“Let’s not.” Chloe sighed. “I’m tired of talking about me.”
“What if I’m not tired of hearing about you?” He sounded earnest. “You fascinate me.”
“Yeah.” She picked at his shirt. “My life story is riveting. Everyone wants to hear about my life under glass.”
“I do.” He shifted her higher and his breath caught.
Chloe flushed when the juncture of her thighs brushed a particularly stiff denim ridge. “What are you doing?”
He grinned. “Nothing you’ll get in trouble with the neighbors for.”
She frowned with what must be relief. She couldn’t be disappointed. “Why isn’t that reassuring?”
He shifted her weight back so only their less interesting parts touched. “I’ve dealt with something similar to your situation before.”
She snorted. “Yeah, because agoraphobics are so common.”
“You might be surprised.” His smile faded. “What happened… changed my life, my brother’s and nephew’s as well. The story is a bad one. I would understand if you didn’t want me to tell you.”
His fingers bit into her hips, but he hadn’t noticed. His eyes were unfocused, far away from the here and now. Somehow she understood the cost of him reliving the memory for her. Whatever happened must be important to him. Her arms wrapped around his waist, locking them together, giving him support he probably didn’t realize he needed.
“You wouldn’t have offered if the story didn’t matter.” She rested her head against his shoulder. “You can tell me.”
She felt rather than saw his nod. “Bran’s mother was murdered when he was very young.” Chloe jerked upright and her lips parted, but he silenced her with a look. “He saw her killed. She had hidden them so well, we spent days looking before we found him, and her body.”
A shudder worked beneath his skin. “Afterward, his father fell apart, so I brought Bran to live with me while my brother grieved.” He sighed with so much regret she ached for him. “Bran was so young to be so afraid. I made him promises, lied to him when I had to, but I didn’t know what else to do. He wouldn’t leave his room.” His voice turned rough. “He would sit in his doorway and cry for his parents, for me, but he wouldn’t cross that line.”
“I’m so sorry. I had no idea.” Chloe rested a hand over his heart. “Is he doing better now?”
He blinked a few times, separating the past from the present before nodding. “He’s adjusted well. His phobia was short-lived, six months at most, but it felt like years at the time.”
She could imagine. “The adjustment must have been very difficult for you both.”
“It was, but we had no other choice. Bran needed me, but my job… I had to work. It was either bring him along or leave him alone.” His expression turned grim. “Sometimes I wonder if he wouldn’t have fared better if I’d left him home instead of teaching him my trade.”
“Single parents make tough calls all the time,” she said. “You can’t blame yourself for doing what you had to do.”
Quiet filled with old doubt-laden guilt hung between them long enough her conscience prickled from his pain. Hoping to shake him out of his mood, she rubbed his arm. “How did you help him get over it?”
“I didn’t,” he said. “I did what I could. I gave him a safe place, love, acceptance, but none of that mattered until he chose to overcome his fear.” Turning to her, he said, “He told me later what frightened him most was learning to love someone new. So many bad things happened so fast, he believed he would lose me next. He worried every time I left the room I wouldn’t come back. He was terrified of being left alone again.” He met her gaze. “One day he realized I would always be there, that he could count on me, and he let go of the fear. His recovery didn’t happen overnight, but once he made up his mind, he worked toward his goal until he overcame it.”
“He sounds very mature for his age.” She frowned. “How old did you say he was again?”
“Old enough to give me gray hairs.” His eyes filled with pride. “The boy has a chip on his shoulder. I worry someday someone is going to come along and knock it off the hard way.”
“He has you, so I think he’ll grow out of it one day.”
Now he really did smile. “Hope springs eternal.”
Before this smile crumbled, she teased, “Isn’t it cheating to borrow from the classics?”
He frowned at her.
