He shoved the phone in his back pocket, and wrapped his other arm around Chloe, pulling her against him. He buried his face in her hair and took a deep breath.
"Are you okay?" Her voice was muffled against his chest, but she didn't try to disentangle herself from his embrace.
"No."
Chloe twisted in his arms enough to be able to set her mug on the railing next to his, then she wrapped her arms around his waist. "Talk to me."
"That was work. I have to leave for a mission tomorrow morning."
She tensed in his arms, and her breath caught. "Tomorrow?"
"Yes."
"Are you ready?"
"I haven't pulled a gun on you in about thirty-six hours, so yeah, I guess I am. I have a low standard for emotional stability." His arms tightened around her, though, as if he could somehow hold onto this moment.
Chloe sighed, and turned her head to the side so her cheek was resting against his chest. "I know this thing between us is even more fleeting than temporary, but I don't really want you to go. I know you have to," she said quickly, "but I don't want you to. Is it bad to say that?"
He grinned, his heart suddenly feeling lighter. "Absolutely not." He pulled back, searching her beautiful face. "I'll be honest with you, I don't want to go either. I want to park myself in your kitchen, watch you type résumés all day, and then make love to you all night."
She smiled back, her face lighting up. "Okay."
He raised his brows. "Okay?"
She nodded. "I got an email this morning that there's an opening in northern Maine. I have to go up there for an interview tomorrow morning, so this might be my last night here as well." She took a deep breath, and managed a smile that didn't quite go to her eyes. "So, since we both have to go back to our own lives tomorrow, I vote for us to make today the best we can."
He cocked an eyebrow at her. "We both know damn well that it would probably be best if I declined that invitation."
She nodded. "Of course I know that. We're already much more emotionally and physically entangled than we'd planned, but let's be honest. Last night was so great that we're both ruined forever for anyone else we try to have sex with, so we might as well ruin ourselves even more, right? Why deprive ourselves of something good just because we're going to have to suffer eventually? I mean, the foundation for our future suffering and dissatisfaction with all future relationships has already been laid. There's no getting past that. I'm already going to miss you, and you're going to miss me, because I'm amazing and awesome."
He grinned. "That you are," he agreed. "As am I."
She smiled back, this time her smile starting to reach her eyes. "And, of course, we both share that incredible modesty gene, which makes us both super fortunate and admirable."
He laughed out loud then. "Damn, woman, I honestly didn't think I was going to laugh again after that call from Renée." He entangled his fingers in hers, and brought their joined hands to his lips so he could press kisses across her knuckles. "Okay," he agreed. "We have about twenty hours, so let's have a kickass time. Maybe we should just stay in bed the whole time? What do you think?"
She grinned. "I would love that, but I think I'd be a little self-conscious screaming in ecstasy with six senior citizens in the shop. Let's help them, so they finish early, and then we have the place to ourselves. Sound good?"
He laughed, unable to stop the good humor from spreading through him. "You're such a little liar," he teased. "You know damn well that the reason you want to help them is because Eppie touched your heart with her little speech this morning. How could you abandon six little old ladies with knitting dreams?"
Her smile widened, stretching across her face with that same twinkle and joy that she'd had last night. "Could you abandon them?"
"No chance." He slid his hands through her hair and kissed her, a decadent, sensual feasting that made heat pour through him. "But I'm not going to lie, the idea of getting them out of here sooner rather than later so I can ravage you for whatever time we have left is a highly motivating factor."
She beamed at him. "Breakfast first, then shelf building? Sound good?"
"As long as we have breakfast out here, and I get to make out with you a little bit more."
She laughed and pushed him away, her palms flat against his chest. "You're such a guy. Are you made entirely of hormones?"
"Nah. They've just been sleeping for a couple decades, and you woke them all up. It's your fault, and you're the one who's going to have to deal with them."
She gave a dramatic sigh, laughter sparkling in her eyes. "Ah, well, if it's my fault then I guess it's my job to make it better." She held out her hand to him. "Come on, let's go see what there is to eat in this house."
