“I used Mom’s recipe,” she said as she pulled a chair up across the table from him.
She didn’t imagine the flicker of pain that crossed his face when she’d said that and she repressed a momentary frustration. All these years and the mention of her mother still created this reaction?
“So, how long are you back for?” she asked, wrapping her hands around the warm mug of coffee she had poured for herself.
“Couple of weeks. I’ve got some work to do.” He gave her a bright smile. “Tomorrow you and I are going to see Zach Truscott. I made an appointment to sign the store over.”
Older longings and yearnings made her heart quicken at the thought. But only for a moment. She would have the bookstore.
But not Denny.
She would end up like her aunt, alone and a spinster, living above a bookstore.
She shook the morbid thought off, trying to realize that what her father was giving her was an opportunity. An answer to older prayers.
“That’s great,” she said, trying to inject the necessary enthusiasm into her voice. “Really great. I’m glad.”
Her father’s frown told her that her feigned attempt at excitement had fallen flat.
And the award for poorest reaction goes to me, she thought.
“You don’t sound glad,” he said.
“I am. I really am.” That was a touch more realistic, but still not the reaction he would have gotten a few months ago.
“I’ve got a few irons in the fire that will make it easier to hand the store over,” he said, sounding heartier than she felt.
She didn’t really want to know about another of his schemes, but not asking would smack of ingratitude. And she was grateful. Truly she was.
As a single girl she would have to find a way to make a living in this world. The bookstore would give her a good one if she was able to implement her plans.
“So what are you working on now?” she asked.
He leaned forward, his eyes shining. “It’s a great opportunity, poppet. A chance to get a decent stake together,” he said, using words so familiar to Evangeline that she smiled.
“What’s the opportunity?” she asked, going through the motions of being interested. Just as she always did when her father started on yet another scheme.
“Real estate. Down in Arizona. Stuff is going dirt cheap and me and my buddy are looking at a couple of fantastic deals. The economy will pick up. I know it will, and then, boom, I’ll be in the money, honey.” He slapped the table with an open palm for emphasis, almost making Evangeline jump.
“That’s good,” she said slowly.
“It’s solid, poppet. Rock solid.”
“And how are you getting the money you need for this?”
“I’m selling the ranch.”
“I know that, but you won’t have that money for about five years.”
Her father took a quick sip of his coffee then shook his head. “Nope. I’m getting it sooner than that. I put the ranch up for sale now. I’ve got a couple of buyers who are interested. They’re coming up in the next few days. That’s why I’m here.”
Evangeline stared at her father as confusing phrases spun through her brain. “Buyers? Coming up? But I thought Denny...” She shook her head as if to rearrange the words he had thrown at her. “I thought Denny was buying it?”
“Can’t afford it. He said he had a five-year plan and though a few things had changed, he couldn’t do it. So now I’ve got a few other people interested and he’s packing up and leaving. Which is funny. Last time I talked to him he told me that he’d met someone. Was looking at settling down.”
Met someone? Settling down?
Had Denny been talking about Ella?
Or her?
Her thoughts circled around each other, trying to settle as her father, all fired up on caffeine and sugar, kept talking.
“Now he’s telling me to find someone else to buy the place. He can’t afford it. Doesn’t want to go that deep into debt. So I made a few calls to other people I knew were interested in land in the area and they’re coming out. Shame about Denny, though. I figured he’d like the place enough to take a few chances on it, but he said he couldn’t.”
Her heart danced against her rib cage as the events of the past week coalesced. Though she was still upset with Denny for not involving her in the process, she now had more information as to why.
“So you wanted your money right away from the ranch? What about the lease you had with Denny?”
Her father looked down at his coffee, looking shamefaced. “It was just a handshake agreement. Nothing written down.”
She felt a flush of momentary shame at her father’s cavalier dismissal of something Denny had counted on. “That doesn’t sound very gentlemanly,” she said with a note of reprimand. “What did Denny say to that?”
“He was great about it. Told me it was ultimately my place and that he knew he didn’t have any right to make demands.”
Evangeline sat back in her chair, still trying to absorb what her father had told her.
“Said he was leaving a couple of his trucks behind to finish the contract and was selling his cows,” her father continued, his words rushing out of him. “Poor guy. I feel bad for him. He was so glad he could buy back some of the cows from his old ranch, which he had to sell when he got divorced. Told me it was like he could keep his parents’ legacy. And he’s got that kid and all, and he said that he had to think of her....”
He sighed, quiet a moment as if acknowledging Denny’s dilemma with a few moments of silence. But it was merely a pittance of time because seconds later he looked up, bright-eyed and excited again. “But, hey, this is such a great chance for me. A super chance. I’ll do great, and even better, I can sign the bookstore over to you.”
“And when you get the money?” Evangeline said, ignoring his repetition of his big plans for her life.
“I got my plans, got my dreams,” he said. “I’m out of here.”
