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“Mr. Lewis seemed like an honest enough fellow, but he’s not from around here,” Maybelle said.
A big no-no in all the older women’s eyes, as they claimed Pine Hill men were built better than others—or maybe it was just Ruby who claimed that last part?
“Just be careful,” Maybelle continued. “Don’t be too trusting.”
“Or loosen the reins to your heart too quick.”
Taken aback, Sarah turned toward Ruby. “Pardon?”
“Not every man can be like my Charlie.” She giggled, fluffed her dyed red hair, then continued. “Actually, no man can be as good as my Charlie, but be sure this guy is a good one before you give away your heart.”
Sarah choked back a laugh. “Not that I’m interested in anyone who can have an entire conversation without a single smile, but I think I’m safe. He didn’t seem overly interested, either.”
Now why had she said that? She wasn’t giving her heart to Bodie Lewis, or any man in the near future. What did it matter if he’d looked interested or not?
Realizing the women were suspiciously quiet, Sarah glanced around the table. The four older women exchanged a look that spelled trouble.
“What?” Sarah asked. “He didn’t smile. Not once.” But that wasn’t quite true. She remembered his half-smile again.
Silence met her as the women were exchanging silent communications that came from decades of friendship.
“Surely you noticed?” Sarah persisted, not liking that she was the subject of those looks. She might not have been around since the inception of the Butterflies, but she’d known these women all her life. She could feel their Cupid pings shooting her way as surely as if they pricked her skin.
Didn’t they realize they were wasting their time? Her life experiences served as a pretty good shield. Experiences that included her runaway ex, Hamilton House, and money woes. The last thing she needed was a man distracting her.
Averting her gaze, she went back to studying a plastic canvas snowflake.
“I was busy noticing other things,” Rosie said with a waggle of her drawn-on eyebrows, breaking the silence.
“I noticed—his lack of smile and the things Rosie is referring to.” Maybelle held up an ornament and gestured toward Sarah. “I wondered what had dimmed his inner light, because that man has powerhouse potential. It makes me want to know why he isn’t a beacon.”
Sarah blinked at Maybelle. The woman always saw too much. Sarah would swear that at any point in her life when she was struggling with something, Maybelle had known from one look that something was wrong.
She and Aunt Jean had both read Sarah like a book.
She supposed she should be grateful Maybelle hadn’t outright asked Bodie to tell her his life story and then, if she approved, asked if he was single.
But now that Maybelle had brought up the idea, it nagged at Sarah. Had something bad happened to him? Or had he always been someone who didn’t have happiness? Not everyone did, unfortunately. Sad when his handsome face appeared to have been made for smiling. Would a full smile reach his blue eyes? Light up his whole being? Calm the storm she’d sensed brewed just beneath the surface?
Why was she obsessing over wanting to see a total stranger smile?
“Maybe he needs you to give him a reason to shine,” Claudia added.
“I’ll get Charlie to talk to him,” Ruby offered. “He can put him on the right path for you, brighten him up a bit.”
The thought of seventy-year-old Charlie having “a talk” with Bodie had Sarah shaking her head and staring at the women.
If she wasn’t careful, the Butterflies would have Bodie doing more than repairing Hamilton House. They were all Cupid wannabes who needed to have their wings clipped. Good thing she had sense enough to not get caught up in their shenanigans.
“Perhaps y’all are forgetting, or just indulging in wishful thinking, but I placed a help-wanted ad, not a singles ad. Mr. Lewis is looking for work, not someone to put a smile on his face, light his beacon, or make a match for him,” Sarah reminded. “I am just thankful he happened through Pine Hi
ll and saw my ad.”
“No one just happens through Pine Hill.”
Sarah frowned. Ruby was right. Pine Hill was off the beaten path.
“I should ask him how it was he ended up in our tiny neck of the woods,” she said.
