Shadows at Sunset: Sunset Trilogy ~ Book 1 by Tonya Royston

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    “Sounds good. I’ll meet you outside.”
    “I’ll be right there.” I plucked the box of garden burgers from the middle shelf, shut the door, and turned to head back outside. I was determined to enjoy the evening with Noah, but more importantly, to not let my parents notice that I liked him, probably more than I should.

 

    Chapter 5

    Hardly a moment passed after our dinner with Noah that I didn’t think about him. I tried to push him out of my thoughts, but it was useless. I spent all my free time daydreaming, including my jaunts into the woods with Dakota. Even though I kept a book with me at all times, I didn’t get much reading done. My fantasies of Noah proved to be far more interesting. Unfortunately, Dakota always knew what I was thinking. He kept giving me scolding looks every time I thought of Noah.
    “What?” I finally asked him one morning as I sat upon a rock, savoring the late summer sun. “If you don’t like it, stop paying attention to my thoughts. I like him, and I think maybe he likes me, too. So get over it.”
    Without any warning, Dakota leaped toward me and knocked me off the rock, licking my face. “Okay, okay,” I laughed. “I love you, too. Now stop.” I kept giggling until he eased back and stood over me with a serious look in his eyes. “I get it,” I said, sitting up. “You have nothing to worry about. You come first.”
    He huffed as though he had finally heard what he was waiting for and backed away so that I could stand up. I made a mental note to keep my thoughts far away from Noah when Dakota was around. It simply wasn’t worth the battle.
    I returned to work at the pizza shop with only one week left before school started. I needed to pick up as many shifts as I could to beef up my savings. My goal this summer had been to buy a car, but I was far from having enough money saved for that. Since my mother was a school teacher and home during the summer, we had shared the Explorer for the last few months. But I had really hoped to have my own car by the time school started so that I wouldn’t have to take the bus. Ethan also didn’t have a car to drive to school, or I could have ridden with him. The only other option was to ride with my mother which appealed to me even less than riding the bus.
    On my first day back to work, the staff greeted me with cheers and applause. The locals thanked me, reminding me that I was the town hero, or something else equally embarrassing. Fortunately, by mid-week, the hype died down and I was able to relax and get through my shifts without fielding questions about how I had found Ryder.
    It wasn’t until Thursday that I saw Noah again. I was cleaning up from a busy lunch shift when I saw him walk through the front glass door and sit at one of the empty tables. He was hard to miss in his deputy uniform of jeans and a light blue button-down shirt. After removing his sunglasses and placing them on the red and white checked table cloth, he looked around.
    Our eyes met as I wound my way through the maze of tables, some clean and some still cluttered with empty glasses, dirty plates, and crumpled napkins from the lunch rush. I suddenly wished I had the chance to run to the bathroom to check my hair, but it was too late for that. Earlier that day, I had braided my hair in two sections that fell loosely down my back. But as the day wore on, I felt the escaped strands tickling the sides of my face. The only uniform the owner insisted on was a white polo shirt with “Mike’s Pizza” embroidered on the upper left corner. Aside from that, jeans, khakis, or shorts were allowed. I preferred blue jeans. Tied around my waist was a burgundy waitress apron with large pockets to hold a notepad, silverware, and anything else that I might need for the customers.
    “Hi, Noah,” I said as I reached his table. I bit back a huge grin, trying not to show how happy I was to see him.
    He smiled. “Hi. I have to apologize. I’ve been meaning to come by