“Hey,” Melody greeted him, after catching Hadleigh’s eye briefly and then shifting her gaze to Tripp’s face. “Nice to see you again.” “Melody,” he acknowledged with a cordial nod. With that, Tripp Galloway went around Melody, stepped out onto the sidewalk and closed the door behind him. The bell above gave a merry little jingle. Muggles drooped with evident dog-despondency at his departure, plopping down beneath a table display of quilting-related gift items with a soulful sigh. Hadleigh might have found the retriever’s response depressing if she hadn’t been busy pretending not to watch out of the corner of one eye as Tripp opened the door of his truck, the bright September sun catching in his wheat-gold hair, swung up behind the wheel and reached over to ruffle his dog’s ears before starting the engine. “What was that about?” Melody asked. As if she—knowing Hadleigh as well as she knew herself—hadn’t already guessed what “that was about.”
