“Honestly, me too. Cooper and I enjoyed hanging out with him during poker night.” And by the small smile on my brother’s face, I knew he meant it. Wes grabbed the bakery box and held it under his arm. “We’ll have to keep you away from the fireplace and any candles on Christmas. I don’t think Mom would be very happy if you tried to burn down her house.” Wes’s genuine smile spread into a shit-eating grin.
My nostrils flared, but I couldn’t hold back my laugh. “It was two tealight candles! I wasn’t trying to start a fire!” I defended, raising my arms and letting them fall at my sides. “I don’t appreciate all the gossip!”
“What did you tell me over the summer?” he asked over his shoulder while making his way toward the door. “Oh yeah—people are always going to be gossiping about some small town drama. It’s Golden Falls.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, letting out a sigh. My words kept coming back to bite me. “You’re a pain in my ass, Wesley Richards!”
“I love you too, sis. See you around.”
I scanned the ingredients in the kitchen, jotting down in my notepad that I needed to buy more flour, sprinkles, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips for the upcoming Christmas orders.
I was in the middle of writing when the music in the café cut out. It happened every so often and usually meant I needed to reconnect my phone. I set my notepad on the counter and walked closer to the doorway to the main area of the café. I leaned against the doorway as I pulled my phone out. Luckily, the conversation and chatter continued, and the lack of music, albeit temporary, hadn’t impacted anyone.
My eyes found Gabe, but this time, he wasn’t looking at me. He was wrapped up in a conversation with Louise, and I found myself curious about what they were talking about. Were they talking about the building? Was Louise telling him more about town?
My conversation with Wes earlier today came back to my mind. As close as Gabe and I were getting, there was still a building on the line. I couldn’t lose sight of that.
I took my time trying to fix the music, giving myself the opportunity to eavesdrop. My spot in the doorway was perfect—I could hear them fairly clearly but was largely out of sight.
“I told you from the start not to underestimate her, didn’t I?” Louise asked.
Gabe let out a chuckle. “You sure did, and I appreciated the heads up. She’s…something else.”
“You better mean that in a good way,” Louise said with a laugh, and Gabe quickly added, “Of course, I mean it in a good way. I could tell when I first met her how important she is to this town. How Golden Falls wouldn’t be the same without her or this café.”
My brows furrowed. They had to be talking about me, right? But…why?
Louise hummed in thought. “I heard you two had quite the first meeting. What was your first impression of her?”
“Well,” Gabe said slowly, “at first, she was simply the woman who had bumped into me in front of Hal’s store. But when I turned around and saw her. I…I thought she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Looking into her eyes calmed me in a way I’d never experienced. My worries, concerns, all of that disappeared. Time stopped. Her hair was wild, her cheeks pink, and she had this crease between her eyebrows. My first impression of her was that she had the power to bring any man to his knees.”
The corner of Gabe’s mouth tipped up in a lopsided smile. A smile that had no business being so charming. I braced my palm on the doorframe to keep myself steady, unable to hear Louise’s response because my heart was jackhammering in my ears.
Did he really mean that? Or was he saying that to Louise to win her over even more? Did he know people were listening?
His voice sounded so raw and real, and everything he said actually happened.
I had no reason to doubt Gabe—earlier today, I was defending him to my brother—but I couldn’t help the naggingfeeling that I needed to protect myself and my heart. That, maybe, this was too good to be true.
Our priority was still getting the list done and figuring out next steps about the building, but as much as I wanted to tell myself that nothing had changed since the moment we met, I knew that’d be a lie.
Everything had changed.
26
LILY
“Tiffany,I don’t want you to worry about me and the café. Focus on Jack.” I held up my phone with my shoulder as I cleaned the espresso machine later that same day.
Tiffany had to rush out after getting a call from Jack and Maddie’s school that her son had a fever and wasn’t feeling well. She left to go pick him up and called me with an update as soon as she got home.
Purrfect Blend was closed for the day, but with Tiffany leaving quickly, Gabe stuck around to help. It was only us in the café.
“You should also take tomorrow off to be with him,” I added. Tomorrow was the last day of school before the kids’ winter break, and I didn’t want Tiffany to worry about scheduling child care to come into the store.
“But I know how busy this time of year is, and youjusthired me.”
I stopped what I was doing as soon as I heard the stress in her voice. I leaned my hip against the counter and repositioned my phone so I was holding it. “Things happen, and your family comes first. Always. Whether I’ve recently hired you or we’vebeen working together for years, I never want you to feel like you have to choose between this job or being there for your kids. Yes, it’s a busy time, but I’ll figure it out. Please don’t worry about it, and take the time you need. Besides,” I said as I walked over to the tablet to check the number of orders, “I’ve handled the holidays on my own before. It’ll be a breeze.”
