Tangled Up (Bachelors of Buttermilk Falls #2) by Robyn Neeley

We’re good here.”
    “Good. I hear Bridget’s sister was matched up with your date from last year. I need to go save her.”
    “Yes, you do,” Abby agreed, grateful Ernie had a reason to split.
    “See you two, later. Have a good night.”
    “Bye, Ernie.” Abby wrapped her sweater around her middle. Even with the fire, she was starting to feel the dip in temperature. However, she wasn’t ready to go home just yet.
    “Nice guy,” Brandon said, finishing his plate.
    “Yeah. He really does look out for us. I need to ask Emma if she can rig it for Ernie to get a shot at Batter Up. He deserves to find his soul mate.”
    “Speaking of . . . Maybe I should go to Batter Up night one Monday. Do you think Emma would be willing to make me one of her bachelors?”
    She picked up a small twig, tossing it into the fire. Not only did Brandon not remember their time together, he didn’t remember that Emma had already performed the spell on him almost two months ago, and Abby’s name had appeared in the batter. “I’m sure she would,” she said, trying to hide any hurt feelings. “But aren’t you more of a swinging bachelor these days?”
    “Yeah. It probably wouldn’t show a name for me.”
    Abby finished her wine, ready to end this conversation. “Well, it’s getting late. I should get going.” She stood and her legs wobbled.
    “Hey, why don’t I walk you home?” He leaped out of his chair. “I’ll just put the fire out.”
    “Oh, that’s really not necessary.” She massaged her temple, feeling a little light-headed.
    “Nonsense. Plus, I need to walk off the shortcake.”
    “Okay.” She offered to help clean up and took everything inside while he put out the fire. A few minutes later, she met him out front and they set out down the gravel road toward her cottage. Not having the fire to warm her, she shivered inside her sweater.
    “Cold?”
    “I’ll be fine. How about you, Mr. California? How’s your thin blood handling fall in Upstate New York?”
    “I’m getting acclimated.” He shoved his hands in his coat pockets. “Nothing can compare to taking in the foliage from the lake on a crisp October morning.”
    “Not even a sunrise off the Santa Monica Pier?”
    He shook his head. “Nope.”
    She stopped, surprised she’d never realized just how enchanted he seemed to be with Buttermilk Falls. “Wow. You do like it here, don’t you?”
    “It’s been really good for me. It was time to get away from the fast life, the smog, my ex . . .”
    Suzanne. Abby knew about the ex-wife but not really much about the breakup. “She was a pill, huh?”
    “You could say that.” He kicked a stone with his shoe. “I thought when I finally settled down it would be forever. Guess the joke was on me.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Nothing to be sorry about. Besides, like I said earlier, it’s time to get back on the horse.”
    “Well, I think there’s a story there.”
    “Really? What?”
    “Yeah.” She attempted her best serious voice. “A reporter determined to get his life back on track stumbles upon a backwater town where the residents have been hiding a delicious secret that could change the world as we know it.”
    He laughed, and she could tell he knew exactly where she was going with it. “I don’t know if Mel’s BBB Burger is really New York Times list material.”
    “Suit yourself. I just gave you an awesome hook, but if you can’t handle it . . .”
    “I’ll give it some serious consideration.”
    They’d reached her home all too quickly, and disappointment greeted her. “Well, thank you for dinner and being such a good sport.”
    “It was fun.”
    His genuine smile caught her off guard and caused awkward silence to circle them for a few seconds before she shoved her hand in her sweater pocket and pulled out her house keys.
    This date had not gone anything like she expected. It had been so much better. Never in a million years did she suspect they’d spend the evening getting to know