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“Then why are you moping over her, dude?”

Micah shut the laptop lid. It wasn’t like he was really looking at it anyway. “I’mnot.”

Fudge pulled a near-empty bag of Cheetos from the pantry. “You’re certainly moping over something and every time I say the name Maddie Bauers—”

Micah winced.

“—you wince. What’s that about?”

Damn Fudge and his inquisition. He crossed his arms and leaned against the counter. “She wants me to be a silent partner.”

“So?” He popped a Cheeto in his mouth and grimaced. “These are stale as crap.” He put another three in his mouth, crunching noisily.

“They’re from before Colorado. I’ll put them on the list for the housekeeper. She won’t be here until Monday, though.”

“That’s cool.” Fudge ate another Cheeto. “Anyway, I thought you were just helping Maddie out financially. Are you interested in contributing creatively?”

Micah watched Fudge as he put yet another Cheeto in his mouth. “Why do you keep eating them if they’rebad?”

Fudge shrugged. “Why aren’t you answering my question?”

Micah took another swig of his water, noticing that his head felt the slightest bit better. Talking no longer seemed quite so unbearable. “I’m not interested in contributing creatively.” How could he explain how he felt about being sidelined on Maddie’s movie? “I just…I don’t know…I really enjoyed talking through the process with her. It made me remember why I loved this whole business in the first place because she’s still so fresh about it. She has a good eye, very creative. Super intelligent. And when she gets a new idea or hits a roadblock, she likes to bounce it off someone.” He paused, remembering. “She’ll get all fidgety and she starts pacing and talking with her hands. And her beautiful brown eyes get all big and bright.” He smiled. “By the time she’s finished telling it, she’s always worked it out herself, but it’s stimulating to be near her when…what?”

Fudge was staring at Micah, his mouth gaping. “You’re in love withher.”

“Whatever.” Micah crossed to the fridge and opened it, pretending to look for something to eat, even though he had zero appetite.

Fudge slammed his hand on the counter. “You’re totally in love with her!” He chuckled. “Does sheknow?”

“No,” Micah answered quickly. Too quickly. He backtracked. “There’s nothing to know. Just drop it.” He shut the refrigeratordoor.

Fudge wasn’t dropping it. He followed Micah outside to the veranda. “Why the hell did you break things off withher?”

“I have rules, remember?” God, the sun was bright. “No dating. No serious relationships.”

“It’s your own stupid rule. You can breakit.”

“The rule exists for a reason. It’s not stupid.” Micah circled back into the house, out of the blinding sun, Fudge in tow. “It’s a proven fact that relationships in this town do notwork.”

“Then why were you seeing her in the first place?”

He stopped walking and turned to face Fudge. “Exactly. Noclue.”

Fudge shook his head as if disgusted with Micah’s answer.

So Micah amended his statement. “Because she made me think that maybe I was wrong. But I wasn’t.” Except he hadn’t known if he was wrong or not. He’d wanted to see what happened with her. He sighed. “I asked her if she wanted to keep seeing me on the down-low.” He wandered into the den and threw himself face down on the couch. “But she didn’t wantthat.”

Fudge sat on the couch arm and threw the bag of Cheetos on the coffee table. “She didn’t want to see you anymore?” Surprise laced his voice.

“I didn’t say that exactly,” Micah said into the couch pillow.

“Hmm.” Fudge stood and crossed to where he could look at Micah directly. Then he walked toward the kitchen, but returned a second later, his arms crossed.

Micah leaned himself up on one elbow. “Do you have something tosay?”

“Yes, I do.” Fudge took a deep breath. “You’re an asshole.”

“What?”