“Why?”
Her quiet question stopped the flow of words. He cut his gaze away, looking out the window overlooking the town. The streetlights cast golden cones over the darkened street. A few cars drove by, their headlights flashing.
“I can’t be here. Every time I come home...I think of your mother.” His voice broke just enough to create an answering thrum of sympathy.
But only for a moment.
“And what about me? I’ve stayed here, missing mom, as well. And on top of that, missing you.”
Her father sent her a pained look and reached across the table to catch her hand. “I love you, you know that, but I can’t be here. It hurts too much.”
Evangeline’s mind tripped back to one of her first memories of Denny. A reluctant father.
But following that, the reality of how he had coped. How he had rearranged his life to take care of Ella. How he made everything about her.
And another thought struck deep in her soul.
Denny was nothing like her father, after all.
She stared at her father a moment, thinking, trying to rearrange her perceptions. Her thoughts.
Then she knew what she had to do.
She leaned forward. “Dad, how much money would you get from the ranch?”
“You know what it is worth.”
“Sort of. But would you get the same amount if you sold the bookstore?”
“Sell the bookstore?” Her father looked surprised. “Why would I do that? It’s yours. It’s for you. Always was.”
Not always, Evangeline thought, but she pushed that petty thought back. “Just tell me.”
Her father leaned back in his chair, his arms crossed over his chest as he seemed to consider this.
“It wouldn’t be as much, but real estate in downtow
n Hartley Creek is pretty primo especially because I own the building outright. I’ve had a few people interested but it was always for you, poppet, so I told them no.”
“But you have some loans against the ranch yet.”
He shrugged that comment aside. “Not that much, but I guess if I pay them out, what the store would bring would come close to the same.”
She nodded, her heart thudding against her chest wall. A moment of indecision clutched at her but then she thought of Denny. Thought of all he had lost. Thought of Ella and the sacrifices Denny had made for her.
“Because I want you to sell the bookstore. I want you to use that money to finance your scheme.”
Her father only stared at her. “But, poppet, you can’t afford to buy the store.”
She waved off his objections. “I know. And it doesn’t matter.”
“So why are you doing this? This store is all you’ve ever wanted.”
It was. But now that she didn’t have Denny and Ella in her life anymore, it didn’t seem as important. The bookstore had been a large part of her life and now as her deepest wish was about to come true, she realized she had clung to the bookstore for the wrong reasons. It had become the focus of her life. It had become a way to keep her father connected to her when, in reality, her father would never be the father she had hoped he would be. He would never settle down here.
And, somehow, it didn’t matter as much.
If she gave up the bookstore, Denny could keep the ranch. He could take care of Ella and give Ella the kind of childhood Evangeline had had for only a few short years.
It was for Ella, she told herself as she told her father again that this was what she wanted to do. It was all for Ella.
But later, as she lay in her bed, her heart lonely and aching, she knew it was more for Denny.
* * *
The next day the sun hid behind clouds and rain drizzled down. The bookstore seemed gloomy and dull and as Evangeline watched the water slide down the large front windows of the store she felt a chill slowly seep into her soul.
She leaned her elbows on the counter and idly paged through a book she had just received in a shipment this morning.
Most of the boxes sat in the back room, where book club was held, still unopened.
Evangeline had only opened the box of books she had ordered for the book club. She wished she could cancel. She wasn’t in the mood.
And the book they had decided on was too depressing. Something Jeff Deptuck had campaigned for. An Arctic expedition gone wrong and the repercussions for a man and his family back home in England.
She leaned her elbows on the counter, suddenly tired. The morning had been unusually busy, which was good, and right now it was lunchtime. In half an hour she was to meet her father and Zach Truscott at Mug Shots to talk about the sale of the store. Evangeline wanted to make sure that her father kept to his side of the bargain and part of that was to draw up a legal lease agreement for Denny.
She shivered, wrapping the soft cashmere sweater her father had given her this morning around her shoulders. At first she’d wanted to refuse. But the reality was that this was her father’s way of expressing his affection for her and she was at a low point in her life. Ready to take any expression of caring.
So she’d put it on.
But the soft wool and the pale yellow color did nothing to brighten her low spirits.
I miss him. I miss Denny.
Her heart clenched at the thought.
Then she closed her eyes, slapped the book shut and straightened. She had to get over this. Her life was about to make some major changes and that was a good thing.
Change was as good as a rest. Maybe she had stayed in Hartley Creek, waiting, too long. Maybe it was time she ventured out and figured out what she wanted. Make some plans and schemes of her own.
She lifted her chin, ready to take on her new life when the door to the bookstore opened.
A man, silhouetted against the gloom behind him, paused inside the frame. Tall, with broad shoulders, lean hips.
And a cowboy hat that dripped water onto the floor of the store.
Icy fingers clutched at her heart and Evangeline pressed a hand against her chest as if to contain the chill.
