Secretly Smitten

by Colleen Coble, Kristin Billerbeck, Denise Hunter, Diann Hunt

  She smirked as if there was something more behind his comment. “They are pretty incredible.”

  He pressed the button to unlock his car, then opened the passenger door for her. She peered at him curiously but climbed into the bucket seat and sat down. The streetlight shined upon the gold flecks in her hazel eyes, so he failed to notice that she’d grabbed the door to pull it closed for herself. She tugged it from his hands and slammed it. He waved again at her family to let them know everything was all right, though he wasn’t so confident himself.

  He came around to the driver’s side and slid inside. “That’s the second door you’ve slammed in my face today. Is this something you’re going to make a habit of?”

  She stared out the window.

  “I just want to know so I can keep an eye on my fingers and limbs.”

  She faced him, and he dropped his hand from the car keys after inserting them in the ignition.

  “Do you care to tell me why you’ve taken such an immediate disliking to me? Your family doesn’t seem to think I’m so bad.”

  “It’s nothing personal.”

  “So what is it?”

  She shrugged her delicate shoulders. “Does it really matter? You’ll get the town set to rights and be on your way. There are lots of lovely people here in Smitten. What I think about you hardly matters, and like I said, it’s not personal.”

  “But it does matter to me. For what it’s worth, it feels personal.”

  “Why?” Her eyebrows lifted.

  “Because I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about you since I got to town. Even Carson told me if I needed anything at all and he wasn’t around, to call on you. He said you knew everyone in town and that you could take care of any problem as easily as he could.”

  “I think Carson sold you a bill of goods. I may know everyone, but so does everyone else in Smitten. That’s what makes it Smitten. I’m not special here.”

  The downturn in her voice concerned him, and he wished he knew what skeleton he’d rattled. He turned over the ignition. The only thing worse than trying to garner Zoe’s good opinion was her family’s prying eyes watching his epic failure.

  “Carson meant I could contact you because the other cabins are all taken up by tourists. He wanted me to know there was someone who lived there year-round who could direct me if he was off on business.”

  He’d had no idea Zoe would look the way she did; he’d imagined a female lumberjack. Yet as soon as Carson mentioned her name, he just had the feeling they were destined to meet. If he’d known she’d be downtown as he did his first walk-through, he would have practiced his entrance. He certainly wouldn’t have walked into a ladder. Nothing said “professional businessman sent to rescue the financial aspects of the town” like a Three Stooges impression.

  “Turn left,” she said as they got to the corner.

  “It’s not you.”

  “It feels like me.”

  “Okay, it is sort of you.”

  He laughed, and she joined him. Her laughter was infectious. He wanted to hear more of it, but he seriously doubted he’d get the opportunity.

  “Care to elaborate?” He could tell by her expression that the answer was no, but to his surprise she continued.

  “I’ve been doing small jobs for people in Smitten since I was thirteen. My family really wanted me to go to college, but I just had no desire.”

  Soon they were on Main Street.

  “I worked in my cousin Natalie’s coffee shop there.” She pointed out the coffee shop.

  “Right. She just married Carson.”

  “Yes.” She nodded and actually smiled.

  “I was headed over to Mountain Perks when we . . . when I ran into you.”

  She laughed again, and he felt warmed by the sound. “I’m not laughing at you running into my ladder—”

  “Yes, you are,” he accused playfully.

  “Okay, maybe I am, but you know how you were dressed all fancy? The juxtaposition of you running into my rusty ladder . . . and looking like you stepped out of GQ . . . I don’t know, it just struck me as funny once I knew you weren’t hurt.”

  He pulled up to the stop sign at the end of Main Street and leaned over to point to the Band-Aid on his temple. “I was hurt. Remember?”

  “Oh, come on. That’s just a scratch.”

  “Maybe, but some guilt on your part would be appropriate.”

  “That’s Zak and Julia’s place.” She pointed to a large rustic wood building that reminded him of a covered bridge. “The Smitten Spa & Grill. I worked for Julia part-time in the spa besides the coffee shop. Just odd jobs here and there. This is my first career move.” She clasped her hands in her lap. “I suppose that sounds funny to someone like you who has been in business so long.”

  He didn’t think any such thing. He admired her immensely for risking her savings for something she believed in so passionately. He, on the other hand, made all his decisions based on the next promotion, the bigger city.

  “I admire your ability to sit back and wait for the perfect moment,” he said. He stared at the red door on the restaurant where she’d worked. “The Smitten Spa & Grill?” He waited for an explanation.

  “Julia moved back from New York, and Zak wanted to rent out some space since the grill wasn’t doing as well with the mill closed down. I guess it was meant to be, because they’re in love now, and both businesses are doing fine.”

  “What did you do at the spa?”

  “I was just a receptionist. Julia tried to teach me and encouraged me to get my license as an esthetician, but I took too long to mix things. She said I’d been baking for too long.”

  “A license to be a what?”

  “A facialist. But it wasn’t for me. Besides mixing, you have to be quiet when you’re giving facials, and I want to talk to people, ask questions, learn about their lives. They want to relax. I’m too social for that. It felt kind of like working in a morgue to me, but Julia loves it. She feels as if she’s painting the world to make it more beautiful.”

