Love Under Construction

by Britney M. Mills

  Chapter 5

  Becca sat on the couch, unable to concentrate on the show she’d been watching when she heard the knock at the door. The unopened yogurt container she’d pulled from the fridge once she arrived home sat on the side table, and she opened the box Colton had just dropped off.

  She’d judged him several times since that morning, always for the negative, but what man thought about a girl he’d just met? Placing a fry into her mouth, Becca smiled at the memory of her interactions with Colton throughout the day. They’d gone from bumping into one another outside the flower shop on her way to the coffee shop, to the council meeting where she’d been less than kind, and finally to the diner and her front step.

  It had been a while since she’d gone through such a range of emotions, but the guy who stood on her porch intrigued her. Sure, she probably shouldn’t think about him as incredibly attractive and surprisingly kind as it would derail her plans, but in all her years, she’d never had a man think about something so simple yet so impressive.

  Peter had been all wrong for her, something she’d come to understand in the last few months, but there had been so many good qualities about him at first. They’d just gotten swallowed up by his need to join the rat race of the big cities.

  Her thoughts were cut off by the ringtone signaling her best friend, Danielle Holloway, a news station reporter and journalist working on a story in Europe.

  Becca swallowed the bite of her sandwich before answering the call. “Dani! What are you doing up this early? It’s ten at night here, so it’s like…” Becca paused, trying to do the time calculation in her head.

  “Five in the morning. We’re heading out on an early morning hike before we start filming for the station. I figured I’d try and catch you before my tour moves out for the day. How are things there?”

  “Not as amazing as traveling to Europe for ‘research’ for your next book. At least, you better be getting more ideas for that novel you’ve always wanted to write. Why not when you didn’t have to pay to go there.” She ended the sentence with sarcasm, and Dani laughed.

  “Hey, I’m not complaining. It’s amazing over here. I wish you would’ve come, just to get out of town for a little while.” The tone in Dani’s voice caused the irritation from earlier to flare up again.

  Clearing her throat, Becca said, “I’m good here. I don’t need to die in an airplane accident.”

  A moment of silence echoed over the line, and Dani’s voice came a bit softer. “You won’t die if you leave town. I promise. But I’m not spending an arm and a leg to debate over you leaving Sage Creek. Why are you so annoyed?”

  “I’m not annoyed.” The words came out with a bite, and Becca winced, feeling bad for lashing out at her friend halfway across the world.

  “Uh-huh. Spill.”

  What friend would take the time to call internationally while enjoying a work trip around Europe? Danielle. They’d been best friends since middle school, and she’d been Becca’s lifeline since the accident, always there when Becca needed to vent about the loss of her family or how her life wasn’t turning out how she’d like it to. But as much as she encouraged Becca to venture out of the small town, Becca had yet to leave the boundaries of Dalton County since her family died. She’d come home for the funeral and simply stayed.

  Becca gave her the condensed version of meeting Colton and his plans for ruining the town. She tried to water down him appearing with her food, hoping Danielle wouldn’t see too much into it. But she should have figured Danielle’s investigative abilities would shine through. It was the journalist in her after all.

  “What does this Colton look like?” Becca could picture the playful look on her friend’s face, curiosity directing the questions.

  “Dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, over six feet tall.”

  “Thick build?”

  Becca told her yes, and Dani laughed. “So, he’s basically Peter, only a slightly different version.”

  Squeezing her eyes shut, Becca nodded, even though Dani couldn’t see her.

  “Are you afraid he’ll be just like Peter?”

  “Why would I be afraid of that? It’s not like he’s moving to Sage Creek.”

  Dani scoffed. “Becca, at some point, you’re going to have to get over that man. He was an idiot to leave you like he did, but you can’t hold that against every strapping guy who is a builder by profession. And the fact that Colton brought you the food you didn’t eat…I’m giving him serious brownie points for that.”

  “Strapping guy? Who says that?” Becca said with a laugh. Then she paused, and in a more serious tone, she said, “I’m not ready for a relationship, Dani.”

  “I’m not saying you are either, but there’s a difference to being nice and being rude. You’re acting like we’re in the fifth grade and you can’t be nice to Lloyd Jefferson because he’ll want to marry you. Just be nice. I know it’s in there somewhere.”

  Becca snorted. “I think it’s been buried.”

  “I’ll be home next week. Mrs. Watkins will tell me if you’ve been nice or not. Don’t think I won’t ask her.”

  “Thanks, Mom,” Becca said sarcastically, going somber directly after.

  “You’re going to be fine, Becca. One day at a time. Use that charming smile I know is in there somewhere. Who knows? Maybe getting to know him will help you find a way to stop the subdivision, if that’s what you really want to do.”

  “Of course I want it to stop.” Becca chewed on the side of her lip as her thoughts raced over Danielle’s words. “You might have a point there, though. Thanks for being awesome.”

  Danielle chuckled. “What’s a best friend for? Okay, I’ve got to run and meet up with the group for the hike. Good luck, and I’ll see you soon.”

