‘What, like it’s hard?’ She finished pouring the coffee and added a healthy splash of hazelnut flavoring to one cup before sliding them both across the counter. ‘I’m kidding. Goodness, you should have seen me earlier. Someone ordered a double-cupped non-fat sugar-free vanilla latte and I almost ran out the back door.’
‘Wow, what ever happened to a regular old cup of coffee?’
‘Finally, someone who gets it!’ she laughed. ‘Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful for the job, and I’ll be doing the same kind of thing once I get to Chicago, but if you can lose your breath trying to place your order, your cup of coffee is a little too complicated.’
‘I guess we’re just not connoisseurs in such things,’ Jason reasoned.
‘There’s nothing wrong with simple.’
‘That’s good, because I’m a simple man, Lily.’ He wasn’t sure if he had meant it to come out as playful as it did, but the way his choice of words had stilled Lily behind the counter, the way she stared at him as though she was trying to figure him out, he was glad he’d said it. The idea that she was thinking about him, the way he had been thinking about her, held an allure he wasn’t quite ready to contemplate, though. ‘So, anyway—’
A shrill ring interrupted his attempt at recovering some safe ground. Even Lily looked surprised at the sound, ripping her gaze away from him to reach for the cordless phone on the counter. Another ring rang out, but no lights lit up on the phone’s display.
‘I think it’s … yours?’ Jason instinctively patted his shirt pocket for his cell. It wasn’t his ringtone, though, so it had to be hers.
Flustered, Lily pulled her phone from the back pocket of her jeans. Sure enough, it was lit up and the sound grew louder. Whatever she saw on the screen had her eyes widening at the sight of it.
‘Dang it,’ she hissed. ‘I’ve got to take this.’ Lily held up a finger, then ducked into the back room. Sonya and Eden emerged a moment later, with the former shaking her head as she took up her post at the counter.
‘That girl’s far too apologetic over a phone call,’ she said. ‘Especially when she hasn’t taken a break since she got here this morning. Your friend caught on quick, Jason. She’s wonderful.’
His mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. ‘She’s not … I mean, Lily’s a smart cookie.’
He didn’t know what to say. Lily wasn’t his friend, but she wasn’t not his friend, either. She wasn’t his anything. He was just fixing her car so she could ride out of town on her white horse. Or, in her white Corolla. Same difference at this point, since both a trusty steed and a reliable vehicle would get her where she wanted to be. Which wasn’t here. ‘Anyway, I just wanted to update her about her car—’
‘So, you’d better wait till she’s done on the phone so you can.’ Sonya didn’t miss a beat, waving toward an empty booth.
A few minutes ago, Lily’s confidence had made everything else drift into the background, but Sonya’s surety regarding what he had and hadn’t yet said brought his surroundings crashing into the forefront of his mind. He should have known, but realizing that the meddling woman had been eavesdropping from somewhere beyond the doorway of the back room rubbed Jason the wrong way.
‘Sonya,’ he groaned, ‘You and Nancy might mean well, but you’re barking up the wrong tree.’
‘Maybe.’ She shrugged theatrically. ‘But maybe not. I’m just saying, don’t ignore what’s right in front of you.’ The only thing missing from her pompous response was, So there.
‘There’s nothing to ignore.’
‘And there’s everything to see,’ she countered, eyebrows raised in silent challenge.
He might as well have been talking to a brick wall. Honestly, how in the world was he supposed to make Sonya Ritter and her sister see things his way, when he had no idea what exactly his way was? God, he was confusing himself. Defeated, he set the coffees down and raised his hands, surrendering. ‘You win,’ he replied. He was fighting a losing battle. Saying anything more would be futile, anyway.
Reaching a hand out, Sonya patted his arm. ‘It’s not about winning or losing, Jason. It’s about the journey of the race. And you can’t run the course with your eyes shut.’
He glared at her. ‘I don’t know what you think I’m running from—’
‘Oh, Jason, dear, if you don’t know that, your eyes have been shut a lot longer than I realized.’