  “So matchmaking came into the picture.”

  Her expression dropped, and he drove onto the two-lane highway back toward the lake outside of town.

  Her voice became softer. “You wouldn’t really shut me down before I opened this week, would you?”

  He stalled, wondering if he’d been played by her friendly conversation. “I’ve done this before, Zoe. It’s not easy to be the new guy in a town that’s been run a certain way, but the way things were doesn’t work anymore. If it did, I wouldn’t have been called into town in the first place. You forget, I want you to succeed.”

  “So that’s a yes, then.” Her pink bottom lip, fresh and full without makeup, pouted.

  Was that cherry ChapStick he smelled? His reaction was visceral.

  “You’ll shut me down even though I’ve thrown everything I have into this business and rented that very place so I could cook there? It had the kitchen and the stove already.”

  He heard the desperation in her voice. Though she was more than capable, he wasn’t going to let her walk all over him to get her way. “I’m only upholding the law. It’s for your own safety. How would you feel if something happened to people inside your store and you knew you could have prevented it?”

  “I understand,” she said tightly. It was clear she didn’t.

  He changed the subject. “So knowing what you know now, who would you set me up with in Smitten? Say, for the railroad fund-raiser? Who do you see as my type?”

  “No one.”

  “I’m that detestable?”

  “It’s not that. You’re quite handsome, actually. Successful. I can see that you’ve got potential.”

  “But . . .”

  “In my business plan it states that I’ll help folks build solid, foundational relationships that will last. No offense, but you don’t seem like the type to settle down. How many places have you lived in the last ten years?”

  He nearly choked at her question,
which proved she knew more about him than he cared to admit. “My specialty is acting as interim city manager until a town can find someone permanent. Crisis management, you might say. That way, when towns feel like they can manage, they don’t feel guilty about letting my position go. It’s designed for that. I sign two-year contracts specifically. Besides, you of all people can hardly fault me for having a lot of jobs.”

  “So like I said—not the type to settle down.”

  The way she said so matter-of-factly that he wasn’t worthy of her dating service made him want to strive for a reassessment. His mother certainly thought it was time for him to settle down, but the fact was, his contract was for two years. What would he do in a town like Smitten after that?

  “You’re focused on your career to the point where you don’t have time for love,” she said pointedly.

  “How would you know that?”

  “I assume you took this job in Smitten because of all the great press we’re getting, which means you don’t plan to stay because then, like a great baseball player, you’ll get courted away by bigger money. Once you’ve accomplished whatever goal you’ve set for Smitten, you’ll be on your way, and whoever I set you up with would be heartbroken.”

  “That’s a lot of prophecy for someone who doesn’t even know me.”

  “It’s all right,” she said softly. “It’s a lifestyle choice. And frankly, we don’t have to like each other. It’s just that I’m a Smitten girl and you’re—”

  “An interloper?”

  She pressed her lips together and didn’t reply, so he had his answer.

  “No,” she finally said. “Not an interloper. I didn’t mean it that way.”

  “What if I were to stay in Smitten? How long does one have to stay in Smitten or the surrounding area to join Broken Arrow?”

  “Cupid’s Arrow,” she corrected him. “And longer than one railroad fund-raiser. I’m trying to find couples looking for lifelong companionship who might be too shy to put all their cards on the table in a small town.”

  “Fair enough. If I took you to dinner, maybe you could make a better assessment about my long-term potential. Do you think?” He raised his brows and waited with bated breath for her answer.

  “Are you asking me out to dinner?”

  He nodded. “I am. Just to make sure I get a fair shake.” He rubbed his temple just in case it would provide any incentive for her.

  “I think I could make you a perfectly fine meal in the storefront if you’d let me cook there.”

  “I didn’t make the rules. I only enforce them. I’m a public servant.”

  “I have to cook anyway,” she said. “For the seniors. So there’s no sense in wasting money on a meal out.”

  “A good meal with entrepreneur Zoe does not sound like a waste of any precious resource to me.”

  She eyed him suspiciously, but her expression softened. “All right. Dinner.”

  “Tuesday at seven?”

  “Why so soon?”

  “Let’s be honest—I have to get you to dinner before the sharks at Cupid’s Arrow get to you.”

  Her eyes were inquisitive, and he understood she didn’t know what to think of him, but she had a faith in all things beautiful that made him want to prove himself to her. Maybe being Smitten’s city manager was a temporary gig that he’d only taken on because it would look great on a résumé to help a burgeoning town rise to the next level.

  One would have to be buried six feet under to have missed all the hype about Smitten as a new place for destination weddings. But with each thought, he only proved that Zoe was right about him. It was merely a stepping-stone for his career. But seeing Zoe interact with her family made him wonder if he knew what he really wanted.

  “Honestly, Mr. Singer, my thoughts are on the office space. I thought it could double so that I might cook for the shut-ins. Now I worry how I’ll pull it all off and get the business open on time. My mixer is on Friday, and running back and forth to the lake is going to cost me a lot of time. Time that I don’t have.”

