“Or is just too young to know better than to be charmed by the likes of you,” Bodie countered. “The ladies always did fall for you. Even my wife is taken in, especially because you’re interested in her quilting.”
How a quilt could change his pal’s life had been a ray of light when Zach had been in a dark place and given him something to focus on during his therapy. Quilting had become his therapy.
“Sarah showed me the Quilts of Valor quilt she’s working on.” The red, white, and blue quilt pieces had called to him, and he’d worked with her for several hours the previous night. “That such a work of art will welcome our brothers and sisters home”—Zach dragged in a deep breath—“well, that’s an awesome thing.”
Understanding shone in Bodie’s eyes. “Gets you in the feels, doesn’t it?”
The diner door opened, and a new customer bell chimed as something else—someone else—who got Zach in the feels walked in. Adrenaline surged. Blondie stepped up to the counter, brushed a strand of stick-straight hair behind her ear, then spoke to the cashier.
Turning to see who he looked at, Bodie snorted. “You may as well get that look off your face. You’d have better luck convincing Lukas that you don’t need a break than you do of wooing Isabelle Davis.”
“You know her?”Isabelle Davis.
Taking another drink, Zach let her name settle into his mind, rolling it around, liking it. Isabelle fit. Belle meant beautiful and that she was, especially when her full lips curved upward in a smile. Not that she’d smiled at him, but given time, she would. Blondie might have been all blustery but there had been something more in her gaze, too. Daggers, he recalled, suppressing a chuckle. If she freely smiled at him, it would be because he’d gotten trampled by the reindeer he’d met earlier at Harvey Farm.
“There aren’t many folks around here I don’t know. Three years and the whole town thinks we’re family.” Bodie chuckled. “Pine Hill is a friendly place.”
Zach’s gaze didn’t leave where Isabelle chatted with the cashier. “I wouldn’t mind being friends with her.”
“I don’t think even you can make that happen, but you’ll get your chance soon enough. She and Sarah go to church together and Isabelle attends most of our get-togethers at Hamilton House.” The massive, renovated old Victorian had belonged to Sarah’s late aunt and was now a bed-and-breakfast. “But I wouldn’t mention that you’re staying in our Beds for Vets suite, and I’d lose the army shirt.”
“Why’s that?” Why would it matter to Blondie what he wore or which room he stayed in while visiting his friend?
She glanced at her watch as the cashier took off toward the kitchen.
“Isabelle is polite, but she isn’t a fan of anything to do with the likes of you and me.” Bodie dabbed a condensation ring on the table with his napkin. “Sarah says it’s to do with her military dad leaving when she and her sister were little kids.”
Curious as to what leaving entailed, Zach’s gaze met his friend’s. “That turned her against everything military?”
Dropping his crumbled napkin to the tabletop, Bodie shrugged. “Seems so.”
“Also seems unfair.”
“You and I learned long ago that life isn’t fair but is more about making the best with what opportunities you’re given.”
“Good point.” Zach’s focus returned to where Isabelle tapped her foot with impatience while she waited for her to-go order. “Excuse me a minute.”
“Because?” Bodie asked, although his friend knew good and well where Zach was headed as he slid his six-foot-three frame out of the booth.
“I’m making the best of a given opportunity.”
*
Standing at thecashier counter just inside Lou’s Diner, Isabelle toyed with a stray piece of silver tinsel that had come loose from Lou’s countertop tree. That the restaurant was running behind with her order fit the way her day had gone thus far. She needed to get back to The Threaded Needle. Sophie’s new Christmas quilt kits needed uploading onto their website, plus half a dozen other things required attention before Aunt Claudia and her friends arrived at closing. The older ladies were bringing Sophie’s wedding dress. Or what would be her wedding dress once finished. The Butterflies, as the group of her aunt’s lifelong friends called themselves, had insisted upon making the gown as their wedding gift. Having Sophie’s wedding attire ready was a big item Isabelle would like to mark off her wedding checklist. At least, they’d finally see what the women had come up with from Sophie’s descriptions. Hopefully, they’d not made any too over-the-top changes, but the Butterflies weren’t known for being conventional.
“Look what the wind blew in,” an amused male voice drawled from behind her, sending shivers over Isabelle’s skin.
Without looking, she knew it was Annoyance Himself.
His smooth baritone rolled out like the finest silk and his amusement was just as irritating as it had been on the square. “Are you following me, Blondie?”
Her cheeks burned and her stomach gurgled loud enough he’d likely heard. Maybe if she ignored him, he’d go away. Hoping to distract herself from the fact that he stood right behind her, she looked for more stray tinsel, didn’t see any, so read Lou’s joke of the day.
What do you call a snowman with a six-pack?
Yeah, that wasn’t helping because she’d bet her Christmas morning goodies that Prince Annoying was sporting a six-pack under his army T-shirt.
The abdominal snowman.
