but I think it’s all under control now,” she said.
“See you at home, Kevin,” he said, then turned on his heel and walked away.
Beside her, Kevin released the breath he’d obviously been holding.
“For a minute there, I thought he was going to tell me not to stay out too late,” he grumbled. “Do I look like I’m sixteen?”
“I think he was sweet. He was obviously curious about what was going on with the two of us.”
“Which he will now report far and wide,” Kevin said, his expression grim. “You should have locked your shop door when you saw me coming today. You could have saved yourself a lot of grief.”
“But then my shelves wouldn’t be up,” she reminded him. “That’s worth a little meddling.”
“We’ll talk again in a day or two,” he said direly. “See if you still feel that way.”
She studied him for a moment, then risked a question that had been on her mind most of the day. “How is it that you have time to help me out? Is your job really flexible?”
The frown, which she’d come to recognize as an immediate response when she was cutting a little too closely to a nerve, returned.
“I’ve been taking some time off.”
The response told her a lot, yet nothing at all. “Vacation?” she asked. “Or are you between jobs?”
His frown deepened. “Is there some reason you’re so curious about my employment history?” he asked testily.
Shanna backed down at once. She’d definitely hit a nerve. “I’m sorry if I was prying. Sometimes my curiosity gets the best of me.”
He sighed then. “No, I’m the one who should be sorry. I’m just sensitive, because my family’s been bugging me to get back to work. Not because I’m sponging off of them. I have money and I’m paying my share of expenses around the house. They think I’m drifting.”
“Are you?” she asked before she could stop herself. “Sorry, there I go again.”
This time he didn’t take offense. Instead, he shrugged. “It’s true. I am drifting. I was a paramedic before I went overseas. I was a medic in Iraq. That’s how I met …” He drew in a deep breath.
Shanna stayed silent and waited, sensing that he was struggling to find the words to finish the story.
“It’s how Georgia and I met,” he said at last, a catch in his voice. “When I came back, I got a job with a rescue unit in Virginia, while she was stationed at Fort Belvoir. Then she went overseas again. Six months into her tour, that’s when she was killed. I quit my job and moved home.”
“With all that training, I’m sure—”
Kevin cut her off. “Never again. I don’t want to go back to that kind of work. I can’t explain it, but I don’t.”
“Then what will you do?”
He gave her a wry look. “That’s the million-dollar question.” He stood up abruptly. “Look, it’s late. I need to be getting home. I’ll walk you back to the shop.”
“It’s just around the corner,” she protested. “I’ll be fine.”
He gave her an impatient look. “My truck’s just around the corner, too. I’ll walk you back.”
She gave in. “Thank you,” she said. “Let me get a cup of coffee to go and pay the bill.”
His eyes widened. “You planning on an all-nighter?”
She laughed. “I’ll get decaf, but I can’t seem to get anything done without a cup of coffee.”
“Maybe you should consider getting some sleep instead. I’ll be over here first thing to help you again. We’ll have everything in place by the end of the day tomorrow.”
“I can’t ask you to spend another day dealing with shelves and boxes.”
“You didn’t ask. I volunteered. Besides, consider it a favor to me. If I’m with you, I’m not being subjected to questions and worried looks at home.”
“Then this is a good deed on my part?”
“Something like that.”
“In that case, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“You get the coffee going, prove you’ve mastered that machine of yours, and I’ll bring some of Gram’s scones. She always bakes on Friday morning.”
“Now, that’s an offer I can’t resist,” she said as she accepted her change and the take-out cup of coffee from their waitress, who thanked her politely, though her gaze never left Kevin’s face.
“Good night, Kevin,” Mary said, her tone breathless. “Come back soon.”
“Good night,” he replied distractedly, clearly oblivious to the young woman’s undisguised interest.
“I think you have a fan,” Shanna said as they walked away.
He regarded her blankly. “Who?” At her gesture, he glanced back. “Mary? She’s a kid.”
“She’s old enough,” Shanna said, though she was vaguely relieved that he didn’t share the girl’s interest.
A few minutes later, in front of her shop, Kevin said, “I’ll wait till you’re inside with the door locked. I still think it would be better if I walked you up to your apartment. I don’t like the idea of you in here all alone late at night.”
“First of all, it’s not that late, barely ten o’clock. Second, Chesapeake Shores is a very safe town. It says so in all the brochures.”
“Do you think the local Chamber of Commerce would announce it if we’d been having a crime wave?”
Shanna laughed at that. “Probably not, but everyone I’ve asked, including the local police chief, has told me it’s true.”
“You spoke to the chief?”
“Of course. I wanted to know if I’d need an alarm system.”
“Very smart.”
“Just because I get flustered over putting together a few shelves doesn’t mean I didn’t do my homework,” she said, bristling at what she took as a hint of condescension in his voice.
“Hey, I wasn’t suggesting you didn’t go into this business with your eyes wide open. I was just praising your foresight.”
Shanna winced. “Sorry. My best friend’s skepticism about all this has made me a little touchy.”
“She thought the store was a mistake?”
“She thinks it’s insane,
