Abby wondered where to start. She thought again about Beauty and the Beast, when the Beast had ordered Belle to eat with him and she'd refused. In the fairy tale, she hadn't refused, but instead had gone to dinner with him. At dinner each night, he'd asked her to marry him. And every time, she refused—until one night when she didn't.
Mark, though, wasn't a beast. He was gruff and he wasn't good at small talk. But she had a distinct feeling this was due to shyness.
What was it about him that she found so intriguing? After he'd been rude to her earlier, she should've run back home. She'd known that, and yet she'd gone to buy groceries with the money he'd given her. And then she'd made dinner.
She'd been angry with him as she'd shopped for food. She'd wanted to hit him with something very
