Page 76 of Where Roads Lead

“Spit it out, Elsie.”

“If you could drive us to your café and make me one of those snazzy coffee drinks of yours for the road?” I made my eyes as wide and pleading as possible, because I had a lot riding on this request.

Once I had a thought in my head, there was little I could do to move past it until I got the thing I had set my sights on.

I was an instant gratification type of person, and at twenty-six, I figured it was too late to change my ways at this point.

“Elsie, do you realize it’s ten o’clock at night?”

“Writers know not the boundaries of mortal time, William.”

He rolled his eyes halfheartedly.

“But if you really don’t want to,” I let out the most disappointed of exhales. “I guess I’ll have to make do with the instant coffee I have in the cupboard. It’s not pumpkin or anything, and some of the grounds looked suspiciously like ants, but—”

“Fine.”

“What?” My neck snapped in his direction so quickly it almost hurt.

I really hadn’t been expecting him to actually say yes, but my motto was to always give something a try so at least you didn’t have to live with the regret of wishing you had.

Lucky for me, sometimes it paid off.

“I’ll make you a coffee,” he said, as if it were the simplest request in the world, and then turned his blinker on and banged a left where he should’ve been taking a right to deliver me home.

Something in my chest stirred, because not for the first time, Will Hughes proved himself to be a pretty decent guy.

Maybe even more than decent. But even though I was a writer, I just couldn’t figure out the word to define exactly what type of man Will Hughes was.

Chapter Twenty-One

Will

Ididn’t know what it was about Elsie Cameron that made saying no to her ridiculous requests so difficult for me.

Maybe it was because I knew she had a long night. Maybe it was because I felt guilty that Ava had been giving her such a hard time. Maybe it was because I was reluctantly impressed with the way she swooped in to help her out, anyway, when she could’ve just as easily let her crash and burn.

Or maybe, an annoying voice in my head whispered, you just weren’t ready for your night with her to be over yet.

Which is why, a few minutes past 10:00 PM on a Wednesday night, I was jangling the keys on my belt, looking for the one to open the café door. Something, I can say with extreme confidence, I would not have done for anyone else in all of Colbridge.

I didn’t read too much into what that meant.

“It’s cold.” Elsie shifted from foot to foot, waiting while I jammed the key into the lock.

“And you wanted to walk home.” I shook my head at her, pushing the door open.

“I would’ve built up a sweat while walking,” she threw over her shoulder before striding past me into the café.

“Yeah,” I muttered, following her inside, “especially after wandering in circles for miles.”

She threw me a wry smile, as if she didn’t quite hear what I said but understood the sentiment nonetheless, before taking in the surroundings of the café.

“It’s dark in here.” She turned to me for a solution.

I stared at her, flicking up a switch by the door. “Better?” I asked.

“Ah, so cozy.” She clapped in delight, gazing at the string of Christmas lights strung around the perimeter of the café.