He slid his hand in hers, grinning as he allowed her to lead him back into the house. But as he stepped across the threshold and he heard the clink of the hammers from next door, he couldn't help but look across the way. Jackson was standing on the roof watching him. He gave Blue a thumbs up when he saw Blue watching him, and held up his hand, his left hand, showing him the same wedding ring he'd shown Blue last night.
Blue's elation immediately faded, and he shook his head once.
His life wasn't the same as Jackson's, with a wife and kids, and a career in Birch Crossing. Blue's version of that life was going to be crammed into the next twenty hours, at which point he would leave it behind for good.
But for the next twenty hours, he had all he wanted.
So he jerked his gaze off Jackson and followed Chloe into her kitchen, where the smell of coffee, the sound of laughter, and the contentedness of being with Chloe settled deep in his bones.
Chapter 19
"Damn, girl! You got game!" Eppie said, as she peered over Chloe's shoulder at the scarf she was knitting.
Chloe laughed, and held up the ragged and uneven, but decadently soft, rose-colored scarf that she had been coerced into starting over an hour ago. The first few rows were a little bit haphazard, but the rest had settled in pretty nicely, and she'd even begun to add a pattern into the scarf. "I'm actually amazed," she admitted. "I didn't think I had any creative talents whatsoever."
Eppie sat next to her at the table, her eyes crinkling with delight. "When it's seventeen degrees below zero in six months, you'll be so delighted that you have that scarf." She looked around the store, her gaze alighting on the empty walls. Blue had built an entire wall of shelves along the west side of the store, cubicles specifically designed to house skeins of yarn. The walls, however, were still empty of paintings or other décor that would give it personality. "You know, Louise always kept this a knitting store, but I think you could do a lot more with it. If you had some local craftspeople, like Emma with her paintings, display their crafts here, you could create a destination gift shop. The tourist business is really big in the summer, and the more things we can give them to buy and tell their friends about when they go back home, the more it helps everybody."
Chloe looked around the store, imagining some of Emma's paintings on the walls. Emma was incredibly talented, and her scenes of Maine were among the most beautiful that Chloe had ever seen. "That would be really cool," she said. "I'd love more people to see Emma's paintings."
"And Astrid designs incredible jewelry," Eppie said. "That girl would bring in customers, no problem at all. Have you seen her work?"
Chloe thought back to the other morning, when she'd met Emma, Astrid, and Clare at Wright's. "Astrid was the one with her hair in that really beautiful scarf, wasn't she?"
Eppie nodded. "Damn straight. That girl is one of the most talented artists I've ever seen."
One of the other women at the table, who Chloe now knew was named Judith, held out her hand, showing an intricately woven silver bangle bracelet. "I bought this for myself for my seventieth birthday," Judith declared. "Astrid made it for me. There are actually six strands in it, one for each of my kids, plus my dog, because he was a damn good dog."
Chloe laughed, having been treated
to many stories about Cutie Pie, Judith's Yorkshire Terrier that had to be carefully protected each winter, so he didn't freeze to death in his little furry body. "Tomorrow you have to bring a picture of him," she said. "I want to see him."
"How about I bring him? He would love to come." Judith leaned forward. "Louise always used to have her old yellow lab in here. Having a nice dog always brings in tourists. Who doesn't like a little moment of dog love?"
Chloe grinned. "Definitely bring the dog. I love dogs."
"Did you grow up with dogs?" Eppie asked, as she picked up her own knitting and began to whip the needles so fast that Chloe could barely see them.
Chloe's good feeling faded, and she glanced across the room to where Blue was still working on the shelves. He glanced over at her, and smiled, a warm smile that made her tension fade. She looked at Eppie, then looked around the table at all these wrinkled, friendly faces, watching her.
