Kisses Between the Lines: An Echo Ridge Anthology (Echo Ridge Romance Book 2)

by Lucy McConnell

  He set the drink carrier on the seat beside the bag of food and headed back to the ski shop. He’d have to talk it over with his business partner.

  Fay had snicker doodles wafting tempting scents from the oven. She was spooning out chocolate chip cookies— her grandmother’s secret recipe— onto trays in the café Saturday morning when Bret walked into the kitchen, smiling to himself. “Maria said you were buried back here for at least another hour.”

  “I am. What’s up? I didn’t expect you back until tomorrow.”

  “I worked from seven a.m. until nearly midnight Thursday, so I was able to get everything done last night and pull in about midnight last night.” He slid onto an oak stool she kept handy in the baking area. He snitched a bite of cookie dough and she smacked his hand.

  “Ow! That hurt.”

  “Good. You’re not even supposed to be back here— you don’t have a food handler’s permit.”

  “Yep, I do. I just got one online so Austin and I can participate in the Dutch oven cook-off in a couple of weeks.” He waved a form with a check attached to it for the fee. “I only need a brilliant, beautiful, sweet, and thoughtful sister to allow us to turn this in a day late. I know, we should have done it before now. We didn’t decide until yesterday and Austin didn’t notice the deadline then. He thought it would be a good chance for us to participate in the community and post a banner or something about the store.”

  “You would waltz in here after the deadline and think you’re entitled to break the rules because you’re my step-brother.” Fay tried to act more annoyed than she actually was as she studied the application. Bret cooking. What was Austin thinking? Unless he was thinking Bret would just wear an apron and stir things. “Are you sure you want to partner with him for this? He’s going to think he knows how to do everything best.” She glanced over the application and found that they had named their team Ruby Ridge Recreation, after their business.

  “I think it’s brilliant. Besides, he’s good with a Dutch oven.”

  “Since when?” She lowered the page enough to look over the top of it at him.

  “Since always. He’s been cooking in one since he was like twelve. Or at least helping his grandpa with it. Plus, it would be great if you could award us that lovely blue ribbon— we’d frame it and hang it in the store.” He gave her a winning look.

  “I’m not one of the judges, dork, and you’d be better off if you said it was all about the library. You’re past the deadline.” She set the paperwork down, though she had every intention of accepting it. What was twelve hours among siblings?

  “Come on, have you already finalized the spaces? Is it full?”

  Fay looked at him disapprovingly, wondering if she could make him grovel. She hadn’t actually worked on the plan, yet. She had been so busy with work and making her next food order that she hadn’t been able to sit down and finalize everything. She was sure there was one booth spot left. Still, she watched and waited while he looked increasingly concerned.

  “Fay?”

  She nodded dramatically. “Fine, I think I can squeeze you in somewhere. Your signs can be five-foot wide— no bigger, got it?”

  “Thank you!” He put his arm around her shoulder and gave it a squeeze, popping a kiss onto her cheek. “I knew you would come through for us.”

  She laughed, loving that after years of distance— both real and metaphorical— things were getting better with them. “You’re lucky I like you so much. Now shoo, I need to get these cookies done sometime today.”

  “Did you already run out?” He asked, peeking back around the door to the front of the mostly-empty café. “I thought you did the daily baking a lot earlier than this.”

  “These are for the book reading tonight. Don’t worry, the ones out front are fresh as well. Go. I have a lot to do still.” She waved him away and slid on fresh gloves. The scent of cinnamon rose from the oven and she knew she only had a couple minutes before the timer would ring, but she still had a lot of cookies to measure out.

  Fay glanced over her shoulder to see Bret say something to Maria at the counter before heading on. Maria looked pleased as she turned away— and was that a blush? Did she like Bret? “Bothersome brothers.”

  She smiled slightly to herself as she thought of having Bret in town full-time again.