“You know, the old you can do anything you set your mind to speech?” She cupped his face. “I’m working my way off my meds, one day at a time. It’s… hard. Maybe the hardest thing I’ve ever done because I’ve seen what can happen when you need medication you aren’t getting. My mom…” Her chest constricted. “She stopped taking her meds after Dad died. Her condition deteriorated. By the end, there wasn’t much left of the woman who raised me. She was a husk of her former self. I see the accident pushing me down that path, and I can’t go there. I won’t go there. But for now, I’ve had all the upheaval I can stand.” Glancing up at the store, she smiled at the familiar outline. “One day, I might be ready to spread my wings, but I’m not there yet.”
“Fair enough.” He kissed her temple. “I should let you get back to work. Are you ready?”
“Yeah.” Her legs tightened around him as he stood and crossed to the temporary stairs.
He unhooked her legs and let her slide down the front of his body until her feet landed on the same step he’d plucked her from. “I’d like to formally ask you out on a date, Ms. McCrea.”
Chloe backed up a step. “What do you have in mind?”
“The new posts are set. I’ll have the rest of the frame knocked out tomorrow. You’ll have a new porch in a week, give or take a day.” He gripped her hips to stop her backward ascent. “How about we christen the porch?”
Flames shot through her cheeks and her retort fizzled. “Um, what?”
“A date night, you and me.” He tugged her down a step, closer. “We’ll stay well within your comfort zone.” He grasped her collar and bent her down to his mouth. “What do you say?”
“Okay.” One inhale drew his scent deep in her lungs. Another and she felt resolve take root. “One week.” Plenty of time to scrap up her nerve to go through with what she was about to agree to. “Mr. Berwyn, you’ve got yourself a date.”
His answering smile made her breath catch.
“In that case”—his lips met hers, warm and soft and full of promise—“I’d better get back to work.”
“Work. Yeah.” That thing she did from eight to five daily. “We should get back to that.”
With effort, Chloe hauled herself back up the stairs. She stepped inside the store and her stomach unknotted… mostly. Shutting the door behind her, she slumped against it.
One week ago, her life had been turned upside down when Neve walked through that door.
One week from now, Chloe would walk out that door and into Nathaniel’s arms on her first date ever.
Funny the difference a week made.
Chapter Twenty
Chloe popped the cap off a permanent marker and stared at her calendar. With a squeak of satisfaction, she circled the date as one to remember. She replaced the cap and chewed on the end.
Underneath her scribbles, in bright red ink, she wrote “date with Nathaniel.”
Her stomach fluttered at the idea.
The door to her office swung open. “Look what I have…”
She turned and found Neve holding a cupcake with a half-melted candle stuck from the center. After one failed attempt, Neve got the burned wick lit and held it out to her.
Chloe blew out the flame, then licked icing from the wax. “Thanks. What’s the occasion?”
“As if you don’t know.” Her gaze touched on the calendar, then the mauled marker cap. “Sorry about the slightly used candle. It’s the only one I had on hand.” At Chloe’s questioning glance, Neve said, “I thought a few cupcakes might lure in some business for the literacy booth.”
�
��Good plan.” She bit into chocolate so rich she barely noticed when Neve plucked the candle from her fingers. “The fair starts tomorrow, right?”
“Yep, and I have three dozen, minus one, of these iced and ready to go. The gift bags are packed, the books boxed, and our signs loaded in my car.” She smiled. “It should be fun.”
“Are the kids excited?”
“You know it.” She wrapped the candle in a scrap of paper and put it in her pocket. “The question is, are you?”
A resurgence of nerves almost soured the cupcake in her stomach. “Should I be?” When Neve’s lips clamped shut, Chloe’s eyes widened. “You know what he’s got planned.” No wonder she looked so smug.
“It’s possible he might have reserved my services as caterer for the festivities.” She rolled her eyes. “Okay, more like I volunteered once he told me his, um, misguided intentions.”
“So,” Chloe said, sounding hopeful, “as my friend, you’ll give me a hint, right?”
“No, as your friend, I plan to keep you right where you are.” She grinned. “In the dark.”
“I figured.” She sighed. “At least tell me if we’re talking after hours?”
Her face scrunched in thought. “I guess that much won’t hurt. He asked me to have you ready by sundown. So we’ll have time to put in a full day before you have to get dolled up.”