All six women were still there. It was almost 6 o'clock at night, and not a single woman had abdicated. They'd all worked tirelessly the entire day, setting up the store. It was almost done, the place transformed into someplace so warm and welcoming, she'd been unable to turn down their invitation to sit down at the table and learn to knit once it was all set up.
There were a few old tables, beautiful and antique, set in the corners of the shop. On top of the tables were assorted baskets, stacked with yarn in beautiful artistic displays. Some of the women had gone home and retrieved sweaters and scarves and socks that they had knitted, and displayed them around the store, complete with price tags that were a little yellowed, making Chloe pretty sure that they had once hung in the store when Louise had owned it.
One of the women, named Marie, had even gone down to the basement and found a rug that Louise had left there, a rug that used to be on the floor of the knitting store. It was a little old and musty, but it added warmth and the feel of a cozy home. By the time the lamps were plugged in and set up on the tables, the little store had become more than a shop. It had become a gathering place. Even on this first day, people from the town had been stopping in all day to admire it, look around, and gossip. Even Emma and Clare had stopped by, dropping off food and admiring the progress.
Chloe could already see how the shop would be a center for the women's bonding in this town, not just for tourists, but for women who lived there. Everyone seemed to have heard that the store was opening, and so many people had walked right up to Chloe and hugged her, thanking her for bringing life back to the Knitting Well.
She'd given up telling people that she was leaving town, because no one really seemed to care. They were just so pleased to be there, and many of them had brought assorted skeins of yarn and things that they had knitted for Chloe to sell on consignment. The central knitting table had been packed, surrounded by women sitting down to knit, telling stories about the last time they'd been there, trading gossip, and laughing.
God, Chloe had never heard so much laughter in her life. She loved it, every second of it.
And now, as she sat there, Eppie's question about whether she'd had a dog as a child hovering in the air, she saw everybody's knitting needles pause, and everybody looked over at her, waiting for her answer.
"What's that look on your face for?" Eppie asked. "No dog, but you always wanted one, and your parents broke your heart by not getting you one? Or did you get attacked by one?"
Chloe glanced again across the room at Blue, who was watching her. There was something on his face, an understanding that made her heart tighten. He understood the significance of that question, the secrets that she didn't want to share. But there was no judgment in his expression, no criticism, just acceptance and understanding. He knew all her dark secrets, and yet he'd stayed there all day, helping her, helping the women, and sneaking kisses with her every time he'd had a chance.
Blue, this amazing, heroic man, had completely accepted her past, and he hadn't thought that it made her any less.
And now, as she looked around the table at all these women who had stayed there with her all day, creating an incredible, cozy haven for her and the other women in the town, suddenly she wanted to be a part of it. She knew she wouldn't stay there forever. She knew this was just temporary, or as she had said earlier, more fleeting than temporary, but suddenly, in this moment, she didn't want there to be any walls anymore. She wanted them to see her, with all her flaws, with all the ugliness of her past.
So, she took a deep breath, and looked around the room, before her gaze settled on Eppie. "No, I didn't get attacked by a dog. I grew up in the foster care system, so my entire life had to fit into my backpack." She managed a smile. "I had so much stuff in there, that there really wasn't space for a dog." As the words tumbled out, she was surprised at how easy it had been to say. It felt natural, not a big deal, but at the same time she felt herself tense as the words filled the air, and she waited for the response. Pity? Aversion? Distrust?
Eppie, however, just nodded. "Yes, it can be tough as a kid, when you don't have control over your life." She patted Chloe's arm, and smiled. "This store was made for a dog mascot. You should get one now. Hell, you've got, what, eight bedrooms in this place? You could open your own damn shelter and save a whole hell of a lot of dogs in the process."
Janice grinned. "Can you imagine a dog shelter in the center of town? The ruckus would be fantastic. I love causing trouble like that. Wouldn't it be fun to see how many people we could piss off with the constant barking?" She looked at Chloe. "I would totally help you with that. I've always loved dogs, but my dad was allergic, so we never had any. And then, as luck would have it, the man I married was also allergic. These men. Seriously. What good are they? They eat the food. They make the bathroom stink. And they're allergic to the animals that we want to own!"