He was relieved he had let go of the two coffee cups, because his hands clenched just as tightly as his jaw. So, this wasn’t about Lily at all. Not completely, anyway. ‘Sonya, you are—’
‘Sorry about that.’ Lily bounded around the corner, shoving her phone back into her pocket. The tension between Jason and Sonya was obviously written in his tight features. She stopped in her tracks. ‘What did I miss?’
‘Sonya wants Jason to run with his eyes open.’ Eden’s voice was small amongst the coffeehouse chatter, but the matter-of-fact tone she used, coupled with Lily’s furrowed eyebrows and genuinely puzzled expression eased Jason’s tension and caused a bubble of laughter in his throat. He didn’t mean to laugh. The conversation was far from funny. But he had honestly forgotten the little girl was still peering up at him from the edge of the counter. And Eden’s summary was spot on, even if it was slightly misinterpreted.
‘The weird part is, she’s not wrong.’ He chuckled, pulling the coffee cups into his hands again. ‘But I really should be going. Branch will never let me hear the end of it if his coffee’s cold by the time I give it to him.’
‘Remember what I said.’ Sonya pointed a long, painted fingernail at him. The strength that emanated from her belied her age.
‘No need to worry about that,’ Jason assured her. ‘You make it hard to forget.’ He cast a glance in Lily’s direction. To hell with the ruse about car parts. He just wanted to get away from Sonya’s watchful eye. ‘See you later, Lily. Bye, Eden.’ He gave the little girl a bright smile and a wink, then headed back out onto the bustling sidewalk.
The air, though warm and humid, hit him with the force of a man who’d just broken the surface after being plunged into the deep sea. It was fresh and cleansing on his tongue as he breathed it in, filling his lungs. Sonya’s riddles had all but drowned him in his own confusion, only adding weight to the pressure on his chest that kept him submerged. It was that feeling that had pushed him out of the coffeehouse. Not because he couldn’t take in an adequate breath, but because he didn’t need Sonya’s misguided anecdotes creating friction where there didn’t need to be. Lily didn’t need that kind of drama, either.
‘Jason?’
He whirled around, almost crashing into a couple of pedestrians who hadn’t expected him to stop. Muttering his apologies, he watched as Lily let the door close behind her before she closed the gap between them. Her ponytail swayed, the light hue of her hair seeming bright in contrast to the gloom of the dull gray overcast skies.
‘Are you okay?’ she asked. Hands in her pockets, she kept her gaze fixed on him.
Whatever he had expected her to say, it wasn’t that. ‘Of course.’ He resisted the urge to question why she would think otherwise, instead choosing words that would offer him a little more insight. ‘Are you?’
‘Of course.’ The corner of her mouth lifted.
‘And Eden? She seems to be taking this all in her stride.’
She rocked on her heels. ‘Yeah, she’s good. Getting tired of wearing the same three outfits, but she’ll be fine.’
It had slipped his mind that it wasn’t just Lily’s belongings that were in storage somewhere in Chicago. Eden’s stuff was there, too. And when their eight-hour trip turned into an extended stay, all the Brentwood girls had was what had been in the Corolla at the time. ‘You know, Carlie has got enough clothes at my place to wear something different every day for the next three months. Toys, too. Her pants might be a little short on Eden, but they’re close enough to the same size. I could bring some stuff by tonight, if you want.’
She wrapp
ed her arms around her middle despite the warm dampness that hung in the air. ‘You don’t have to do that, Jason.’
‘I don’t,’ he agreed. ‘But I don’t mind, nonetheless.’
It was only a pause, for a fleeting moment. One breath. One heartbeat. But it was heavy with intrigue, and with what he could only interpret as hope. ‘I would like that,’ she said.
The flood of relief that accompanied her reply was Jason’s first indication that he hadn’t expected her to accept. The fact that his next words came out choppy was the second. ‘Okay. That’s great. I’ll, uh, see you tonight, then.’
‘Sounds good. Eden goes to sleep around seven-thirty.’ She flashed him a crooked grin. ‘I’ll have the sweet tea ready,’ she added, pointing toward the cup in his hands. ‘Enjoy your hazelnut coffee.’
Lily disappeared back inside the coffeehouse.
