“The beard? I thought you were my fiancé?” she said.
“A beard is like a fake . . .” he said.
“Okay. Got it.” She took a sip of coffee. “I take it he’s still around then.”
“Mean-looking guy with dark hair and spider web tattoo on his neck.”
“You can pick them, Chloe,” Marissa said.
“I told you. So, no men for me.”
“You’ve sworn off men?” he asked. His brow furrowing.
“It’s for the best.”
“For whom?”
“For me.”
“Okay, we’ll deal with that later. We’re hoping if he buys our story he’ll kind of give up and go away.”
“Or?” Marissa asked.
“We haven’t quite discussed the or,” Chloe said, a chill sliding down her spine.
“One day at a time,” said Tom, giving her hand a pat.
A couple of customers came in and she went to serve them, leaving those two alone to whisper.
“Now, buddy, I know you like her, but there’s a whole lot of stuff going on here and she’s a very private person,” Marissa said to Moose.
“You don’t think maybe she’s just a scared, lonely person, rather than private?” he asked.
“Yes, that too. But you need to tread very, very carefully here. Scared, lonely people get attached.”
“That’s okay. Attached is fine.”
Marissa shook her head at him. “Moose, all I’m saying is be sure before you take this too far. I’m not sure how much more she can rebound from.”
“Noted.”
“And don’t keep buying her expensive stuff like this machine, it’ll scare her away.” At least that was helpful. “I was here when you first saw her, buddy. I know the chemistry is real, but life is more than chemistry.”
Chloe came back and Marissa stopped talking.
“Okay, you crazy kids, I need to hotfoot it back to the library. I left an intern in charge. We’ll talk later.” Moose watched her give Chloe’s hand a squeeze. And then she was gone.
Chloe busied herself preparing the order for her customers, so Moose took a seat and read through the instructions for the installation of the cappuccino machine. It was all a whole lot less complicated than he thought.
“Do you mind if I just get started?” he asked her. “I’ll just be quietly here in the corner.”
She laughed at him. “Quietly rearranging the place. Sure, go for it.”
It seemed word of the new machine had spread because there were several people who came and stood outside the window and a few more that came in, took a seat at the counter, and offered their advice. Mainly retired old men who seemed happy to have something different to do.
“Are you going to make those fancy coffees with the pumpkin spice and the caramel?” one asked Chloe.
“I think so,” she said. “The ladies like those you know.”
“My wife loves them. Every time we hit a big town we have to stop and get a vanilla spice something or other,” he said. “I’m going to call Mike and get him to come do a story.”
“Frank used to be the editor of the paper, before Mike.”
“I’m not sure it’s worth a story,” Moose said with a chuckle.
“Believe me, in this town, it is.”
And sure enough, a few minutes later Mike came in with his camera slung over his shoulder. “Good morning all, seems like this is where it’s all happening today, huh?”
Chloe shook her head and smiled at him. “Hey, Mike. Coffee? The new machine isn’t quite ready yet. Want to kick it old school with a regular?”
“Sure.” He smiled at her. “Hey, Moose, I didn’t know you were a coffee machine rep in your spare time.”
“I’m branching out,” he said, leaning over to shake the other guy’s hand. “I haven’t seen you since your engagement. Congratulations.”
“I believe I could say the same to you two.”
The whole place fell silent. “You’re engaged, Chloe? To this guy?”
He saw a blush creep up from the nape of her neck to her hairline. “Ah yes, that’s right.”
Time to sell it. He swung an arm around her shoulder. “I’m a lucky guy, right?”
“How come we didn’t know?” Frank’s brow was knotted in concern.
“We haven’t had a chance to tell our families yet, so we were just keeping it quiet till we did,” he said.
“Makes sense. Your people are from Maine, right, son?”
“That’s right. But right now, they’re away so . . .”
“I bet Linc will be chuffed to hear about this. He was so excited when you came back to town. He missed having family all those years,” Frank said.
“So, to the coffee machine,” Mike interrupted. “What made you decide to get one, and such an elaborate one at that?”
Chloe explained how it was a gift from Moose and how he thought it might be both an attractive addition and good for business.
“Sometimes an ice-cream parlor in winter needs a boost,” she said.
Mike took their photo in front of the machine, and then Moose got back to work tinkering on getting it installed. He was grateful now that he had also bought a box full of coffee and flavored syrups so they could in fact make a caramel latte or a vanilla chai straight away.
Half an hour later, the machine was gurgling to life and they were ready to make the first espresso.
“You want to do it, honey?” he asked.
“I don’t know how, really,” she said.
“We’ll do it together.”
“Let me grab a photo.” So it was that Moose and Chloe were photographed wrapped around each other making the parlor’s first coffee and everyone agreed it was very good.
Chloe turned the closed sign around at six. The place had been crazy busy from the minute she had arrived, and as soon as Tom had plugged in the coffee machine, it had just gotten crazier. At the start of the day, she hadn’t known how to work the machine, and by the end, she’d made over a hundred coffees. So much for wiping the counter on a loop, she’d barely had time to wash coffee cups in time to reuse them. No wonder those big chains did paper. She’d have to get some for takeout orders, another new, but not altogether terrible problem.
