“Thank you for what?” she demanded. “If anything, you owe me an apology for the mess I’ll be facing when I walk back into the shop. The Butterflies are going to be all over that sappy look and awful kiss. Sophie, too.”
“Saving you from blowing our cover on why we’ll be spending so much time together over the next few weeks,” he drawled, as if she shouldn’t have had to ask.
“Unless you’re a really slow learner”—she cleared her throat as if she thought that a distinct possibility—“teaching you to sew is not going to take more than a few days, tops.”
“I want to learn to quilt, Isabelle, not hem my pants. It’s safe to say that’s going to take more than a few days, but that wasn’t what I was referring to.” He gave a thumbs-up. “Good point, though, as we’ll be spending time together sewing, too.”
“Then what were you referring to?”
“You inviting me into your home, showing me photos of your father, talking about him in front of your family and friends so I can pick up on clues on where he might have gone when he left Pine Hill.”
Isabelle’s stomach clenched. He thought she was going to do all that? Wrong again.
“Sophie was four when Dad left. She has no idea where he’s at.” If her sister had, no doubt Sophie would have already found him. “My mother doesn’t know where he went, either.”
At least, if Darlene knew, she’d never said. Her poor mother had just thrown herself into her work and cried herself to sleep night after night. Not that Isabelle was supposed to know the latter, but she’d heard those devastated sobs and been so thankful when they’d happened less and less frequently. If Zach did find Cliff, Isabelle would make sure her mother was okay with him showing up at Sophie’s wedding. If she didn’t want him there, then Isabelle would just never tell Sophie she’d found him.
“Maybe not, but your mom knows things about him. Things he liked, things he disliked, hobbies and interests, places he wanted to see, things she might not have mentioned to her daughters. People he knew outside of Pine Hill that he might have told her about,” he continued, his expression serious. “Your mother knows things I need to know.”
A spasm fired at the corner of Isabelle’s eye as panic rose. “You can’t question my family, Zach. They’ll know something is up. Sophie can’t know that I’m trying to find him for her wedding until we know we’re not delivering bad news. I won’t have her wedding ruined because of something I did, even if that something was meant to be what she wanted. And I won’t have Mom hurt by this.”
“You’re right. I can’t ask without raising suspicion.”
Relief filled her. She’d not expected him to give in so quickly. Unfortunately, her reprieve was short-lived.
“Not as your hired help,” he clarified. “But as the new man in your life, it’s only natural that I’d be curious about your family, including your father. No one will think anything of your boyfriend asking about your dad.”
“No.” She did not want him prying into her life. Nor did she want him as her pretend boyfriend. “Couldn’t you just do some computer magic and find him that way?”
“The more information I have, the more likely I am to find him in time.” What he said made sense. Unfortunately. “You know your family better than I do. Can you think of another scenario in which they are going to openly discuss your father with me, other than if they believe we’re a couple?”
Everything he said was logical and yet the emotions pumping through her left no room for reason. Zach hanging out with her family as her pretend boyfriend—“There has to be another way.”
“A way that doesn’t risk Sophie discovering that we’re searching for your father?”
She cringed. “I’ll think of something.”
“You do that, Blondie.” He touched her cheek, just a quick brush of his thumb in what was probably for show since he was sure to have spotted Maybelle and John peering out of John’s truck that was parked down the street. They must have been parked across from the shop and relocated when she and Zach had rounded the corner. “In the meantime, we’ll do this my way. I’ll call you later to set up my first lesson.”
Knowing she was being watched didn’t give her the ability to drag her gaze from him as, carrying his purchases, he took off walking, turning onto Main and leaving her a bundle of crazy emotions.
Argh!she internally screamed. Then, taking a deep breath, she spun, looked straight at Maybelle and John, and turned up her palms as if to ask what they were doing. John slid down in the driver’s seat, but Maybelle acted as if she’d just noticed Isabelle and waved, all cheery-like. That alone would have given her away. Maybelle didn’t do cheery. Rolling her eyes, Isabelle headed back to the shop to face the repercussions of what may have been the worst decision of her life.
But she couldn’t think of a single other reason why Zach would pry into her family’s darkest moment without raising suspicion.
As far as the world was concerned, she was dating Zach Dawson.
Chapter Six
“Absolutely no publicdisplays of affection. No prying into anything you don’t absolutely have to know. Do not take unfair advantage of my friends or family. Find out what you need to know without making anyone suspicious and don’t you dare do anything that will hurt any of my friends or family.”
Zach eyed a Christmas-red-dress-and-boot-wearing Isabelle sitting in the driver’s seat of her sedan. She was barely in the car before she’d started ticking off items as if reading them from one of her lists. The scent of freshly baked apple pies filled the car.
This was the most fun he’d had in… forever. Spending the next few weeks with Isabelle almost made being on vacation okay. Almost.
“Let’s shut this charade down. The faster, the better,” she continued, glancing both ways before pulling the car out of Hamilton House’s driveway.
“Quit rushing me, Blondie,” he teased. “Our relationship is new and I’m not that kind of guy.”