Jason stayed rooted in place, thinking of how, only moments ago, he had walked away in a bid to protect them both from Sonya’s theatrics. He meant it; Lily didn’t need any more drama. She didn’t need anybody, either, and she was content to struggle through the hand she had been dealt on her own. But, just then, the way she had given in and let him help—let him in—he wondered if maybe Lily Brentwood wanted to need someone a little bit, even for the moment.
If the flicker of anticipation at seeing her tonight was a sign, Jason wondered if maybe somewhere, deep down, he wanted her to need him a little bit, too.
***
Soft light drifted out onto the street from the bay windows of the bed and breakfast, shining like a beacon in the slowly fading dusk. It was only a few minutes past seven-thirty, but the cloudiness of the day gave everything it touched a dull, darkened appearance, the sky included.
There was nothing dull or dark about Nancy’s house, though. Jason would never comprehend how something could be so old and yet look so modern, wearing its age so well that it renewed its youthful glow effortlessly.
On second thought, he took that back. He did comprehend, but it took the context being vehicles for him to fully understand. There was nothing more beautiful than a seventy-year-old car or truck being restored to its glory of yesteryear.
He pulled the wheeled luggage bag of Carlie’s clothes from the bed of his truck, setting it down on the sidewalk before he hauled the trash bag of toys and dolls over the side as well. He hadn’t asked Carlie’s permission, but Jason didn’t think she would miss the Barbies and Littlest Pet Shop figurines considering the mountain of toys still piled in her bedroom at his place. If she did, he didn’t think Carlie would begrudge her new friend borrowing them for a bit. His little girl was nothing if not generous, and her big heart made him proud beyond words.
One of the luggage wheels dragged as he lifted it up the few stairs, then across the newly painted front porch. Idly, he wondered who Nancy had hired to do it. The paint was dry, but the faintest scent of acrylic clung to the damp evening air.
‘Come on in, dear. No use lingering at the door.’
Jason hadn’t realized Nancy was there, watching him from the window. ‘I wasn’t lingering.’
‘But you weren’t knocking, either.’ A satisfied smirk danced on her lips as she pushed away from the window and opened the door for him. ‘Nervous?’
Why in the world would he be nervous? ‘I wasn’t,’ he replied. ‘But you’re making me wonder if I should be.’ He dragged the bags inside.
Closing the door behind him, Nancy chuckled. ‘Because of your run-in with Sonya today?’
He couldn’t even feign surprise that she already knew about that. She and her sister were thick as thieves. They would be burning up the phone lines to keep each other in the loop as to how far their ridiculous efforts got them. Without asking, he knew Lily hadn’t mentioned anything about it.
‘I’m going to tell you the same thing I told your sister, Nancy—’
She held up her hands in mock surrender. ‘Okay, okay.’ Nancy all but sang the word as she reached for the beaded hem of her thin, gauzy shawl and flipped it over her shoulder. ‘You win!’
He caught on immediately that she had mimicked his words to Sonya from earlier, no doubt on purpose, but Nancy had already floated out of the room and into the kitchen. The sound of footsteps on the stairs met his ears a moment later.
‘Jason?’
His gaze followed the direction of Lily’s voice. ‘Down here.’
She appeared on the curved staircase, bounding lightly with each step closer to him. ‘I thought so. So did Eden, which is why she’s adamant that she gets to say goodnight to you before she goes to sleep.’
‘Oh. Sure.’
Lily shrugged. ‘I’m sorry. I think I’m choosing my battles wisely at this point, but maybe I’m just giving in too much? I don’t know.’ Defeat was in every syllable, her shoulders sagging slightly. She was tired, he realized, and more than just physically.
Kicking off his shoes beside the door, he met her partway up the stairs. ‘It’s okay,’ he promised with a soothing voice. ‘She’s testing boundaries, that’s all. And pushing your buttons, by the sound of it.’ His hand was on her arm before he realized he had reached out for her. ‘I’ll go say goodnight. If you want, you can hide the bags of clothes and toys downstairs till tomorrow, in case she uses it as another reason to stay up later.’
The sigh that escaped Lily’s mouth would have been humorous if Jason hadn’t experienced exactly how she was feeling many times before with Carlie and her own battle of wills. ‘Thank you, Jason.’