  AUSTIN WAS GLAD WHEN BRET announced he needed to head back to his apartment in Schenectady. He had to work for a few days at his regular job, and they wanted him on-site again. That was fine with Austin. They had been working like dogs for the past two days getting the heavy displays installed and painting more of the store. Since it was done— for now, anyway— Austin was ready for an evening off.

  He stopped by his parents’ house, but they were gone. He called them, but they were at dinner and were going to a movie with friends. Though they invited him, he decided to pass. Movie night with the old folks was not in his plans.

  He considered the options, and decided to drop into Fay’s Café for dinner. He could stand a taco salad. He was surprised when he pulled in to find Maria behind the counter. “Where’s Fay?” he asked when she greeted him.

  “At Kenworth’s. She’s putting together the display for the library.” She shoved more napkins into a dispenser at one of the booths near the door.

  “Seriously? Because she doesn’t have enough on her plate?” He didn’t have any idea how she found time to help with the library when she practically lived at the café. Then again, maybe it gave her an excuse to leave the place and get into another environment once in a while. It was why he was searching for a place to be besides the ski shop.

  Maria shrugged. Hank called from the back, “That girl has a real big problem; she has a hard time saying no to people. She needs more time to have fun.”

  Funny, Austin hadn’t experienced her difficulty with the word no. And Hank was one to talk— he was here almost every time Austin came to the café. “So a bunch of them are working on it tonight?”

  Hank glowered. “Nope, Fay’s a one-man-band, and planning to be there all evening.”

  Austin could imagine her there, trying to do it all by herself. It was so like her. He switched gears and ordered a couple of tacos instead of the salad. “Wait, did she take dinner with her? When did she leave?”

  “A couple hours ago,” Maria said.

  It was only six and she was planning to be there all evening? “She probably didn’t think about dinner. Make her something too, you know what she likes, and I’ll take it to her.”

  He was surprised and even a little entertained to see Hank made her a grilled cheese sandwich stuffed with avocado and bacon. Interesting choice.

  He arrived at Kenworth’s to find the window display had the curtain drawn to block it from the street.

  “Welcome to Kenworth’s.” A young blonde woman with a name tag which said Jessica greeted him as he passed the women’s department.

  “Thanks, I’m here to help Fay with the window display. I bet she could use some chocolate, though.” He detoured through the store to the candy counter and greeted the young man who was running it— he couldn’t have been more than seventeen. “Two of those nut clusters, please.”

  “No problem. Those are great. I also love the coconut cream chocolates.”

  “Okay, get me a couple of those too.” He was partial to coconut, and Fay would enjoy having both nut clusters— he remembered how much she loved her peanut M&Ms. Austin accepted the small bag of goodies and headed toward the entrance to the window display. He opened the door to find Fay surrounded by several mostly empty boxes, stacks of books, staring at a large paper, and looking dismayed.

  “Hey, you ready for some dinner?”

  Fay tore her gaze away from the page in front of her and frowned. “I can’t leave until this is up and running. What are you doing here, anyway?”

  “I heard you were putting the display together by yourself and thought maybe you could use some help, and some sustenance. I brought your favorite grilled chee
se.” He held up the bag and waggled it.

  There was a moment’s hesitation. “I... well, thanks for the food. Hank made it, right?” He could see the protest dying from her face as she remembered they were supposed to be friends now.

  “You bet. I wouldn’t have known to make it with avocado and bacon, though that does sound really good. You wanna swap me for the tacos I ordered for myself?”

  “No way. It’s way better than tacos, and more filling with some good fats in it.” She eyed the candy bag as he took it out and set it aside, then accepted the sandwich and iced tea he’d brought her.

  They made space and sat cross-legged on the floor in the cramped display area, their knees almost touching.

  After the first bite of her no-longer-piping-hot sandwich, Fay asked about how he was coming in the business.

  Austin filled her in before asking about her plans for the display.

