Riley lifted her chin, feeling it quiver. “You could have any woman you want, Hayden. Why are you bothering with me? I’m no one special.”
He shook his head. “That’s where you’re wrong.”
“Fine. Mimi thinks I’m special.” She felt the bile rise in her throat. “She has to, being my grandmother and all.”
“Ah, Riley.” He moved closer to her, and before she could stop him, he brushed back the hair from her face and slipped it behind her ear. “First of all, you’re putting me on way too high a pedestal. How many people do you think stuck around when my career was over? Sure, they were there for me at first, when there was still hope that I might come back. But eventually we all had to accept that wasn’t happening and move on. The first one to go was the woman I was dating at the time.”
Envy suddenly wound through Riley. “I’m not interested in a play-by-play of your romances, Hayden.”
“Good, because you’re not getting one. Besides, there weren’t that many. I don’t even know what happened to that woman, actually. I’m sure she found another baseball player to latch on to. Hopefully things worked out for her.”
“You’re not bitter she left you?”
He shook his head. “No. I think we had gone on a total of three dates. She wasn’t interested in nursing a broken player back to health, and that was fine by me. I didn’t need to be distracted.” He took another step closer. “But know this, Riley. I’m distracted right now.Verydistracted, in the best way.”
As his words sank in, a pleasant shiver ran down her spine.He even says all the right things.How could she not put him on a pedestal?
“I can’t claim to understand everything you’ve gone through or the pain you’ve felt. We’ve both been broken, in different ways. But I can tell you this—you can put the pieces back together. I want to help you do that.”
“Why—”
Hayden pressed his finger over her mouth. “Just listen, please. I like you, Riley. You might have thought you were invisible back in high school, or at least you did everything you could to make yourself be. But I remember you. I noticed you, and I was interested in you back then.”
Her eyes grew wide. “You were?” Her words were muffled against his finger.
He chuckled and dropped his hand. “Yep. But my focus was on other things. Still is. I haven’t talked to my father yet about selling the store, but I’m going to. And I’ve been thinking a lot about making some changes in this town. Good ones, of course. I’m hoping people will see them that way. That’s going to take some time, I know, but I can at least try. I also have my new house to fix up, Erma’s repairs, the softball team—”
“And I’m getting in the way of all that.”
“No.” He paused, his gaze intensifying. “Even with all this going on, the number one thing I’m thinking about is you.”
Suddenly she couldn’t breathe. This was too much all at once, and the strength of the emotions running through her were almost more than she could bear. She didn’t know what to do.
Then she latched on to the conviction she’d seen in his eyes as he talked about improving Maple Falls. She thought about the drawing she had worked on earlier in the day of Mimi’s shop. “Speaking of improvements,” she said, keeping her tone light, as if he hadn’t just made her heart sing. She opened the sketchbook and showed him what she had been working on all day.
He scanned the drawing. “Is this Knots and Tangles?”
“I’m hoping it will be. I’ve figured out a way to redesign the whole store.”
“Wow. You sure have.”
She found herself on solid ground now that they were talking about something practical. “I think instead of having the Bosom Buddies hold their group in the back of the shop, they should sit here.” She pointed to a large seating area she had created in the middle of the store. “I want to paint all the wooden shelves pure white, which will be a great contrast to the colorful yarn.”
“I know all about white paint,” he mumbled with a half smile. “Just let me know when you need it.”
“I have to see if Mimi is on board first. She hasn’t been taking advantage of those huge picture windows in the front of the store. Seeing people inside, even if it’s just Mimi’s friends knitting and crocheting and having a great time, will draw customers in.”
“That’s a great idea.” He checked the drawing again, then looked at her. “We’re on the same wavelength with improving things around here, I see.”
“Yes, but also keeping within the character of Maple Falls. This place has Southern charm.” She had to give credit where it was due. “I don’t think it should lose that.”
“I agree.” Hayden took the sketchbook from her and studied it. The sun was almost gone from the sky, but there was still enough light to see.
The tension in Riley’s back started to ease. She could handle talking about buildings and home improvements. What she couldn’t handle were the feelings he was bringing out in her a few moments ago. She also couldn’t admit the truth—that she had been thinking about him all the time too.
Suddenly he started turning the pages of the sketchbook. Before she could grab it away from him, he came to her drawing of him. “And what about this?”
Her cheeks started to burn again. “Give me that back.” She tried to take the sketchbook from him, but he held it above her head out of her reach. “I was just fooling around!”