A thrill ran through her. “He wants me to dress up?” Unbidden, the image of Nathaniel wearing dark slacks, his dress shirt rolled up over his forearms came to mind. She bit her lip.
“Your information is need-to-know.” Neve made a zipping motion across her mouth. “And that is all you need to know for now.” She breezed out of the office and headed for the register. “We’ll discuss your outfit and accessories later.”
Chloe followed her into the empty store. Neve had shelved inventory and tidied up the place earlier. Now she hunched over what looked like a list at the counter. When Chloe crept closer, Neve filed the paper neatly in the back of a notebook and then pulled out a couple of printed sheets from a tray below the register.
Abandoning the pretense of being productive today, she took a spot behind the register and mirrored Neve’s pose. Elbows on the counter, jaw propped in the palm of her hand, Chloe doodled on one of the blank crossword puzzles while she spied on Nathaniel through the front door.
He held a hammer in one hand and a nail between his teeth. He was looking all kinds of repairman sexy today. No. He was looking all kinds of her man sexy, which made her grin widen.
“I know you hate these things,” Neve said as she penned in an answer.
“I don’t hate them.” More like she held an acute dislike for them.
Neve drew a line through one column, then straightened. “What gives?”
“Nothing. I guess I’m just nervous,” Chloe admitted, “about tonight.”
“Sweetie.” Neve patted her shoulder. “You’re putting too much thought into this. Tonight will be fun, I promise. Besides, I’ll be right upstairs if you need me. You won’t be alone. And you know Nathaniel won’t make you do anything you don’t want to.”
Heat worked into Chloe’s cheeks until even her forehead burned.
Neve blinked a couple of times. “We’re not talking about the actual date, are we?”
Chloe shook her head. “More like what happens afterward.”
“You thank him for a nice dinner.” Neve frowned. “Are you worried he’ll want more?”
Her voice cracked. “More like I’m worried he won’t want more.” Swallowing hard, she met Neve’s gaze and admitted, “Because I do.”
“I don’t follow. I mean, I’ve seen you guys together. The chemistry is there. If you want more, then I’m sure things will”—she waved her hand—“progress.”
“What if I said things have never progressed for me before?”
“Then I would say… I don’t even know what I would say. Give me a minute.” Neve ran a hand down her face. “This is not the watercooler conversation I expected this morning.”
Shoving her hands into her pockets, Chloe said, “I shouldn’t have mentioned it.”
“No, you’re right to ask.” Neve rested her chin on her palm and scratched her cheek. “Look, the best advice anyone can give you is to follow your heart. If you’ve waited this long to find someone special, and you think Nathaniel is the right guy, then go with your gut. If things go well, and you don’t want to say good night, then don’t.”
“You make it sound simple.”
“Just keep things nice and casual. Don’t put any pressure on yourself.” She offered a smile. “You’ll know if the time’s right.”
“Nice and casual.” She rolled her shoulders. “I can handle that.”
The front door swung open on a sweaty Nathaniel. “What are you handling?”
With any luck, you, she thought. “We’re talking shop. Literacy booth stuff.”
The smile he turned on her would have made her shrivel in her shoes if it meant he knew what she was thinking. With a less-than-reassuring chuckle, he stepped inside and closed his eyes. “I think I chose the wrong profession.”
“You’d get bored with nothing but books and quiet. You’re too much of a hands-on kind of guy. You must be thirsty. Let me grab you a bottle of water.”
She found herself grabbed instead. “Thanks, but I’m on my way out. I need to pick up some more supplies before it gets much later.” He tugged her close enough for a kiss. “I’ll see you tonight.” He checked the wall clock hung behind the register. “How does six o’clock sound?”
It sounded like seven hours too many. “Sounds great.”
“Good.” He mashed the word against her mouth, then backed out the door.
After he left, Neve patted her shoulder. “That boy’s got it, and he doesn’t even know how bad.” Clucking her tongue, she smiled. “They’re kind of cute at that stage.”