  “Keira Kenworth offered to let us use the space for ten days to promote the library event— Kenworth’s is a big supporter. She’s approved the design and coordinated with us on having the books from the display on sale inside. The space is bigger than I expected and I’m not sure if I have enough books to fill things out. I admit, I’m a little overwhelmed at the idea of putting this together or where to start with everything.” She rubbed one bejeweled hand through her long hair in a sign of overwhelm.

  He could help her there. “I’m good at breaking jobs down to parts. Eat up so you have energy to work and we’ll take a look at it.”

  When they had finished the food— though he hid the chocolates as a reward for a job well done— Fay pulled out the display plan again. Austin was surprised at the variety in the display, and impressed with how they pulled it all together with the theme. The books for the huge bestselling author, Armand D. Beaumont, who was doing a reading next weekend. He, had a small display area all to himself, along with his picture and a note about when he would be reading at the library.

  The big Harvest Hurrah itself, which he’d been hearing about on the radio and seen notices in the local paper, had a section with Dutch oven cookbooks, supplies, culinary mysteries featuring donuts on the cover, and German Oktoberfest-themed books. Other sections of the display had kids’ books and books for adults in nearly every genre that played into the larger harvest theme. There was also a sign saying most of these books were available for purchase inside the store until the week after the Harvest Hurrah, and a percentage of sales would go to the library renovations.

  He was impressed by whomever had come up with it all and brought it together. “It’s a great plan. Let’s sort out some of these books and see what we’ve got.” He set to work, and as she found things, it started to come together for them. They worked in tandem to get everything assembled. He had thought it might take a couple hours, tops when he saw the plan, but they were over three hours by the time they had adjusted the corner nearest the door, working themselves out of the room as they went.

  “You want to go out and check it?” he asked. “I can stay in here and you can call me with any tweaks.”

  “Sounds good.” Fay went out through the back area at the store and a couple of minutes later he pulled back the curtains as she came around to the front of the display. She studied it for a moment before calling him.

  “The Dutch oven display is too cramped. Can you shift the author stuff to the left and open up some space?”

  He set the phone on speaker and slid it into the front pocket of his shirt. “How about the things in back? Is the last row too far back to read?”

  “Nope, I think they look good.” She paused while he worked. “Thanks, I appreciate your help. I didn’t expect it to take so long or I would have arranged for a couple other people from the board to be here tonight.”

  “You’re welcome. I’m glad I had the evening free.” He adjusted the easel they had placed the author’s poster on, then started work on the Dutch oven display.

  “I know you’ve been working long days with Bret, and you could probably use a break from hard work for a while, but you still helped me.” She let that hang for a moment before pushing forward. “How are things with him and his girl, anyway? I haven’t heard him talk about her for a while.”

  Austin was torn for a moment. There must be a reason Bret hadn’t been talking about it, but it would be easier in the long run if Bret didn’t have to be the one to tell everyone— or he already would have done it. “They split. He didn’t say much about it, just that they were over and he didn’t want to talk about it.”

  “I don’t know why he didn’t tell me himself. She was a bad match for him, anyone could have seen it. I don’t know what he was thinking— oh, there, that’s perfect.”

  Austin adjusted one more book and looked around him. They had left only a narrow space between the items in the front of the window and the items in the back part of the display and he had to be careful not to bump anything as he shifted out of the way. “It looks good. What do you think?”

  “I love it. I think everyone will be thrilled. Pull the curtains closed again. Keira’s going to do an unveiling in the morning and post it to social media. Come let me in the back door, will you, they closed up a while ago.”

  Austin pulled the rope to close the curtains again and backed out of the space. He slid through the back stock room to the door she had used earlier and let her back in. “We need to clean up. I have some nut clusters and coconut cream chocolates for celebration.”

  Her face brightened even more. “Oh, I love those. I have to stay far away from Kenworth’s because I end up at The Candy Counter every time. I’m already exposed to more than enough unhealthy food at the café.”

  “So you don’t want any candy?” he teased, “Because I’m totally fine with eating these bad boys myself.”

