Free The Sweetness of Honey (A Hope Springs Novel) by Alison Kent Page B

quarter his size and obviously in charge. Indiana would’ve enjoyed watching the mismatched two rough-and-tumble across the yard, but she was too focused on the Butters Bakery box in Kaylie’s hand. “I hope you have an extra muffin in there. I’m starving.”
    Kaylie laughed, then as Indiana came closer, frowned. Luna opened the door just as Kaylie asked of Indiana, “Are you okay?”
    “I’m fine, why?”
    “Well, not to be rude, but your hair is a bit wilder than usual. You obviously slept in more makeup than I think I’ve ever seen you wear.” Kaylie paused to continue her once-over. “I’m going to guess you also slept in the clothes you have on, clothes, by the way, which I have never seen on you before.”
    “Those are date clothes,” Luna said, causing Indiana to look down at her skinny black pants and frothy white swing top, at the ruby stilettos on her feet that had her missing her boots. “And that’s what’s left of a date face.”
    Then it was back to Kaylie. “Which brings us to the question of where you went to bed, and if you went there alone.”
    Indiana started to ask herself if caffeine was worth this grilling. Then she stopped. “I slept on the floor of the cottage between two furniture pads.” Truth was stranger than fiction.
    “Because . . .” Kaylie let the sentence trail.
    That one was easy. “I got back late from Austin and didn’t want to drive home.”
    But Kaylie wasn’t appeased. “Buda’s between Austin and Hope Springs. That doesn’t make sense.”
    “It does if she had to come back here because she wasn’t alone,” Luna said, still standing in the barn’s doorway.
    These two women gave better third degree than Tennessee. “I wasn’t alone in Austin. I was alone in my cottage. And I think I may have a problem.”
    “You think?” Luna asked on top of Kaylie’s “You don’t know?”
    “I’m kinda in over my head here,” Indiana said in answer to both.
    “There’s only one thing it can be.” This from Kaylie.
    “A man.” This from Luna.
    “Yes. And no.” Indiana looked from one woman to the other. “More like two men.”
    Kaylie glanced down at the box she held. “I’m not sure we have enough muffins for this story.”
    It wasn’t the muffins Indiana was worried about. “There won’t be any story if I don’t get coffee ASAP.”
    “Coffee I can do,” Luna said, urging both Kaylie and Indiana through the door, then through what had once been a barn, but had since been converted, and into a kitchen Indiana could see herself never leaving.
    She, who grew vegetables for a living but wasn’t much of a foodie, not to mention a terrible cook. “Luna. This is amazing.”
    Spice racks and suspended copper pots and bakeware glazed in delicious shades of olive and aubergine. The walls were exposed brick and what looked like original wood weathered to gray, the floor a variegated travertine to match. The small appliances were the same stainless steel as the large ones, all of it brought together by a center island with barstools along two sides.
    “It is, and it’s more deserving of someone who actually has time to enjoy it.” Luna turned on the espresso maker, and filled the milk-foaming attachment before snapping it into place. Then she pulled three latte mugs from the cupboard. “Angelo and I end up eating out way too often, though it turns out when he has the time, he can put together Tex-Mex to die for.”
    “In this kitchen?” Indiana wondered if she could replicate this design on a smaller scale in her cottage. “Even I could put together Tex-Mex to die for.”
    “Which reminds me,” Luna said, as she switched out a full mug for an empty and ran the machine through its cycle again. “You’re coming to our Halloween party next week, yes? Mitch and Dolly are doing a huge taco spread, and we’ll have tons of goodies.”
    “Of course, though I have no idea what I’m going to do about a costume.” Indiana accepted the mug and sugar