The marrying kind, p.4
The Marrying Kind, page 4
Noah laughed as if he wasn’t buying what I was selling. “The way Mom tells it, she’s the one who convinced Ella to stick around another day. That woman is going to leave any minute.”
Mom had played a crucial wingman role this morning. She was slick like that. Though I suspect she wasn’t actually trying to keep Ella around for the same reasons I was. Mom just generally liked people, and she actually wanted help baking for the hospital. She’d been pestering us about that for weeks.
I shook my head in protest. “Just wait and see. She’ll stick around.”
“And how are you so sure about that?” Noah cocked a doubtful eyebrow at me.
“Easy. I’m going to learn everything about her and sweep her off her feet.”
I poured out another round of samples. Even though everyone in town had probably tasted our brew ten times over, it was always good to remind them how awesome it was.
With any brand, recognition was important. Familiarity. That’s what people gravitated toward. It was one of my main strategies in selling the beer. Whether that meant showing up at the same pubs over and over until I became a familiar face, or passing out sample cups to strangers who became regulars.
Did a little part of me think the same might apply to Ella? Absolutely. But I needed to get her to stick around long enough to get to know me.
She’d seemed genuinely intrigued this afternoon when I taught her how to treat the bees for mites. And now she was baking with Mom downtown. I wondered what they were talking about this very minute. Hopefully how good of a husband and father I would make.
Noah might think I was a jackass, but that’s because he was my little brother and that comes with the territory. But Mom knew what was in my heart. She saw me for the man I’d grown into. I was someone who had a lot to offer. Someone who was ready to settle down.
“If you could convince Rachel Tyson to move back to Kodiak Canyon and become your fiancée, I can certainly convince Ella to hang around for a week,” I reminded my brother.
Rachel had grown up here and left town as soon as she was eighteen. The fact that she came back was because of her grandfather’s passing. Ella came here because she wanted to see what our town had to offer, and I was sure as hell going to show her.
7
* * *
NEW BEGINNINGS
Ella
Learning to bake homemade lemon-blueberry muffins wasn’t on my bucket list, but it should have been.
Natalie was a beast in the kitchen, and I was feeling very grateful to learn. Her bakery was charming, the espressos were strong, and the muffins were bursting with the flavors of lemon zest and fresh blueberries. And there was something about being with a motherly figure, spending an afternoon focused on a new task I’d never done before, that was filling a little part of the gaping hole in my chest. But only a little.
Not only had the afternoon been an education in the sugary arts, but I’d also learned a good deal about Austen.
Like how he’d once searched for three days for a chicken that went missing, because Pinky was his favorite of the brood. How he’d cried when he found feathers that suggested a predator had got her. How he’d brought the feathers home and held a funeral in the backyard, and insisted everyone wear formal black attire. And how his chicken funeral was attended by no fewer than forty guests.
I wasn’t even sure my parents had that big a turnout.
This community was tight-knit. That much was clear to me. And I envied them for it.
My suburban hometown was impersonal. People kept their distance from one another. My family didn’t belong to a church, and almost everyone I knew from high school moved away the second they graduated. It was a town you left, not one you built up. That was probably because so many people worked in the mining industry there, and when your body became too broken for the labor, you’d move on someplace else. It was like no one there really cared to make the place enjoyable.
Kodiak Creek seemed to be the complete opposite of that. There were so many fun things to do around here. Natalie’s suggestions from today meant I’d already added a good number of items to my list. Things I could actually cross off, which was also super exciting.
Technically, I supposed I was about to do another new thing—attend a dinner with a family I’d just met. Not that it was probably worthy of being added to the list.
“This is Logan. And my mother, Dottie,” Natalie said as we walked into the living room of her house. She placed her hands on my shoulders. “Dottie, this is Ella. She’s visiting Kodiak Canyon for a bit.”
Natalie’s mom was adorable, and she greeted me warmly with a big smile. “Hi, sweetie.”
“Hello.” I gave her a little wave.
Logan looked up from his phone to give me a once-over, then went right back to whatever it is teenagers do.
The door opened then, and two more people arrived who I hadn’t seen before.
“Good, you’re here. Come meet Ella,” Natalie called to them. “This is my son Noah and my future daughter-in-law, Rachel.”
Noah looked strikingly like Austen, the major difference being the lack of the little dimple in his cheek as he smiled politely. He took my hand and shook it carefully, as if I were a live grenade.
Rachel, on the other hand, pulled me in for a hug with a laugh. “Sorry, I’m a hugger.”
When was the last time I’d hugged someone? It had been two years since my friend Cara moved from my hometown, and I hadn’t had a girlfriend in a long time.
“I’m all about it.” I beamed at Rachel’s friendly face. She was definitely a bombshell. Together, she and Noah looked like they could be in a Hallmark commercial for an upcoming Christmas movie.
“How did the baking go? Did our family wear you out yet? ’Cause the Harts have a tendency to put people to work.” Noah smirked as he planted a kiss on his grandmother’s cheek.
I shook my head, then shared a look with Natalie. “I had a good time, actually.”
“And I bribed her with wine,” Natalie told them. “Red or white, dear?”
