“Yep.” Her daughter beamed happily at all of them, clearly thrilled at the chance to spend more time with Audrey.
“I’ll help you reach the plates,” Audrey said and led the girl into the kitchen, leaving Holly alone with Ryan.
She had a sudden wild wish that he was more ordinary looking, which annoyed her. It was silly to feel so tongue-tied around him and even more ridiculous that she had this vague sense of resentment.
She had allowed good looks to influence her decision-making once. Troy had been charismatic and charming, the kind of guy who could treat a woman like she was the most important thing in his life, until she wasn’t.
She, who had never had a boyfriend in high school, had been completely seduced by his attention.
“Sorry to force your hand, if you really didn’t want chili and corn bread for dinner,” she said.
“I have nothing against chili. Or corn bread, for that matter. I love them both. But you have already done enough to help Audrey and Kim. Our family seems to be sliding further and further into your debt.”
She guessed Ryan Caldwell was not a man who accepted help easily. Why was it so important for him not to find himself beholden to anyone?
“That’s silly. No one is in anyone’s debt. Audrey basically threw the whole chili together for me. By that logic, I’m in her debt, actually. We wouldn’t be having this delicious dinner tonight if not for her. The only thing I did was make the corn bread after work, and that was only from a mix, with a few tweaks. You’re more than welcome to join us.”
“It’s very kind of you,” he said, his voice stiff.
“People in Shelter Springs like to help each other out. I expect when word gets out you took military leave to come out here and stay with Audrey, you will have people knocking down the door with casseroles and soups.”
Especially women, once they caught sight of the town’s newest temporary resident. She decided to keep that particular opinion to herself.
“Thanks for the warning.”
His dry tone again made her smile as she led the way down the hall toward her kitchen.
He looked around as they made their way through Rose Cottage. “This is nice.”
She loved this house, with its exposed beams, the stone fireplace, the original wood moldings. She couldn’t wait for her first Christmas with Lydia here. From the moment she bought the house, she had dreamed of holiday traditions she could create with her child.
Rose Cottage was on the small side and had some old-fashioned elements and more than a few quirks, like the drafty windows and the uneven flooring in the kitchen.
Still, it was hers. Well, hers and the bank’s, anyway.
She pushed away her ever-present financial worries as they entered the kitchen, where she found Audrey and Lydia pouring glasses of water from the filtered pitcher out of the refrigerator.
“We’re a little tight in here but I’m afraid my dining room is currently crammed full of supplies for my shop.”
“Why do you keep them here and not at your shop?” he asked as he took a seat.
“Convenience, mostly. I’m doing the flowers for three weddings this month, two with some artificial floral elements, and it’s easier to have some supplies here at my house so I can work on things after Lydia is in bed.”
Childcare was her biggest challenge as a single mother. She couldn’t hire a sitter every night in order to head back to the store so she tried to arrange her time and resources to work on as many projects as she could in those precious hours that her child slept.
It meant long hours and considerable fatigue but she was willing to pay the price if it meant more time with her child.
When had her kitchen shrunk? Somehow Ryan seemed to fill all the space. What was already a room on the small side now felt cramped and airless.
She did her best to ignore her reaction to him as she dished bowls of chili for everyone and cut pieces of corn bread.
Lydia insisted on saying grace as she loved to do. Some of her words were a little hard to follow, as usual, but not her enthusiastic “Amen.”
She added some cheese to Lydia’s chili and a couple of ice cubes to help cool it.
“Yum, Mommy,” Lydia said as she ate her first bite.
“This is soooo good,” Audrey added. “I was starving.”