  After hanging up, Becca slowly finished her sandwich, her thoughts bouncing between Danielle’s words and the attractive builder. Maybe time with him wouldn’t be a lost cause. The town was depending on her sound judgment to get past this. And by telling herself she was just looking for ammunition against the plans, she could be sure her heart was locked up tight.

  Chapter 6

  The night was long and quiet, making it difficult for Colton to sleep again. By the time three in the afternoon rolled around, Colton was dragging, the lack of sleep over the past two nights weighing on him. He walked through town and stood in front of a shop called The Flower Girl. He smiled, the simplicity of the name seeming to fit the little he knew about Becca.

  He entered the store and saw several people still in line behind the register as Becca flitted from the front to the back to the front again. She brought a bouquet of pink flowers to a woman at the front of the line, ringing her out before moving on to the next order.

  Colton froze, not sure what he should do. Should he leave and come back? Or offer to do something he knew nothing about?

  Deciding on the latter and striding up to her, he saw her jaw tense as she glanced in his direction. “Is there something I can do to help?” he asked.

  Her eyes widened, searching his face to see if he was serious. “Do you know anything about flowers?”

  Giving her a wry grin, Colton said, “Does buying them for other people count?”

  Becca rolled her eyes and shook her head. She waved for him to follow her into the back room. “No, that does not count. You’ve probably gotten the advice of the florist on those occasions.”

  Colton snapped his fingers and pointed at her, emphasizing that she was correct. He’d only ever bought flowers for his mother, but it seemed like the advice he’d been given had worked out because she always loved the arrangements he’d given her. Turning serious, he looked at the long workbench covered in bits of flowers and several tools. “What can I do?”

  “Cut the ends of these flowers about an inch, but do it at a diagonal. Let me go see what Carl Sturgis wants, and I’ll be right back.”

  Grateful she left an example, Colton picked up the scissors and tried to imitate the look at the bottoms of
the long-stemmed red roses. He’d almost finished the dozen by the time she came back in.

  “That actually looks pretty good,” she said, sounding surprised.

  “You do know that I’m a finish carpenter, right? Pretty good doesn’t cut it in my line of work.”

  Her eyebrows came together as she frowned like she didn’t really understand what he was talking about. She walked to pull out some other flowers from the cooler. Placing those on the work table, she nudged Colton out of the way to reach the roses. Her hand grazed his forearm, sending little volts of electricity through him. He’d never felt that before. Maybe he’d just created too much static from shuffling back and forth next to the long table.

  Colton hadn’t noticed the wall of ribbon and paper to his right, everything neatly lined up. Becca pulled at the end of a thick piece of white ribbon and wrapped it around the roses, her fingers flying as they tied a bow. She fiddled with it for a moment, straightening it in spots. Pulling a long box out from a stack under the wall of ribbon, she folded the box before placing the flowers inside.

  This time, she pulled on a deep red ribbon with a decorative edging and wrapped it around the box. Picking up the box, she disappeared up front again.

  Maybe he wasn’t used to women who were good with crafts and design, but he was stunned by the speed with which she’d been able to wrap it.

  He looked down at the colored flowers, wondering what needed to be done to them. She reappeared just as he picked up one of the yellow flowers, looking at him as though he’d just been caught for something. She pulled out a vase from a shelf next to the work table and gathered several of the flowers already out, sticking them one at a time into the container.

  “I have this arrangement and then one more order, and I’ll be done for the day.”

  “Sounds good.” Colton leaned against a cabinet and folded his arms, watching her work. It was as if she had a certain instinct for where the flowers would look best, and after several minutes, the colorful bouquet was ready to go out.

  “How did you learn how to do all this?” Colton asked, unable to keep his question to himself. It was like putting a puzzle together without a picture as a guide, and he admired the talent it took for her to do that.

  Becca pulled out a small box with several pieces of fake green leaves. “My mother always loved flowers. I used to watch her coming up with different creations and try to mimic her movements. I don’t have half the talent she had, but I love seeing people’s reactions to flowers and how happy it can make them.”

  After trimming three flowers up to the bud, she wrapped them quickly with wire, adding in a sprig of that small white flower everyone used. The finished creation was a corsage.

  “Is there a dance going on or something?” he asked, pointing to the corsage.

  Becca turned to him, shining her bright smile, but he could see her gaze was on a memory more than anything in the room. “No, Mr. Greeley just likes to give his wife a wrist corsage every year for their anniversary. I’ve been making them since my shop opened.”

  “What did he do before that?”

  Becca paused and turned to him. “I’ve never really thought about it. We didn’t have an official flower shop in town before I opened this one. Most folks would ask my mom for something or go to the next town over.”

  “Does this town sustain the flower shop by itself?”

  She placed one finger up, carrying the vase and the box to the front of the store. A few minutes ticked by, and she reappeared through the swinging door.

  With a hand on her hip, she leaned against the large table, and her eyes locked onto his. “What was your question?”

  “Do you have enough business in this small town?”