She was already walking away to the kitchen as I called out for a red. When it was dark out, I drank red because it seemed cozy. White was a daytime wine. That’s about as cultured as my tastes went.
But I’d fix that soon enough. Number eleven on my list was to do a wine tasting at a vineyard so I could actually know a thing or two about it. Preferably, that vineyard would be in France. This year was going to be incredible.
Rachel curled a leg under her as she sank next to me on the large couch. “How are you liking Kodiak Canyon?”
The snow was falling heavily at that moment and yet off in the distance, I could still see yellow and pink illuminating the sky over the mountains as the sun set. It was snowing hard, but clear skies were on the horizon.
“It’s magical,” I murmured.
As Natalie handed glasses of red wine to Rachel and me, Dottie scoffed. “Old ladies should get wine first.”
“You’re already half wine, half woman. Yours is coming.” Natalie laughed as she headed back to the kitchen and returned with yet two more glasses, and the neck of a beer bottle tucked into the crook of her elbow.
“We like to drink a little in this family,” Noah said with a laugh as he took the bottle of beer from her.
“I’d hope so, if you’re running a brewery,” I said before I sipped the smooth liquid.
“Speaking of which, where is Austen? We all want to eat.” Natalie looked pointedly at Noah.
“He said he had an errand to run. Can’t we just save him a plate?”
Natalie made a sound in protest. “If he’ll be here soon, then we can wait.”
Noah made a grumpy sound but didn’t argue it further. Luckily, I’d eaten my fill of baked goods today, since Natalie liked to taste-test everything twice over and had insisted I join her.
“What do you do for work?” Rachel asked me in the lull.
It wasn’t my favorite topic at the moment for a lot of reasons, but I didn’t want to be rude. “I’m a hairstylist, but I’m taking time off to travel.”
As it happened when most people hear this information, everyone in the room touched their own hair.
Rachel shook her head. “That’s a shame. The one hairstylist in town broke her arm a few weeks ago, and everyone around here is starting to look pretty shaggy. She was already always backed up anyway. I wouldn’t recommend telling too many people about what you do, unless you want a lot of unwelcome requests for a cut,” she told me with a smile.
As much as I’d love to help these people out, the idea of picking up a pair of scissors made my throat tight. My mom and I had worked side by side in the salon for years, and after her accident, I never went back. At first, they knew I was just grieving, but eventually, they got tired of waiting for me and rented my chair to another girl.
Even if I wanted to go, I’d probably lost all my clientele. I wouldn’t be able to bear the thought of answering people’s questions about how I was doing or have to endure their sympathetic looks over my family’s tragedy. No, I was never going back there.
Dottie cut in then and raised her glass to me. “Work less, play more.”
Grateful, I raised mine in reply. “You said it, sister.”
Everyone clinked glasses and took a drink. Well, everyone except Logan, the high schooler, who sat staring at his phone indifferently.
By the time Austen walked through the door, everyone was chatting loudly, playing a spirited game of Mario Kart at Logan’s insistence. Dottie was kicking our butts.
I didn’t even notice Austen until he was squeezing himself into the narrow space on the couch between Rachel and me. He spoke so close to my neck, I shivered, causing me to drive Princess Peach right into the river.
“I wondered where you’d gotten off to.”
Setting the controller down mid-game, which was no real hardship because I’d been dead last for three games straight, I looked at his way-too-handsome face as that little dimple greeted me.
“Just hanging out with your family while we waited for you to arrive.” My filter might have been a little affected by the oversize glass of wine Natalie had poured me.
“Can we eat now?” Noah asked, picking up the controller and following Dottie across the finish line to secure second place.
Everyone stood in unison and headed to the dining room table.
Natalie carried over a huge baking dish from the oven and pulled the lid away. The yummy scent of pulled pork smacked my nostrils just before Dottie pulled the tin foil off a platter of corn tortillas that looked homemade.
“We have pineapple salsa, peach salsa, or blueberry barbecue sauce.” Austen pointed to the three bowls around the table as everyone loaded up their plates.
“All homemade, of course,” Dottie said proudly.
“I’ll have to try all of them then.” I smiled at the idea, feeling confident I could easily down three tacos.
“A woman with a healthy appetite, good girl,” Dottie said, praising me.
Her words shouldn’t have meant much to me, but the way this family seemed to take me right into their fold, like I was one of their own, was a good feeling.
I’d missed this more than I wanted to admit. Dinner around the table with a family. My mom might have not made meals from scratch, but we’d still gather every night and eat together. If I weren’t so busy having my taste buds explode at the magic that is blueberry barbecue sauce, I might have teared up.
After dinner, Natalie suggested Austen show me the chickens.
He gave her a knowing look. “You didn’t—”
“Tell me about Pinky? Oh, she did,” I said with a chuckle.
He shook his head, his ears going a little pink.
“I thought it was adorable, for the record,” I said with a grin.
Even though I’d eaten three pork tacos, they hadn’t soaked up enough of the wine to allow my filter to resume operation. Austen gave a little told you so look to his brother that I clocked.