Moose was wiping down the machine and whistling. She could barely stand and he who had been up exercising at dawn was whistling a merry tune and happily cleaning. The man had never stopped smiling and working all day. Not to mention happily taking the town’s congratulations on their engagement.
And that was another thing, none of that bothered him. In fact, he seemed thrilled. Oh, and he’d taken every opportunity to touch her arm or her lower back. She’d just stop tingling in one spot and his hand would find another or he’d be whispering encouragement in her ear again. She couldn’t remember a time in her life when any person had ever paid her this much attention. It felt, overwhelming.
She took a moment to watch him. She needed to find some flaws and remind herself that there was no way this guy could be this great. He wore jeans and a simple white shirt and an apron, and he looked sexy doing it. He cleaned, he was pleasant to people, and he smelled like heaven, even after eight hours of work.
She blew her hair out of her face. This was not helping. All she kept seeing was the good.
He turned and caught her watching him.
“Well, that was quite a day, wasn’t it?”
“It sure was.”
“So why don’t you have a smile on that pretty face?” His brow furrowed in concern.
“I’m just trying to figure you out.”
“There’s not much to figure,” he said, walking toward her. “I’m a normal guy.”
“A normal guy who waltzes into town, reinvigorates my business, wins over the whole town, and confuses the heck out of me.”
“Sorry,” he said, but she knew he wasn’t, and really, what did he have to apologize for?
“I’m sorry. I just . . . it’s all a bit much.�
�
“Of course. You need a good dinner. How about I take you to the diner? I could murder a burger.”
“Can we go home and change first?”
“Whatever you want.”
What she wanted was him. But she needed to remind herself she didn’t have him, not really. He was just on loan.
Chapter 5
Moose wondered if any of the people in this town actually went home, because as busy as the ice-cream parlor had been today, the diner was just as busy tonight.
He hadn’t been in here before but it resembled many a diner in many a small town in America. He expected it was built in the 1950s, and while there had been a few concessions to modernization, not all that much had changed here since.
“Hey, Chloe,” the elderly waitress said. “Nice to see you out.”
So it occurred to him that maybe Chloe was one of the few people who did stay home. Then again, would a young girl with her background eat out alone? Probably not.
“Thanks, Marge,” she said. “This is Tom, or Moose as most people call him.”
She gave him the once-over and a cursory hello.
“There was a creepy guy in here earlier asking about you, sweetie. I didn’t tell him anything.”
“Thanks, Marge.”
“No worries. I’ve got your back.”
Okay, well that meant Viper wasn’t too far away. In a battle between Marge and Viper, Moose thought he’d back Marge.
“Let’s not worry about him now,” he said, patting her hand. She was wearing a simple denim shirt dress and red cowboy boots. Her long hair hung loose, and she looked adorable. Then again, he thought she did at all times. She bit her bottom lip and he wanted to kiss her.
“Okay. You must be starving.”
“You have no idea. I could eat a horse and a cow and maybe a couple of chickens, too.”
“The whole barnyard, huh?”
He gave her a nod. “Hey, did you grow up on a farm?”
“Kind of, we had chickens and the community had a farm. I can milk a cow or a goat if required. And I can pluck a chicken, but I hated that job.” She gave a sexy little shiver.
“Noted.” He returned his attention to the menu.
“Mike likes the meatloaf, and Todd likes the burgers. If that helps?”
“They’re nice guys. I met them at Lucy and Chase’s engagement party. It’s funny how small the world is. Lucy and Chase really brought us together.”
“I don’t know them very well, but I’ll be sure to thank them.”
“I was roommates with Chase at college. Great guy.”
“Were all your roommates loaded?” she asked, and then he could see she thought better of it. “Sorry, that was rude.”
“Chase was and I’m pretty lucky. A couple of the other guys had it tougher, but I think we were all fortunate to have been given good educations and a great shot at college.”
“I didn’t have that,” she said quietly.
“Well, you’re only young. You can still go to college. You could do some classes at community college and transfer.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
He let it drop. Marge came and he ordered a plate of chicken wings and then a burger. She ordered a chicken burger. They didn’t seem to sell beer. Damn it, he could murder a beer.
“Is there a bar in this town?” he asked.
She told him there was, although she’d never been, a place called The Pit. Interesting. He presumed she grew up in a dry community. He really had an awful lot of questions.
“Do you want to tell me how you made your way here from home?”
“I didn’t come here from home; there were a few stops along the way.”
“I’m listening.”
She wasn’t sure where to start. There were so many details she wanted to share and so many she wanted to leave out and some of them were the same.
“Just tell me what you’re comfortable with.”
He had his hands laid over hers, and for all the world with the little tea-light lamp on the table this looked romantic, but she felt sick. Still, she owed him some answers.
“I left home at eighteen. My mother helped me leave. It’s hard to explain, but I think she is part of our community, a Christian sect, because of my dad. He grew up without family and he was always looking to belong somewhere, and I guess he found that place.”
