The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen

Author:Megan Bannen [BANNEN, MEGAN]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2022-08-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

She ran toward Main Street, the clicking of her heels growing louder the farther she got from the noise of the party, until she skidded to a stop on the boardwalk and spotted Hart’s shadowy, lanky silhouette. Uphill. Of course.

“Infuriating man,” she muttered as she hoofed up the boardwalk, pathetically out of breath within seconds.

He turned toward the sound of her clacking shoes, but by the time she reached him, she was breathing too hard to speak.

“What’s wrong?” he said, and Mercy caught a glimpse of the concern and alarm she’d seen when he’d taken her face in his hands after slaying the drudge that morning.

“What’s wrong?” She threw her hands into the air and panted. “You rescue me from a drudge, but you ditch me on the dance floor with that weasel?”

“I thought he was your boyfriend.”

“Ex-boyfriend.”

“Oh.” He considered this. “He does resemble a weasel.”

“He is a weasel.”

“Sorry.” Hart stuffed his fists into his pockets and wore a face as guilt ridden as Leonard’s that time he managed to get onto the kitchen counter and eat the last two fancy chocolates left in the box that Pop had given her for her twenty-ninth birthday.

“What is happening here? One minute you hate my guts, and the next minute, you’re dancing with me like we’re…” She waved her hand at him as if whatever she wanted to say was written all over the front of his shirt. “Why are you being nice to me all of a sudden?”

“Maybe the better question to ask is, why were we so mean to each other to begin with?”

“I don’t know!” Her voice was so shrill that a dog barked in the distance.

Hart frowned at the toes of his boots, and while Mercy didn’t know what exactly she had intended to do once she had caught up to him, she was fairly certain this was not it. She tried a more peaceful tack.

“Do you like cake?”

Hart blinked at her. “Cake?”

“Coconut cake.”

“Yes?” he answered doubtfully.

“Oh, good. I was afraid you were one of those horrible men who don’t have a sweet tooth and never eat desserts.”

“I am horrible, but I like cake.”

Mercy clutched her skirt, as if the cotton could infuse her with bravery. “Would you like a slice of coconut cake?”

“Is this a hypothetical question?”

“No, there’s a literal coconut cake waiting for me at home. Zeddie brought it over to cheer me up this afternoon, and I haven’t had any yet.”

“You’re inviting me over for cake?”

“Yes.”

“Now?”

“Yes.” Mercy’s poor skirt was going to be as wrinkled as her great-aunt Hester by the time she was through with it.

Hart’s shy reticence made inexplicably fluttery things happen behind Mercy’s breastbone. “All right,” he said, and the flutter inside Mercy’s chest burst into applause.

They walked for half a block in silence. The will-he-kiss-me-at-the-door frisson of a first date wafted around them, when, obviously, this had never been and never would be a date, and the whole point was that he was coming inside for an innocuous slice of cake anyway.

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