Then Austen turned back to me. “Well, we can see them, but I have an idea to pitch to you. It may not be on your list, but I think you’ll like it.”
“Do I get to know what it is?” I asked, planting my hands on my hips.
He grabbed my hand and tugged me to the door. “Nope, but I’ll show you outside, and then you can decide.”
• • •
Natalie had loaned me a pair of real-deal winter boots and a parka that easily surpassed my lame attempt at winter gear. I was thankful for them because it was freezing out now that the sun had set. Austen led me along as we tromped toward a shed.
“This isn’t the part where you lock me in a secret dungeon, right?” I teased.
“Of course not. We keep zombies in the barn, not people.” He grinned over his shoulder at me as he pulled open the door. “This is our snowmobile shed.”
Inside was a machine I’d only seen a time or two on television. There was certainly no need for such a thing in the New Mexico desert.
My face twisted up. “Is it safe?” I asked, inspecting the vehicle as if I’d be able to figure it out.
“Of course it is. If you know what you’re doing.”
He reached down and cut on the engine, and it roared to life.
It was louder than I’d expected, and I plugged my ears as he swung a leg over the wide seat and backed it out of the small space. He stood up again and grabbed the backpack he’d been carrying, which looked to be about stuffed full.
He leaned close to my ear then, to make sure I could hear him over the roar of the engine. “Do you have a bathing suit we can stop and grab?”
“A bathing suit?” I asked in a shocked tone. “Is that part of snowmobiling?”
“I swear it’ll be worth it.”
His eyes were wide, and I didn’t know why, but I trusted him.
The truth was I’d spent the past year feeling lost and hopeless. I needed a little fun in my life right now. And Austen struck me as a whole lot of fun.
This right here was what I’d wanted. Adventure. Surprise. New experiences. Unexpected pleasures. Austen was handing it all to me on a platter.
I swallowed any reservations and decided. “I do. Let’s go.”
8
* * *
HEATING UP
Austen
I didn’t count on Ella’s physical proximity being a problem for me, but it was. With her arms wrapped around my waist, and her body pressed up tight against me as we raced through the snow in the darkness, I realized that keeping my chill was going to be harder than I expected. Pun intended.
If there was one thing I had decided, it was that I needed to keep my hands to myself if I was actually going to win her over. If I got too cocky, I was worried she’d be flying down the freeway to her next destination in a heartbeat.
That wasn’t my plan. Instead, I needed to woo this woman. Show her romance. Give her adventure, maybe with a dash of sexual tension. But that had to be it. Leave her with a taste and wanting more. It was up to her how things went.
Tonight, I was going to show her one of the most romantic place I knew—the hot springs. A little warm bath and some hot chocolate? I had this in the bag.
When we got to the clearing where the spring pools started, I cut the engine and held out a hand for Ella. She pulled off her helmet and set it on the seat.
“That was terrifying,” she said with a laugh.
“Terrifying but fun?” I asked.
Her cheeks were rosy from the wind and her eyes were bright. “Very. My heart was beating a hundred miles an hour.”
“Maybe we can go again tomorrow, and you can drive. It’s better in the daylight, and when you haven’t had anything to drink.”
Her smile dropped a little as she thought it over. “You still want me crowding your space?”
I slung the backpack over my shoulder. We’d definitely want towels when we got out. I wasn’t about to freeze my future wife.
“I’m hardly home, anyway. I work all the time,” I said. “Stay as long as you’d like.”
In that moment, I was so grateful that I’d slacked on finishing the rental cabins. I had insisted we work them all simultaneously, but Noah had wanted to finish one at a time. If there was one done now, Ella would surely be staying in it.
I held out my hand, and when Ella took it, I wished suddenly that we weren’t wearing mittens so that I could feel her palm in mine. But this would do.
“If you really don’t mind. Your mom sold me on some things to do around here.”
Note to self: I owe Mom for eternity.
“That’s cool,” I managed to say in a casual tone while I did a little happy dance on the inside. But it didn’t last long, because doubt started to creep in as I saw the steam rising from the hot spring ahead.
What if she hated this idea? What if I looked like a creep for suggesting it?
Then again, she was wearing a bathing suit under her parka. She knew there’d be some sort of water involved. With that little tendril of knowledge, I took a breath to steady myself.
“There it is. Up ahead.” I pointed as the shallow pool came into sight.
“So, it is a hot spring,” she said in an excited tone. “I’d wondered.”
“You ever been in one?” I asked, realizing then that there are hot springs in New Mexico.
Thankfully, she shook her head as she unzipped the oversize coat. “Nope. That’s why it’s number fifteen on my list. Right after walk on a glacier.”
I followed suit, stripping off the layers until I was just in my swim trunks, doing my best to not ogle her in the process. Well, not too much, at least, because there was no way I wasn’t taking notice of those legs that stretched on for miles, her soft belly that led up to her full breasts . . .
“Where does one walk on a glacier exactly?” I asked as I helped her down into the water.
“Haven’t got that far yet in my research. Whoa, this is nice,” she said with a sigh.
I managed to resist sitting directly against her, opting to give us a few inches of space.