“That makes sense. It’s hard to be alone. He probably didn’t want that for his family.”
“Right. So we were homeschooled in the community. My mother was a teacher, so that was good. Of course, I now realize the information we were given, especially in science and history, was pretty selective but that was fine. It was actually a pretty nice place to grow up. We went to church a lot, but we had hayrides and animals and it was pretty nice and safe.”
“It does sound cool. All your friends with you all the time.”
He was trying to make it easy. “Anyway, the problem is that when women reach a certain age it is expected that they marry . . . someone chosen for them.”
“Chosen?” He took a beat. “As in arranged?”
“Yeah, and the guy they chose for me was fat, forty-five, and not very nice.” He muttered some expletives under his breath. “Unsurprisingly, I didn’t think it was such a great match.”
“I imagine not.”
“So I told my mom that.”
“Well, that was good.”
Her nod was slow. “Except I only had two options: stay and marry him or go and never look back. So it was hard.”
“Oh, honey.” He squeezed her hand tight and she was aware a tear was trying to creep down her left cheek.
“So my mum gave me three things. One thousand dollars, which I was so sheltered I thought was a fortune, the name of her old college friend who I could see in Austin, and Uncle Linc’s address. I had been up here as a kid once and I knew he was nice, but anyway, New Hampshire is a long way from Texas.”
“And so you went to Austin.” She nodded.
“And so I went to Austin.”
They were interrupted by Marge and the chicken wings. Their spicy aroma hit her, and all of a sudden, she was starving. Her stomach gave an embarrassing rumble.
“Dig in, honey,” he said as if none of what he’d been told mattered.
She took a wing and picked it up in her fingers. It was so good. The truth was she didn’t eat here much because she didn’t like dining alone.
“So, that’s kind of weird, right? My story.”
“Well.” He licked his fingers cleaned. “I think that shows what a brave person you are and how much you’ve overcome. It makes me like you even more.”
“Even more?”
“Do you think I’d be here if I didn’t like you, Chloe?” he asked.
That made sense, but then again, he’d never dated Viper. “Well, my instincts aren’t great.”
“Mine are pretty good. I mean, sure I’ve fallen in love, or maybe it was just like, with the wrong girl, but I’m usually pretty good at picking who is and who is not a decent human being.”
“Really?”
“Sure.” He shrugged. “I’ve had a lot of practice. You grew up in a place where you were exposed to a very limited pool of people. I grew up in hotels, and boy oh boy, do you see all sorts there. The universe comes to you and you learn pretty quickly who to trust.”
“How?”
“The best way is how someone treats people. Not just their wife or boyfriend, don’t get me wrong, how they treat them tells you a lot of course, but how do they treat the guy who parks their car, the woman who brings fresh towels, or the bartender? That tells you a whole lot. I’ve had people be so rude to me when they thought I was the gardener and then fawn all over me at the bar a couple of hours later, not knowing I was the same guy. It was illuminating.”
“Wow.” She looked around the room. “So even here you can tell?”
“Sure. Marge, cranky but salt of the earth. Frank,” he pointed to t
he guy sitting with his wife in the corner, “terrific guy. That couple in the corner. Not too happy, she’s a shrew.”
He pointed to Jacob and Patty.
“Wow. What about me?” She knew she shouldn’t ask but she had to.
“That’s too easy,” he said.
“You’re not going to tell me?” She leaned in and gave him her best cheeky smile.
“Come on now. You know I think you’re the best. You’re honest, kind, hardworking, brave.”
“I’m not that honest. I lied to the whole town about our engagement,” she whispered.
“It’s not a lie, in my mind we’re engaged.”
“What, and then we break up?”
“Maybe?” He gave her a sexy grin. Damn, that smile could melt an iceberg and she was not an iceberg.
Maybe? What the hell did maybe mean? Marge and her burgers interrupted so Chloe never got the chance to ask.
Chapter 6
The minute they pulled up to the house Moose sensed something was wrong. He wasn’t quite sure why he could feel something was amiss but he could.
“Stay here a minute.”
Maybe she sensed it too because Chloe refused. “No way, it’s my house. We’re going in together.”
He turned to her. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“Right, but you think I want to see you get hurt? This really doesn’t have anything to do with you.”
“Of course it does. You and I, we’re in this together.” He grabbed her hand and held tight.
The sensor light on the porch came on when they got near the stairs. Even though the house was dark inside, the shadows they could make out seemed ominous.
Chloe insisted on opening the door, and she slid her hand in the door crack to flick the light before opening it wide. The place had been ransacked. Things had been thrown everywhere in the living room. Not stolen or even broken so much as messed up, at least from what Moose could see initially.
Beside him, Chloe let out a gasp.
“It’s okay,” he said, hugging her from behind.
This was planned and methodical. They’d been gone for dinner just over an hour. A cool breeze came in through the back door, which was left ajar, either intentionally or because the assailant, and they both knew who that was, had been disturbed.
Any Way You Want It : An Upper Crust Series Novel (The Upper Crust Series Book 5) Page 4