  Colton watched as she put her tongue to the roof of her mouth, her eyes drifting to the ceiling. “Most of the time, yes. My best friend gave me the idea to do a subscription-type service, and most of the offices in town have taken me up on it. They get a new arrangement of flowers every week or two for a flat fee. That keeps life afloat when money is tight and people don’t want to splurge on flowers.”

  She began tidying up, almost running to pick up papers and extra leaves and petals from the floor. Colton helped, grabbing some of the short stems that had fallen off the table from when he’d helped.

  He didn’t see or hear her near his vicinity when they both reached for the same leaf at the same time. That same electric charge tingled through his hand, and he looked up, seeing the surprise on her face. Did she feel the same thing? What was it about this town that was making him so jumpy? He was usually the definition of calm and collected. But something about this place, this girl, had him questioning everything he’d known before.

  She led him to the front room and untied her apron and hung it on a hook by the cash register before disappearing out back again. Colton heard a door slam shut and wondered if she’d gone outside altogether.

  She appeared a few moments later, standing at the front door of the shop.

  “Are you ready to go?” She looked at him expectantly, pulling her long hair into a ponytail. Her blouse looked different, but Colton wasn’t sure he could remember what she’d been wearing before that.

  “How’d you do that?”

  A wide grin spread across her face. “Magic.” She waited a few seconds before saying, “I had to run over to the house and grab my wallet.”

  “I saw that you live next door when I brought your food last night. I guess you don’t have to worry about being late to the office.” He chuckled, and she shook her head with a half-smile.

  She opened the door and waited until he walked out before closing it and locking up.

  Colton gave her a small smile. “I’m surprised you lock up in such a small town.”

  A blush reached her cheeks, and Becca looked up at him. “A habit I picked up from college. I learned the hard way that not everyone in the world is the most honest.”

  “Robbed?”

  She nodded. “I forgot to lock up as I went to class, and someone came in and took our TV and a bunch of other expensive stuff my roommates had. I was just glad I’d taken my laptop to class. I couldn’t afford another one, and it had my term paper saved on it.” She turned and looked up and down Main Street.

  Colton was surprised she’d opened up to him a bit more, not the wall she’d been the day before. Maybe he was making progress with her. “Where did you go to school?”

  Something passed over her face, and all of the excitement and happiness he’d seen from her over the past thirty minutes vanished.

  “So, you want to see the town, right?” she asked, ignoring his question.

  When he nodded, she turned to the right. “That’s the doctor’s office,” she said, pointing to the building to the north of the flower shop, located on Fourth Street. “The library is next to that, with one of the town parks behind it.”

  She turned to face the other side of Main Street. “The hardware store is there across the street from my shop, and behind it, on Fourth Street, is the Sage Creek Diner where we ate dinner last night.” She stopped talking and looked a bit flustered. “Thanks for bringing my food over, by the way. Yesterday was…an off day for me, and I really appreciate it.” Her eyes looked more green right then, and the small, awkward smile she gave him caused him to smile wider.

  “Again, no worries. Us city folk, as you call us, do have some manners.” He winked at her, and she shook her head, trying to keep from smiling.

  “Anyway, if you plan to build here, you might want to talk to Tanner Hart. He’s the owner of the hardware store. It would go a long way with the townspeople if they had a part in helping with the buildings, whether through materials or use of their businesses.” Her eyes widened, and she clamped her mouth shut as if she’d said too much.

  “I’ll keep that in mind. For someone who’s against the growth, you sure do make sure the town is taken care of.” Colton smiled at the hurried steps Becca took across Fourth Street as though trying to catc
h up with something.

  She pointed catty-corner from her store. “We have a plumber and air-conditioning guy across the street there—Tuck Sanders. Next to him on Fourth Street is the bridal shop.”

  Colton touched her arm and felt nothing but zaps of electricity pulse through his fingers. “This town supports a bridal shop?” He’d only meant to touch her in disbelief that a specialty store like that could survive with so few town members. “Do you really have that many weddings around here?”

  Her eyes flashed, and her lips pursed as she raised her chin just a little. “You’d be surprised what we can sustain here.”

  Weddings and college seemed to be buttons for this woman. He’d have to remember that if he wanted his plan of gaining her trust to succeed.

  She turned and continued down Main Street, pointing to the next block on the opposite side of the road. “The elementary and middle school are on this block. The one you see on the corner is the elementary, and the middle school is on the back side. Most of the kids go to high school over in Greeley. They have to be bussed there. West of the schools, we have an indoor sports facility for our Rec Department that we also use as a cultural hall. Our hospital, on Second Street, and fairgrounds, down from the flower shop on Fourth Street, are on the east side of town.”

  “Do you have a lot of events out here?”

  “You’d be surprised. We have the Founder’s Day Festival coming up in a few weeks, and then the county fair is just before school gets started. To be honest, the town celebrates just about everything. The ladies like any excuse to try out their baking skills.”

  That was something he could get behind. He hadn’t gotten a lot of good homemade meals or desserts since his mother had been ill. His meager attempt at cooking, while healthier on a consistent basis, did nothing to rival the memories of the feasts his mother could cook when she was able to work.