The other women at the table cackled, launching into a hilarious, and outrageous session listing all the ways in which men cause difficulty in their lives. But when ninety-six-year-old Nina, who was still fiery and fierce, started talking about all the ways in which men made their lives better, starting with the bedroom, Chloe couldn't help but burst into laughter. She looked around the table, amazed that her confession about being a foster kid had launched a hilarious, somewhat outrageous, female-bonding discussion about men, sex, and stinky bathrooms with a bunch of senior citizens.
She glanced across the room at Blue, and saw him grinning at her. She smiled back, her heart feeling lighter than it had in a long time. Her heart turned over, and he jerked his chin toward the door in what had become his trademark request for a little bit of make-out time in the other room.
She grinned, her cheeks flaring as she shook her head at him, raising her eyebrows at his naughtiness.
Eppie, however, leaned over and patted her arm. "It's okay, sweetie," she said. "If I had a man like that wanting to get me naked, I wouldn't hesitate to kick out a bunch of old biddies. We'll head out and leave you two to play a little hide-the-strawberry."
"What?" Chloe couldn't keep her mouth from dropping open. "Hide the strawberry? Seriously?"
Eppie grinned, as the whole table burst into laughter. "You don't know how to play hide the strawberry? Heaven help us, you're in dire need of some female advice." Eppie looked over at Blue, and patted the empty seat next to her. "Come join us, young man. We have lots of good advice on how to keep your woman happy."
Blue grinned, clearly amused. "I appreciate the offer, Eppie, but I think I'm all set in that category. I'm extremely talented in many ways."
The entire table cackled and hooted at that response, and Chloe felt her cheeks heat up when a couple of the ladies slapped her on the back, announcing how damn lucky she was to have a guy that confident.
Eppie cackled the loudest, and she patted the seat next to her again. "Don't you worry, my boy, we're going to give you and Chloe some alone time. I ordered pizza for delivery a few minutes ago, so after we all eat, we will be on our way. But right now, it's time for you to take a load off and join a bunch of lo
nely old ladies." The rousing laughter at her description of them as lonely belied her claim.
To her surprise, Blue set down his tools, and accepted Eppie's offer, parking himself in the chair next to Eppie. He draped his arm over the back of Chloe's chair, his eyes sparkling with amusement as he leaned forward. "I promise you, Eppie," he said. "I'm damn good at what I do, no matter what it is."
The table hooted and hollered, but Eppie's eyebrows went up, and she studied him. "If you're so damn good at it, why are you hiding out in Birch Crossing?"
To his credit, Blue's expression didn't change, even though Chloe saw the sudden tightness of his jaw. "Shit happens," he said succinctly. "Sometimes you have to get away for a day or two."
Eppie cocked her head, studying him. "Sometimes," she said, "you have to get away for more than a day. Sometimes it's time for a whole new road, and to never look back."
Blue's smile faded, and his gaze flicked to Chloe, before settling on Eppie again. "Sometimes," he said quietly, "your destiny lies on the tougher road. You just live with it, and that's the way it is."
Eppie tilted her head, studying him. "Is it? Is that really the way it is? Or are you too blind to see where you're really supposed to be?"
Again, Blue's gaze flicked to Chloe, and she saw his jaw tense. Chloe quickly leaned forward, and set her hand on Eppie's arm, drawing the woman's attention back to her. "So, Eppie, I have to drive to northern Maine tomorrow. Would you be willing to run the store while I'm gone? I can't be here."
Eppie furrowed her brows at Chloe. "You should be here for opening day. Why do you have to go to northern Maine? You just got here."
"Job interview."
Eppie's eyebrows shot up. "In northern Maine? What the hell kind of job is in northern Maine?"
"Social worker. It's what I do."
Eppie frowned. "I know what you do. How are you going to run the store from northern Maine?"
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