by Elle Boon
“Is everything okay?” Nova asked, placing her hand over his.
Keifer looked down at the freshly manicured hand, noticing the difference in her slightly darker skin next to his. She had gorgeous dark, almond shaped eyes with long, straight black hair, with a curvy body he wanted to trace with his hands. She was the complete opposite of his wife Rachel who’d been tall, and leanly built with blonde hair, and blue eyes. Rachel had come from a cultured family with impeccable taste and would never have run into a stranger with a coffee in hand. Well, that was until she’d become a full-blown addict. Then she’d run into a stranger and done god only knew what. Nova couldn’t be any more opposite if she’d tried. Yet he wanted her with a passion he couldn’t remember feeling.
He pulled his hand back, feeling as if he was moving too fast. “Yes,” he barked.
Regret hit him as hurt flashed across her face, quickly covered when she turned to Delilah. He listened to the two of them talk, wondering how old Nova was. She could be anywhere from, shit, twenty to thirty would be his guess. Too young for him.
At thirty-eight he was a single father, a widower, and too damn jaded to get involved with a young woman who looked as if she was as pure as the driven snow outside.
“Alright, you folks ready to order?”
Keifer was happy for the interruption. After giving the young girl his order and mentally calculating how much he was going to have to work out in order to burn off the calories, his daughter and then Nova gave theirs.
“My Nana also called in a to-go order,” Nova announced.
“I’ll be sure the cook knows to start on it when I pick up your plates. How’s she doing?” she asked, tucking the pad into the front pocket on her apron.
Nova sighed and gave a crooked grin. “Oh, you know her, she’s assured me she’s fine and will be running circles around town in no time.”
“She probably will be too. Give her my best. I’ll be back shortly.”
Keifer wanted to ask about her Nana, but that was getting too personal. He didn’t do personal. His child on the other hand, had no boundaries.
“What happened to your Nana?”
“She’s sixty-eight and thinks that just because she can, she should, and well, she took a little fall from a ladder. Mind you, she didn’t break anything, but she did injure her leg, which she’s to keep elevated and iced for the first seventy-two hours. After that, the doctor said he’d reassess things. However, if she stands on it for long periods, or monkeys around, she could do some real damage, and then she’ll be in a pickle. The doctor’s words, not mine.” Nova used her fingers to make air quotes.
“She sounds like my dad’s mother. She’s who we refer to as the General.” Delilah laughed, and then got serious. “Is your Nana going to be alright?”
Nova nodded. “She’s going to be just fine. I’m staying with her to make sure she follows orders as much as possible.”
Keifer didn’t say anything, but he thought she should’ve been keeping her eye on her Nana instead of working, but some people couldn’t afford not to work.
NOVA SAW THE CENSURE in his eyes when she mentioned her Nana, and the fact she was staying with her, but here she was, out to dinner. She could’ve explained more, but it wasn’t any of his business. Just as it wasn’t any of hers what they were doing in town.
There wasn’t much more talking after the food arrived. Stacks lived up to their name, with the pancakes coming in two and three-layer stacks of heavenly goodness. Each of them had their own little metal pitcher of syrup. Nova did opt for the sugar-free option, even though her dinner was heavy on carbs and everything else she tried to avoid in her everyday life, she still didn’t want to go home in stretchy pants because her regular clothes didn’t fit.
“These are seriously the best thing since that crepe place in Paris. You know the one I’m talking about, dad.” Delilah pointed her fork across the table with a hunk of blueberry pancake still on it. “Try mine,” she implored.
Keifer shook his head. “I couldn’t eat another bite if I tried.”
Looking at his empty plate, she was seriously amazed to see that he had eaten his entire order. She looked up to find his gaze on her, their eyes meeting. His dark blue holding her as if she was a prisoner. Goodness, she needed to find a different analogy.
“I burn a lot of calories in the gym even on vacation.” He nodded at his plate.
“Err, no judgement from me,” she muttered.