He gave her arm a tender squeeze, then ascended the rest of the stairs two at a time. Kids were funny like that—angelic and perfect, and all parents had to do was follow the unwritten rules to help keep them that way. Unfortunately, children made him think of that 80’s movie, Gremlins—cute and cuddly as long as you followed the rules, but if you fed the gremlin after midnight or got it wet, all hell broke loose.
‘Eden?’ The hall was brightly lit, and Jason couldn’t recall which rooms had lights on when he had pulled up in front of the house.
A ripple of high-pitched laughter sounded from the room at the end of it. Door ajar, the only light came from a low-wattage bulb in a bedside lamp.
As he peeked in past the doorway, Jason wouldn’t even have seen her if he hadn’t been looking for her. The little girl was positively miniscule in the middle of the oversized bed, surrounded by big, fluffy pillows and plush blankets. She could have been a porcelain doll amidst all the crisp white linens and fabrics.
‘You’re not giving your mama a hard time, are you?’ He smiled, and the ancient wooden floorboards creaked beneath his feet. Jason’s back creaked just as much as he lowered himself onto the foot of the bed. ‘All ready for bed?’
Her face illuminated, Eden dug beneath the mountain of covers and revealed the model car he had given her to hold on to. ‘Yep!’
Laughing, he raised a hand and high-fived her. The girl had her priorities straight. ‘Looks like you’re taking good care of Cruella. Thanks for that.’
She held it up, showing it off. ‘She’s a beaut.’
It was all Jason could do to hold in the rollicking laughter that threatened to bubble up from deep inside him. There was no telling where she had heard that line from, but he had to admit, she’d picked the perfect moment to blurt it out. ‘She sure is,’ he agreed. ‘And she needs her beauty sleep, just like you. Listen to your mama and close those peepers, okay?’
‘Peepers?’ Eden giggled.
He grinned wryly. ‘Yeah, peepers.’ He motioned to his eyes, then shook his head. ‘Jeepers, creepers.’
The giggling transformed into a full belly laugh, making Jason feel like he had just won some standup comedy contest he hadn’t known he was a part of or even wanted to win.
‘All right …’ He stood and carefully tucked the Panther replica under the covers with her. ‘Goodnight, giggle monster.’
‘Night, Peepers!’
He was still shaking his head and choking on his own laughte
r when he got to the doorway. Fingers on the light switch, Jason stopped.
On the top of the antique armoire beside the door, a spiralbound sketchbook sat open, pencil laid across it as though left there in hopes of picking up where she left off. She, meaning Lily. It was an assumption, but as he took a step closer and let his fingertip trail along the edge of the intricate drawing, he spied the elegant LB scrawled in the bottom corner of the page.
The drawing looked like something he had only ever seen on television, a series of scratches and lines and shadows so carefully and lovingly put to paper that there was nothing else they could do except become a masterpiece. The dress design that occupied the page in front of him was long and trailing, something meant to be elegant and luxurious. But it was more than that. There was something unique and alluring about the dress, something that took the simplicity of it and turned it on its axis. Not over the top, but not muted, either. The design was beautiful, and flawless. Not that Jason knew a damn thing about fashion, but if this sketch was anything to go by, he was pretty sure Lily knew a lot about it. It was more than a soft spot for fashion, as she had told Paige. He lifted the corner of the sketch, curious about the other drawings that lay hidden beneath it.
‘Looking for something?’
Jason snatched his hand back as though the paper beneath his fingertips had burst into flames. Lily stood in the doorway, only a step away, her head tilted to one side. Arms crossed, she didn’t look angry, but he could see her fingers flexing, itching to tear the sketchbook out of his reach.
‘Did you draw these?’ It seemed silly to ask, but he felt compelled to hear the confirmation straight from her lips. He wanted her to own her artistic talent. ‘These are amazing, Lily.’ Again, he reached out and lifted the corner of the page.
Lily’s arm jutted out and plucked the sketchbook from the armoire. Muttering a curt, ‘Thanks,’ she stepped away, clutching the book to her chest. ‘I’ll be downstairs, okay, Eden? Goodnight, baby.’
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