there?" I asked, even though we weren't quite close enough to peer in.

"Yeah, but we have to come over here first." He tugged on my arm to get me to follow him to a shed that sat in the corner of the yard. He opened the shed door and went inside. I stood in the doorway to let in what little light there was outside. "There's a light in here, but I know what I'm looking for," Evan said, grabbing something off a shelf. He brought down a white, plastic tube and began opening the screw-top lid.

"Food?" I asked, putting the pieces together.

He smiled and nodded as he reached out to take my hand. My heart skipped a beat at his touch despite how brief it was. He poured a small amount of the food into my hand before taking some for himself, screwing on the lid, and stashing the container on the shelf again.

"Prince is either a koi fish or a frog, and I assume we're about to feed him," I said.

"He's a fish, but I like the idea of a frog being named Prince. That's good," Evan said, smiling at me as we walked toward the pond.

"I thought since his name was Prince, he might be one," I said.

He laughed. "That'd be a great name for a pet frog, but this Prince is just an old fish." He stooped down next to the edge of the pond and held out a piece of food between his thumb and forefinger.

Before I knew what was happening, a fish's head emerged from the darkness, and a gaping hole appeared where his mouth opened. I watched in awe as Evan dropped the food into the fish's open mouth. It was gigantic. The round, open mouth could have easily fit a baseball inside. Okay, so maybe not a baseball, but at least a ping-pong ball—easily a ping-pong ball.

It gently opened and closed onto Evan's fingertips as he gave it bits of food. I was so enthralled by watching the fish eat that I hadn't even realized I was holding on to Evan's shoulder. He glanced at my hand and then up to meet my eyes with a smile.

"That thing eats right out of your hand," I said.

He continued smiling as he nodded.

"Does it hurt?" I asked.

"Not at all," he said, "He's really gentle."

I made a face like the whole idea seemed a little scary to me. "I wasn't raised with brothers," I said. "I can handle a dog, but I've never been too keen on fish, or bugs, or lizards. I love him and everything," I said, pointing to Prince, "but I'll just toss the food in from here if it's all the same to y'all."

"Is it all the same to you?" Evan asked, in a completely serious tone, aiming his question at Prince. He stared at the pond for a few seconds as if waiting for Prince's response before glancing back at me with a regretful expression. "He said he'd rather you feed him," Evan said, shaking his head slightly. "I just don't think there's any way to get around it."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Can't you just do it and say it's from me?"

He laughed. "I'm afraid he'll have his feeling's hurt." He stood and positioned me in front of him before guiding my hand to the edge of the pond. He was right behind me, holding my hand in his so that we could do it together. I would have done just about anything to stay in that position, including stick my hand in a hungry fish's mouth.

"I'm scared," I whispered, turning my head into his chest a little as if I couldn’t bear to look.

"Don't be," he said, urging my hand down to the surface of the water.