“Oh yeah, he can eat like a horse and never seems to get fat. My mom used to complain because she said she could look at chocolate and her hips gained weight.” Delilah snorted a laugh, then an uncomfortable silence descended.
“I will be paying for these for the next week, which reminds me I best go pay for me and my Nana’s pancakes. Thank you both for inviting me to dinner. If I’d have gone home, it would’ve been another casserole made by one of Nana’s friends. Love them ladies to bits, but they’re all about no salt, and I love salt.” Nova winked at Delilah, standing up while she was speaking.
Keifer stood as well. “I’ll take care of your dinner.”
She gave him a smile, dismissing his offer with a little wave of her right hand. “Heavens no. But thank you for the offer. You two enjoy the rest of your evening. Delilah, it was a delight seeing you this afternoon. Remember what I told you about caring for your color. Mr. Sparks, thank you for your understanding, and well, I hope you enjoy the rest of your time here in Sweetheart.”
At the counter, she paid for not only her and her Nana’s meal, but Keifer and Delilah’s too, making sure to leave a nice tip. Heck, it was the least she could do since she’d cut and colored his underage daughter’s hair without permission. “Not my fault,” she muttered under her breath.
Bag in hand, she left without looking backward even though she really wanted to. Heck, she really wanted to get one more glimpse of Keifer and because of that, she hurried down the sidewalk, fighting against the wind. It was cold in New York, but damn, she was sure the cold there compared to Colorado, was totally different. Or maybe it was that she wasn’t really out in the elements when she was in New York, or maybe it was that she was hurrying down the street at night alone, and darn it, that was new.
“Nova, hold up.”
The deep voice from behind her would’ve scared the crap out of her if she’d been anywhere else. A shiver of something she refused to name, sent warmth through her. Slowing her steps, she waited for Keifer to catch up to her before turning. “Hey,” she said, her breath creating a fog between them.
“Why did you pay for our meal?” he growled.
Her shoulders tensed, thinking he’d come after her for a reason other than to yell at her. Good god, this man and his barking was seriously starting to make her think she had something wrong with her. Just like...nope, she refused to think about other assholes. One was enough. “I paid because I wanted to.”
“You didn’t have to do that. I offered to pay for yours. In fact, we invited you to dinner, which means I should’ve paid for yours by all intents and purposes.”
She wanted to laugh but knew his type and didn’t . “Well, next time you can buy,” she offered.
Keifer looked away, their breaths creating fog around them. “Look, I brought my daughter here so she could meet my wife’s family. We aren’t here long. In fact, we’re leave the day after tomorrow. I’m not here for any sort of—entanglement. And you, Nova, are all kinds of entanglements. I think it’s best we part ways now and forget about paybacks.”
It wasn’t as if she didn’t know they were only passing through, most people who came to Sweetheart, Colorado were, but for him to assume she wanted more pissed her off. What the hell did he think she was going to do?
“For your information, Mr. Sparks, I’m not looking for an entanglement either. And for your information, I’m not planning on sticking around Sweetheart for the rest of my life either, so please, stop making assumptions about me. Now, if that was all you had to say, I’d like
to get home before me and the pancakes for my Nana become icicles.” She gave an exaggerated shiver for affect. He didn’t need to know that she was leaving next week once her Nana was back on her feet.
“That’s good. I’ll see...goodbye, Nova.” Keifer looked her up and down, then turned back toward the way he came.
Nova was tempted to watch him go, but that would be weak, and she wasn’t that girl anymore. Her time of watching a man walk in and out of her life as if she wasn’t worth more was long gone. Being the girl, whose only worth was staying in the kitchen, cooking up meals, and waiting around for the man of the house to show you attention wasn’t her, not anymore. Hell, she was never that girl even when she tried to be. She’d tried too, all for the ring he’d promised. Her heart was the equity, while he’d promised to love her if she could just do this and be more like that. Being picture perfect nearly drove her insane, while he was anything but perfect, showering other women with the things he’d promised her. Instead, she left, found her own way, and found she was worth more. Thanks to her family and their support, she realized she didn’t need to be a wife and mother to be important. For two years, she’d forgotten that. She’d almost given up being a stylist to the stars, even when she’d already had one foot in the door. It took her four more years to build her business back to where it was now. She would never let a man, any man, bring her back to where she’d been.