Chloe disagreed. Cute didn’t apply to Nathaniel. He was too predatory, too wicked for his own good, and he had a taste for bookish clerks that defied all rules of convention or cuteness.
After tossing a bent nail into his overflowing can, Nathaniel surveyed his work and decided he liked how the porch had turned out. Seven days had passed since he asked Chloe on the closest thing to a date he could give her. Prolonging the inevitable had never been more bittersweet, but he wanted to give her a taste of normalcy before reality soured their relationship.
He picked up a sliver of wood and tossed it in with the remaining debris heaped against the building. The porch lacked trim and a coat of stain, but Neve’s contribution of fairy lights cast a warm glow over the bare wood. Golden threads woven through the cloth covering his plywood table sparkled. Light gleamed off the silver handles of the overturned supply buckets he meant them to use as seats. A few feet away, a battered chair held a borrowed radio. Its extension cord snaked through the banister and out of sight.
He rubbed his chin and wondered if he should have approached this in a different way. Days after his talk with Chloe about the harsher side of Bran’s upbringing, he still couldn’t believe he’d told her. He hadn’t spoken to anyone about how Mairi’s passing had affected all three Berwyn men since approaching Delphi all those years ago. He wouldn’t have said a word then if he hadn’t been forced to secure his nephew a place in their world.
If only he could find one for her so easily.
With a grimace, he reminded himself that no such place existed. She no more belonged among the living than she deserved her sentence among the damned. He couldn’t save her life, but her soul was well on its way to salvation. All he needed was more time.
The hairs at his nape prickled. His brother had arrived, roosting in the church’s bell tower in shadows too deep for Nathaniel to distinguish his outline. From across the street, Saul had a clear view of the porch, of the store, and soon, of Chloe. A second of doubt rippled through Nathaniel, but he dismissed his unease. She would only go so far, and if Saul wanted to watch, he would find a way
no matter the location.
“Is everything ready?” Neve regarded him from the doorway.
He nodded. “Is Chloe?”
With a coy smile, Neve said, “You’ll have to wait and see, won’t you?”
He straightened. “That’s not fair.”
She placed her hands on her hips. “Some things are worth the wait.”
No argument there. Chloe was worth the lifetime Nathaniel had spent looking for her.
He now understood a fraction of the pain Saul had endured when he lost Mairi. The thought of losing Chloe crippled Nathaniel worse than the loss of his wings ever had.
“A girl gets all these romantic notions in her head when a guy like you pays her so much attention. Chloe has that glow about her, and I don’t want to see her hurt. Even if you don’t mean to do it, you’re setting her expectations high.” Neve paused. “Don’t let her down, okay?”
Neve’s show of affection for Chloe knotted his gut. While her admission made several more pieces of his plan click into place, her words were the last thing he wanted to hear. They meant his time with Chloe was running out, and he was nowhere near being ready to let her go.
“I’m serious about her,” he admitted. “More serious than I’ve ever been about any woman.”
“Good.” Her smile turned radiant. “I think you guys are good together.” The click of heels on hardwood spun her around and caught his attention. “You were supposed to wait upstairs,” she said to Chloe while blocking his view of the interior.
Nathaniel heard muffled conversation ending with a resigned sigh on Neve’s end. She glanced over her shoulder with a plea in her eyes. He nodded his promise that Chloe was safe in his hands, for now at least.
“Mr. Berwyn, I believe your date has arrived.” Neve’s eyes narrowed as they swung back toward the interior of the store. “Ahead of schedule.” She pushed open the door and Chloe took a halting step over the threshold.
Her fingers trailed along the exterior of the building until her hand closed over the new railing. Her approach wound his chest tighter with every step. Air left his lungs. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. Locked in place, he waited. When she flashed a shy smile, the stars above paled in comparison. Her hair curled around her shoulders, giving her a dark halo. The delectable shade of red on her lips invited all kinds of unholy thoughts as her smoky stare met his. The crimson dress she wore fluttered around her knees. Its dainty straps made his fingers itch to pluck them free of her shoulders.
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