  “No, of course I want some.” She pulled out a box knife from her pocket and began breaking down the boxes they had brought the books and displays in. “First, we’ll slide these back in this space out of the way to repack everything in next week. Then we can have chocolate.” She pointed to a narrow space between the display and door where they would be out of the way and out of sight.

  “You know, we actually do pretty good work when we get together,” Austin said. “Plus, not one grouchy comment from either of us. This is what it’s like to be friends with a girl? I think I like it.”

  She nodded, agreement in her eyes. “You’re right. I’m a little surprised, actually. I thought it would be harder to spend the evening alone with you.” Her smile teased without putting any metaphorical space between them.

  “In that case, you definitely deserve the chocolate.” He pulled the bag from the corner he had tucked it in during dinner and shared the contents with her. They went through the candy while she talked about her plans for the Harvest Hurrah.

  It was coming up on ten o’clock when he walked her out to their vehicles, pausing to wave at Emma, who was emptying the garbage cans. The air was warm and comfortable, but a cool breeze gusted through every few seconds, cooling them off and reminding them that it was definitely fall.

  Austin considered. Now, while they were being friendly and easy, was the time to act. He decided to take the plunge. “So, I was wondering, do you get another evening off between now and the big event?”

  Amusement pulsed through her. “Why? Do you need help at the ski shop?”

  “Now that you mention it, I always need help. But no. I wondered if you wanted to get away from my work, your work, and library stuff, to see if we can still have an interesting conversation.”

  She stopped and looked at him, her head tipped slightly. “You mean like a date?”

  Was that moving too fast? If he said yes, would she bolt? “Something like that. You know— food, an activity of some kind, and hopefully a lot of fun.”

  Fay waited so long, her face unreadable, that Austin wished he had kept the offer to himself. She didn’t like him and had just now started to accept his friendship. Had he push
ed too hard? Obviously, Hank was crazy. “You don’t have to, it was only a thought. Since we’ve been getting along okay.” He shrugged it off as though it didn’t matter and resumed walking to her car, though he felt like a total idiot.

  “No, I mean... yes. I’d like to. Sorry, the invitation took me by surprise.”

  Relief eased the tightness in Austin’s shoulders and he turned to her. “So which is it; yes or no? You don’t seem to know what you want.” He kept his tone light, hoping it would ease the weirdness between them.

  She gave him one of those looks that telegraphed her displeasure, while simultaneously making him want to kiss her. Again. One of these days, not so far in the future, he was going to follow through with the urge.

  “I meant yes, but I’m not sure anymore.”

  Austin reached out and pulled her close, wrapping his arm around her waist and trapping her in his arms. It would have been easy for her to pull away, but she didn’t. He used that as license to push his luck further, loving the feel of her in his arms every bit as much as he had when they were juniors. “I’m taking the yes. What night works best for you? Or we could do an afternoon if that’s better with your employees. I’m flexible.” At this proximity, he could smell the soft fruity scent of her shampoo and hear her uneven breath.

  Her hands came up to his biceps, grasping on as though she needed to be steadied, but he had never seen her off kilter before— except for that moment when the main curtain had pulled back enough for her to see whom she had been kissing on the stage at lunch. He had been excited to meet her there, thinking she had known it was him. The kiss had been everything he’d been dreaming of for several months before but apparently she hadn’t agreed because finding out who she had been kissing had caused a divide they had never recovered from.

  Until now. He didn’t want to press his luck, so he would have to handle this carefully.

  Austin felt the excitement of having her in his arms again, saw the way her eyes darkened as they watched him closely. He was tempted, oh, so tempted, to draw her closer and give that kiss another try, but he knew she wasn’t ready. Instead, he pressed his lips to her forehead, letting them linger on her warm skin for a few seconds. How could her skin be so soft, and her hair smell so good, even after a long shift at the café? “Thursday night? Friday? What’s the plan?”