The quaint little home her Nana owned was on the edge of town, had been completely redone, but still held the rustic charm that was very much her Nana. At the door, she stomped off the snow from her boots, noticing the light was on in the living room. Her Nana always kept the porch light on for her, but tonight it was off. Alarm slithered down her spine thinking something had happened to the older woman.
“Nana,” she called out as she entered the house, uncaring she was trailing wet snow onto the hardwood floors. “Nana,” she yelled again.
“Child, what’s the matter?”
Nova dropped her arm, the bag with the now cold food nearly forgotten. “Why didn’t you leave the light on for me?”
“Oh shoot, I must’ve forgotten. Alice told me I need to get one of those thermal ones.” Her Nana slowly came hobbling in with the help of the cane.
“You mean solar powered?” Nova hurried over to help the older woman, only to stop at the narrowed-eyed-stare.
“Nova Leigh, you stop right there and take those wet boots off.” Her Nana raised the cane as if she was fending off a lion, making Nova snort.
“You go get off your feet while I clean up my mess and get your food warmed up. What would you like to drink?” she asked, her heart still pounding.
She listened with half an ear while she cleaned up the wet floor, then headed into the kitchen to warm up a plate pancakes and the syrup. Although there were little squares of butter in the bag, Nova smeared the kind her Nana preferred on the cakes, then carried them along with a tray, into the living room. Although the house was small, it was open and inviting. “Here you go.”
“You’re a good girl, Nova. Now, tell me all about your date.”
“It wasn’t a date and stop looking at me like that.” Nova wagged her finger at the woman who she could tell was already planning to call Stacks and get details from anyone and everyone who might’ve been there. No thank you. She was in town for a short time and being the focus of local gossip was the farthest thing she wanted to be.
“How am I going to be a great grandmother if you refuse to settle down?” Her Nana harumphed.
After a half hour of her deflecting and outright ordering her Nana to leave it, she took the dishes into the kitchen, cleaned up, and then helped the older woman to bed. Surprisingly, she too was tired. Mountain air and the long day and night clearly had a lot to do with her exhaustion. She climbed into the queen bed in the guest room, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillows. Morning came and with it a sense of clarity. She’d been harboring a sense of not quite loss, but a feeling that she wasn’t good enough. Ever since her breakup with the jackhole of an ex, she’d allowed the things he’d said and done to color her self-worth. Not when it came to business of course, but she had inadvertently allowed his words and actions to keep her from putting herself back out in the dating world. “You’ll come crawling back to me, begging me to take you back. You’ll be lucky if I’ll let you, Nova,” she mimicked his cultured, almost too feminine voice.
After catching him having a threesome with a man and a woman, the man going down on Jeffrey, her ex, she’d been too shocked to do anything but gasp and hurry out of their apartment. That day, she’d walked around Soho in a complete daze, her phone ominously quiet, even though she knew the woman who had been enjoying Jeffrey’s talented tongue had seen her. The catty bitch had smirked even as she’d moaned Nova’s name, telling her to come join them. It had taken a couple hours before her fiancé had deigned to call her, his outrage that she’d returned early his first words.
Strange how meeting a man and his daughter could finally be the catalyst to getting her out of her...funk. Well, maybe it was more the man than the daughter, but she wasn’t going to split hairs within her own mind. The thought made her smile. Another first since she hadn’t had a cup of coffee yet. She hurried through to the bathroom, quickly using the facilities and brushing her teeth then went in search of coffee and to check on her Nana.