  “But you have to eat, and I’d love to hear all the reasons you were never tempted to leave Smitten.”

  “What about Saturday night, then? It will be less stressful. I’ll be more present.”

  He nodded and fought the urge to shout Yes! It wasn’t exactly an enthusiastic affirmative, but he’d take it.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Zoe shifted in her seat and wished that the eternal ride out to the cabin would end. William made her nervous. He was everything she wasn’t: educated, sophisticated, and business-savvy. He had a trustworthy air to him. But then, her father had probably had that too, or her mother wouldn’t have married him and borne three children. The trust issues went deep. Maybe that’s why she never wanted to move. Smitten, and the people in it, had proved trustworthy. She could witness the faithfulness of God in those around her.

  As the church’s steeple rose on the horizon, she wondered if her desire for safety and the familiar was actually a lack of faith. That’s what rubbed her the wrong way about William. He didn’t seem afraid of anything. He could go where the wind blew him, and nothing rocked him. She looked at his handsome profile as he focused on the road ahead of them. He had a warmth about him, and she felt comfortable in his presence, which was probably the reason her walls rose immediately and actually forced a sense of anxiety.

  She told herself to behave and treat him as she would any other stranger in town, but every time she opened her mouth, something ugly came out. Had she ever done that before when she’d been interested in someone?

  Zoe placed her hand on the console between them. “I’m scared to death.”

  He pressed the brake. “Of me? You’re scared of me? Zoe, I’ll drop you back off at home if you’re—”

  “No. Not of you. I’ve set people up before, even had a few friends get married, but I have no idea how to run a business. I have no idea how to do anything.” The sting of tears burned behind her eyes, threatening to unleash themselves in front of a man who already saw her as unstable.

  William pulled the car to the side of the road and placed his hand on top of hers. His eyes bored into her with a sincerity that she’d never experienced before. He seemed to understand. Without saying a thing, he made her feel safe. She blinked away the tears, and he plucked a tissue from the center console and dabbed underneath her eyes with the most tender of touches.

  “It’s natural to feel that way when you embark on something new.”

  “Not if you know what you’re doing. People who are educated like you.”

  He chuckled. “Is that what you think of me? I’m the guy who walked into a ladder this morning.”

  She laughed through her tears. “It’s kind of you to say so. I think I may have misjudged you.” She felt his grasp tighten, and with it felt herself relax in his presence.

  “I wanted to come off as a person of authority who had the respect of the town. I came off like a jerk.”

  For a moment they were lost in each other’s gaze, full of compassion for one another. He didn’t seem like an educated know-it-all who would disappear, but someone like her, a human being with fears and frailties. She stared at the firm lines of his lips and wondered what it would be like to kiss a man like William Singer. The thought woke her, and she broke from her trance.

  “You can ask for help, Zoe. If there are any questions you have about running the business or what kind of numbers you need to make it work, that’s my specialty. I can help you.” He breathed in and exhaled deeply before he pulled the car back onto the road.

  She didn’t know what to say. She feared if he looked at her business plan, he might think it looked like a creation in color crayons meant for display on the refrigerator.

  “You’ll ask for my help if you need it?”

  She nodded. She wrapped her arms around herself and gripped her upper arms, aware that this handsome stranger now knew more about her fears for Cupid’s Arrow than her entire family put together. She f
elt exposed. “I have plans for the business. I’m—it’s—”

  “Zoe, show me someone who isn’t scared to start their own business and fly on their own without a steady paycheck, and I’ll show you a crazy person. Give yourself credit. It takes time and commitment to get a business going. I don’t want to take the wind out of your sails, but there’s more you’ll come up against. The electrical is the start, but you take it one step at a time, and before you know it you have a viable business.”

  “How many times did you give that pep talk at a Rotary meeting?”

  He pointed at her playfully. “You!”

  As they took the long road toward the lake, her pulse quickened and she searched for something more to say so that their time wouldn’t come to an end.

  “I can’t believe that you live out here by yourself and you were going to take the bus home,” he said.

  “The bus drops me off on the main road and I run this gravel road. That way I don’t need to make time for exercise. Sometimes I have extra plates from my visitations, so it’s not ideal, but I’ve learned to wrap them in towels on days I’ll be running, or use only plastic. But I worry it’s not healthy to eat off of plastic plates, so I try not to do that.”

  Why did she keep rattling off pointless information? Why did she suddenly want him to like her? What good would it do? He was a short-timer. Rationality overcame emotion and she straightened in the seat.

  “You run on this deserted road by yourself? It doesn’t worry you?”

  “Well, it didn’t until you mentioned it!” She smiled at him. “I’m kidding you. It doesn’t scare me. I know Smitten so well, and I do carry pepper spray in the event that I ever meet with something less than desirable.” She lifted her bag, which rattled like she was a homeless woman with every possession she owned on her person.

  “You’re telling me that if I attacked you, you could pull out the pepper spray from that giant bag and still have time to protect yourself? Go ahead. I’ll give you a thirty-second head start. Find your pepper spray.” Again he pulled the car to the side of the gravel road and lifted his brows in challenge. The lake glistened in the foreground as the sun’s last rays sparkled on its waters.