“I know. Now, come on.” Mason started riding his bike away. He knew Lila would follow.
* * *
“Where the hellare you taking me?” Lila asked for the millionth time a little while later.
They were riding toward the edge of town and heading right into the woods. Of course, they wouldn’t be able to get to their destination on bikes, but he figured it was a nice date activity for a small town.
“You’ll see.”
“Better not be Lover’s Lane,” she mumbled.
“Does Half Moon Key evenhavea lover’s lane?”
“Are you joking? Every small town has a Lover’s Lane. It’s basically a law.”
He turned to look at her, keen at seeing her reaction when he asked, “And did you ever go to Lover’s Lane with anyone when you were a kid?”
She shrugged coyly. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“Sure would.”
“Why? Would you be jealous?”
“You got that right. I would be jealous, but I’m also curious. Did you sneak out of the house to kiss a cute boy under the stars?”
“I snuck out and met Tyler Brody at Lover’s Lane. We kissed, but there were no stars. Also, he wasn’tthatcute, and he wasnota good kisser.”
Mason tried not to let that get to his head. He couldn’t…wouldn’t…compete with a teenage escapade from her past. That was straight-up nuts.
He would just have to make sure that his kisses were much,muchbetter than little Tyler Brody.
“Did you grow up in a small town?” she asked.
“What? No. Cohen and I grew up in a big city.”
“That is kinda surprising. I mean, you give off major big city vibes, but your brother doesn’t. He looks like a small-town Sheriff.”
Mason laughed. “Yeah, he totally does. He never liked the city much. Neither did I, to be honest. I just fit in more than he did.”
“I believe that. So why did you leave the big city to come to Half Moon Key?”
Whatever you do, do not tell her the truth. It’ll ruin everything.
“Well, Cohen is here,” he finally answered. “I missed my big brother.”
She rolled her eyes. “You left your fancy life because you missed your brother?”
“Yeah, and there were things I didn’t want to deal with in the city anymore.”There. That was the truth.
“Oh? Like what?”
Mason really didn’t want to tell her. There was every chance that it would only push her away, and that was the last thing he wanted just as their date was going well. It was too soon. Surely, she would understand. She had stuff she preferred not to talk about.
“Lila,” he smiled at her. “Do you have any idea how lonely the world can be out there? Even when there’s a whole bunch of people around. If not one of them matters, what’s the point? Half Moon Key is different because I give a crap about the folks here.
“I want Mrs. Francis to keep on eating her carrots. And I want Joe and the other fisherman to have a good day out on the water. I want to know if you’re taking breaks. I want to make you a new recipe and watch you taste it. I wanna leave the kitchen and see you twirling around. I wanna close the diner with you and dance again.”
Lila’s eyes were wide, though they weren’t aimed at him. She was looking down at her hands. Her fingers were all twisted. “That’s a whole lot of things you want, Mason.”