Hours later, Nova raised her arms over her head, twisting to the side to ease the ache of standing on her feet. “Linny, do you think my Nana would care if I ordered you ladies some new mats to stand on? I think you all need some new antifatigue ones and with the space you have I would suggest square ones so they cover more ground and would make it less likely for you ladies or my Nana to trip and fall.” She tapped her lips, knowing the ones she was going to order. From just two days, her back was telling her to take a break and could only imagine the impact it had on the others.
“Girl, I have thought of doing just that. You tell me how much, and I’ll pay for mine,” Linny offered.
Nova nodded but had no plans to accept her money. There were several options that were offered. Only the ones she was going to get were over two hundred dollars each. She was going to gift them to the salon and her Nana, so they had comfort and style. Besides, they’d be a tax write off. She quickly found the ones she wanted, making sure they could be delivered before she had to leave. If her Nana was the one who was there to accept delivery, she didn’t think the other woman would accept them. This way, the salon got a little something, and Nova could relax knowing her Nana would too.
“There. They’ll be here the day after tomorrow. What time is your last client?” She noticed Darla had already left while she’d been ringing up her last lady, which meant there couldn’t be too many left on the schedule.
“She just texted to reschedule due to her youngest being sick, so I get to go home early. How about you?” Linny asked while shrugging into her puffy coat.
“I’m done too. Nana has company, so I think I’ll stop by the coffee shop and pick up a treat on my way home. I love how all her friends seem to find a reason to pop over while I’m here. She was worried she’d be bored or lonely, but that hasn’t been the case. As a matter of fact, I noticed a very handsome man walking up the steps as I was leaving today.” She glanced across the salon to see Linny’s reaction.
“That would be Mr. Rhett.” Linny nodded, wrapping a scarf around her neck while affectively avoiding eye contact.
“Come on, Linny. Give me the details. Who is this Mr. Rhett? What’s his first name? Has he been married? Does he have kids, a job? You know, tell me all.” She put her hands up under her chin like she was praying, sticking her bottom lip out.
“First of all, I am not swayed by that.” Linny waved a gloved hand toward Nova. “Second, why don’t you ask your grandmother?”
Nova dropped her hands to her sides. “I did, but she said he was just a friend, which made me break out in a song that was totally inappropriate when you’re talking
to your Nana.”
Linny’s eyes widened, and then laughter burst from her. “Oh my gawd. You’re killing me, smalls.”
She let Linny laugh for another minute until she thought she might hyperventilate. “It’s really not that funny.”
“Yes, yes, it is. I can just picture you singing that and your Nana doing her little dance she does. Have you seen it?” Linny began doing the booty shake and head bop she was referring to while singing the lyrics.
“If you don’t stop it, I will hurt you.” Nova held up the hair dryer like a gun.
“Death by heat,” Linny snorted.
She’d been too engrossed in laughing with the other woman they hadn’t heard the door chime. So, when a voice cleared behind her, she froze. “Please tell me that’s not my Nana?”
“I’ve been referred to as many things, but a Nana isn’t one of them.”
Nova carefully replaced the hair dryer in the holder. She stared at Linny, mouthing in the hopes the other woman was a good lip reader. “Do I look like a crazy person?” Linny, being the woman she was, shook her head, then nodded, then shook her head. Not helping in the least.
She figured she would have to turn around, or he’d think she was crazy or avoiding him, both would fit what she felt was her in that moment.
“Hey,” she said, then wanted to kick herself for such a lame opening. Been there, done that, last night as a matter of fact.
“Alrighty then, I’ll just let myself out. Don’t forget to lock up. You know the drill. Toodles.” Linny hurried out the door without a backward glance.
Nova wanted to beg Linny to stay, kind of. Heck, she wasn’t sure what she wanted except she did. Her dreams the night before were filled with images of the man standing in front of her. Only he was even more handsome in person, which she’d almost convinced herself he hadn’t been.
“I hope I didn’t make her run off?” Keifer looked at the closed door before facing Nova again.