“What...what can I do for you?” she stammered as the man stepped farther into the store, sweeping his dripping hat off his head.
Denny stood in front of her, his jaw shadowed with stubble, his eyes bleary. He blinked a moment, as if coming back from a dark place into light, then he took another tentative step toward her.
“I was just talking to your father,” he said.
Evangeline could only nod as she ran her suddenly damp palms down the sides of her skirt.
“He told me about the store.”
Another nod as she struggled with what to say to a man who had once held her heart in hands that now worked their way around the brim of a dripping cowboy hat.
“Why are you selling it?” he asked.
Evangeline swallowed, then licked her dry lips. “I think you know why.”
Denny nodded. “I think I do, too, but I’d like to hear it from you.”
“Why? So you can make another decision without me?”
“Evangeline—”
“No. You don’t get to act as if you’re in charge here. I’m in charge. I’m the one who decided to sell the store. And if you really must know, I did it for Ella.”
He blanched at that and Evangeline felt suddenly remorseful. He nodded slowly, as if understanding. “Of course you did. That’s amazing of you. I knew you were a selfless person. I’m not surprised.”
She waited a moment, still unsure of what to say and what she was allowed to expect.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving?” she asked, resting her hands on the counter as if finding support there. “Why didn’t you think I needed to know?”
Denny bit his lip, as if thinking, then looked up at her, his eyes narrowed. “I didn’t tell you because I was ashamed. Because once your father wanted to sell the ranch it meant I had to go back to the kind of life I had before. And I didn’t want that for you. I wanted the best for you. A home. A stable living. I wanted to be able to support you. And once I knew I couldn’t give you that, I couldn’t...I couldn’t...” His sentence faded away but his eyes held hers.
“Did you really think I needed so much?”
Denny gave her a weary smile and lifted his chin toward her. “Look at you. I don’t know much about clothes but I can tell quality. Everything you have, everything you wear, is the best. Expensive and beautiful. I can’t give that to you now and I certainly couldn’t give that to you if I had to leave. I couldn’t even offer you a decent home. Maybe a rented double-wide at best while I was off driving a truck and you were scrabbling to pay bills. Lila couldn’t live that life—”
“I’m not Lila,” she protested, hurt that he assumed she was such a princess. “I care about you and I would be willing to make sacrifices to be with you. I’m not a diva and I’m not high maintenance. I know how to make sacrifices for love. That’s why I told my father to sell this store. So you could keep the ranch. I did it because I love you.”
She stopped herself then, clapping her hand over her mouth as if to hold back the words already lying between them.
It was too late to backtrack and the shock on his face showed her he’d heard every word.
“You gave up this bookstore for me?”
“And Ella.” Then she shrugged, realizing he needed to hear the full truth. “But mostly for you.”
Denny walked over slowly, as if engaged in a showdown. But he didn’t stop at the counter. He came around it, dropped his hat to the floor and caught her by the shoulders.
“You love me?”
Evangeline felt exposed and v
ulnerable but she figured she might as well see this through. “Yes. I do.”
Denny looked down at her, his eyes holding a warmth that kindled an answering glow in her own soul. “I love you, Evangeline. I have loved you for a while now.”
She felt her heart quiver at the fervent note in his voice.
Then he pulled her close, his arms damp from the rain outside, his lips cool. Their kiss warmed them both.
He pulled away, but cradled her head against his shoulder, resting his chin on her hair as he took in a long, slow breath.
“I love you so much,” he murmured. “I can’t believe you would do that. That you would sacrifice what you loved because of me. No one has ever done anything like that for me. Ever.”
She had no answer to that so she wrapped her arms around him and held him close.
He loved her and she loved him. For now, that was enough.
They stood that way for a while, then Denny slowly stepped back, his rough fingertips gently tracing her features. Her eyebrows, her cheeks, her lips, her chin, as if trying to memorize her.
He kissed her again, smiling. “But I can’t let you do that,” he said. “I can’t let you make that sacrifice.”
“But you have to,” she said, holding his eyes. “Not to get all practical, but I know you can’t afford to buy out my father.”
“I can’t. And I have wanted more than anything to give you a home on the ranch, the place you grew up. I was making dreams and plans about us.”
“You were?” she asked, his words lighting a candle of wonder in her soul.
“Of course. You were the reason for all the decisions I was making. But now...” Denny sighed lightly and looked as if he was about to argue with her. “I can’t let you do this.”
“Don’t you understand?” she said, catching hold of his arms. “I want to be with you. And if that means selling the bookstore, then I’m happy to do it. This way you don’t have to leave and I don’t have to leave and we can be on the ranch, the place I grew up. The place I had my happiest memories. We can make new and better ones, and that means more to me than keeping the bookstore.”
Denny’s eyes locked with hers as a smile of amazement crawled over his lips. “You mean that, don’t you?”
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