Page 28 of The Forever Christmas Tree

“What? What’s up?” Tony asked, not understanding. He was fairly new to Bell Cove, or at least he hadn’t been around back when . . .

“Nothing,” Ethan snapped, so abruptly that Tony raised his brows.

Instead of making a teasing remark, as he usually did, this time about him turning into the grinch, Tony just gave him a questioning stare. When Ethan didn’t respond, Tony shrugged. “I’ll go get my coat from the office and we’ll head out. Could you ask Laura if she wants to come with us? If I ask, she’ll probably say no, just because she thinks I’m hitting on her.”

Which he usually was. Tony had been batting zero in his attempts to date Laura, and, ordinarily, Ethan wouldn’t mind doing him this favor. But now? With Wendy there? Oh, man! He turned to tell Tony that he would wait in the car out front, but Tony was already gone.

With a deep inhale and exhale of surrender, he stepped forward and spoke to Laura, who was putting on her coat. “Hey, Laura. I was in town dropping Cassie off at the Hendersons’ and thought I’d stop to see if Tony wants to ride with me to the meeting. You want to come with us?”

“Okay. Wait a sec while I go to the ladies’ room. Gotta refresh my makeup to impress Mis-tah I-hold-the-future-of-this-hick-town-in-my-hands Conti.”

He laughed and said, “Sure,” but what he thought was, Oh, shit! Laura’s got her attitude on.

“Good seeing you, Wendy,” Laura called back to her old friend. “Remember, The Bell party on Friday night.” Laura waved and left.

Leaving Ethan alone with Wendy. Well, alone in the middle of a restaurant, but with them, that had never mattered.

That was then, and this is now, he reminded himself.

Yeah, right.

Ethan smiled then when he noticed the red coat she was wearing. “Still channeling Little Red Riding Hood?” He remembered how she cherished that old coat of her mother’s after she died. He remembered how pretty she’d looked in it. Still did.

Now that he’d gotten over the shock of her short hair, he liked it. The way it cupped her head with reddish-brown curls acted as a frame for her face’s smooth skin and perfectly formed features. Except . . . wait . . . was that a thin scar that ran from beneath her left ear, under her chin, and towards her windpipe? She hadn’t had that or any other scars when he’d known her and every part of her young body. Holy crap! Had someone tried to slash her throat?

But then, he had to remind himself that this was only one of the many things that would be different about her now. After all, she was a trained female Navy SEAL now. She’d always been physically fit, an Olympic-level swimmer and diver, and she had taken some karate self-defense classes, but she had a different kind of physique now, and she carried herself differently. Harder. More sharply honed. Hell, she probably killed people. Bad people. The Wendy he’d known wouldn’t kill a mouse. She hadn’t owned a weapon or had the skill to use one, not even a can of frickin’ Mace.

All these changes! Because of me? Or maybe this is the real Wendy I never knew.

“Yeah. Old habits and all that,” Wendy said, knocking him out of his trance.

For a moment he didn’t understand what she meant, but then he realized that she was reacting to his Red Riding Hood remark. Had she taken it as a criticism? He hadn’t meant it that way.

Damn! I’m like a teenager tripping over my own tongue.

She was gathering her purse, taking out a bill to leave on the table for a tip. Obviously, she was in a hurry to leave. With her face flushed to match her coat, she looked as panicked as he felt, or maybe it was just anger, old and new.

He should say something to cool the air. “So, how’s it feel to be back home?” Could I sound any more lame?

“Good and bad.” At least she’d paused in her leave-taking and was looking at him. Closely.

He waited for her to elaborate. Come on, Tony, how long does it take to grab a coat? “Oh?” Another lame remark!

“The good? I love the Outer Banks, you know that.”

So, why have you stayed away? was his unspoken question. “You used to,” he conceded.

She didn’t respond to that jibe, except for a lifting of her chin which further exposed the scar, but went on. “The bad is that it’s not the same here without my dad. Plus, it’s been an adjustment with all those people in the house. You’ve probably heard the rumors about Aunt Mil.”

“I don’t pay much attention to gossip. My grandmother was over there last week, the first time she and your aunt have spoken in twelve years. Said that the people she met seemed nice.”

“What? Twelve years? Are you kidding? They were best friends.”

He shrugged.

“How is your grandmother?”

“Nana is as crotchety and as interfering as ever.”