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“The new librarian?” Cameron asked. When Declan nodded, he continued. “Paige said there are already a dozen men or more clamoring to take her out. They said she can’t be pried away from the library setup, but once she has some free time, there are plenty of men who are going to try to woo her. Pretty impressive, huh?”
Declan slapped the menu down on the table. “Yep,” Declan snapped. “That’s the way of things around here lately. The minute a beautiful woman steps foot in town, the buzzards start circling.”
Cameron chuckled. “That’s a little harsh, isn’t it? I mean, this is all Jasper’s doing, if you recall. Operation Love was his grand plan. His call to action to save the town.” He shook his head. “You can’t blame men for wanting to get dibs.”
Declan scowled. “Dibs? Annie Murray is the town librarian, Cam. Not a toy to be claimed by some lonesome Alaskan bachelors,” he grumbled. He let out a grunt. “Dibs! Never heard of such a thing.”
Cameron gaped at him. “That plane crash might have scrambled your brain, Declan. I wasn’t saying anything even remotely like that.” He placed another menu down across from him. “Why don’t I leave you to ponder the menu? We have a new turkey and Swiss wrap with pastrami that folks are going crazy over. I’ll throw in two mochaccinos for you and Annie as a way of welcoming her to town. As far as I know, she hasn’t been in here yet.” Cameron shook his head at him as if he didn’t quite know what to make of him.
Declan muttered under his breath as he watched Cameron walk toward the kitchen. Maybe he had been a bit touchy about the subject of Annie. He felt protective of her, which made it hard for him to hear about half the male population in town drooling over her. She was so much more than a participant in Operation Love. Annie had heart and soul and depth. Some of these men knew little or nothing about how to court a woman. Declan laughed out loud. Their idea of a date was moose watching.
Just then he spotted Annie sailing through the door of the café. Once again, she was decked out in an outfit that harkened back to another era. Vintage clothes, if he wasn’t mistaken. She was wearing black tights and a black dress with red cherries printed on it. A red wool coat reached down to her knees. Once again, she was wearing her Lovely boots. She looked breathtaking.
He waved her over to his seat, frowning at several men who attempted to stop Annie from making her way toward him. They were full of smiles and flirtatious gestures. Just as he was about to stand up and escort her over, he watched as she smiled politely, then sidestepped them.
Declan jumped up to pull out Annie’s chair for her. A few hostile glares were sent in his direction by some of the male patrons. He couldn’t help but grin at them. The looks on their faces made him want to crack up laughing. So much for dibs.
“Good afternoon, Declan,” Annie said as she stopped at his table and sat down. “How was your flight to Kodiak this morning?” she asked.
He’d been hoping Annie wouldn’t inquire about his client. “Hi, Annie. Unfortunately I didn’t make the run,” he confessed.
She paused in the process of taking off her coat. Her dark lashes fluttered. “What happened?”
“I had a bad feeling about Ethel not being fit to make the trip. Spent the morning giving her the once-over and a little maintenance,” he said lamely. Backing out of a scheduled flight was a new thing for him. Never in all of his years of flying had he done so. And he wasn’t feeling good about it. Fear and anxiety had driven the decision, and he hated the way it felt to have done something so uncharacteristic for all the wrong reasons.
“She was fine last week when she flew us back to Love,” Annie noted. “Or so it seemed.”
“After what happened with Lucy, I had to make sure,” he said sheepishly. “At this point, the stakes are too high to make reckless choices.”
Annie leaned forward in her chair and put her arms on the table. “It’s okay to be a little reticent about flying again. It’s only natural that you would have some jitters after the crash.”
“That’s not it!” he said with a fierce shake of his head. “I can’t risk a plane malfunction. Not when I’m down to one plane,” he insisted. He could hear the hard edge to his voice. Why couldn’t he just admit to Annie that he was nervous to fly again?
Annie bit her lip. “I don’t want to overstep, but you seem...troubled about something.”
How in the world could Annie read him so well? He’d been doing his best to keep a lid on his chaotic feelings. Her steady gaze let him know she wasn’t going to be pacified if he shrugged off her concern. “I had a rather disappointing conversation with the insurance company,” he admitted. He drummed his fingers on the table and looked down. “Because I changed my policy a few months ago, the payout from the insurance company is going to fall short of what I need to buy another plane.”
“Oh, Declan,” Annie said, her tone infused with empathy. “Is there any way to bridge the gap between the insurance payout and the cost of a seaplane?”
“I have to be honest.” He ran his hand over his face as the enormity of the situation crashed over him. “I don’t know how I’m going to make up the difference. It’s only been recently that we’ve begun to bring in a steady income and provide a salary for another pilot. Sadly it hasn’t allowed me to shore up my savings account.”
That was putting it mildly. His savings account was paltry at best. If he thought about it any longer, he wasn’t sure he could keep his head up. Everything he had worked so hard to achieve hung in the balance. And it scared him. Who was Declan O’Rourke without his aviation company? All this time he’d been trying to build something for himself, a legacy that would help him stamp out the darkness of his past.
“I wish there was something I could do to help,” Annie said. A sad expression was etched on her face. She bowed her head. “I’m going to put my thinking cap on and pray about it. That’s what I always do when something seems insurmountable.”
He reached across the table and lifted her chin up. “Hey. It’s not the end of the world. I’ll land on my feet. I always do. Prayers are always appreciated, though,” he said in a lighthearted tone.
Never let ’em see you
cry. After a lifetime of living by that credo, it was hard to let it go, especially since the thought of being vulnerable in front of Annie terrified him. Even after his mother’s death, he had stuffed all those feelings down and buried them. Somewhere along the way, he had learned that showing vulnerability was a weakness.
“Hey, Declan! Sorry that it took me so long to come take y’all’s order!” Sophie stood beside their table with two mochaccinos in her hands. She also was wearing the official Moose Café T-shirt with a big-eyed moose on it.
Declan felt an immediate sense of relief when Sophie showed up at the perfect moment. She diffused the heavy tension that had been lingering in the air.
Sophie placed the drinks down on the table. “These are on the house, per Cameron’s instructions.” She flashed a huge grin in Annie’s direction. “Howdy! You must be Annie Murray. I’ve heard so much about you. I’m Sophie Miller. And believe it or not, we’re neighbors at the Black Bear Cabins.” She stuck out her hand. Annie reached out and shook it vigorously. I’ve been meaning to drop in on you at the cabins, but my work schedule has been crazy lately. I’ve been working the early-morning shift.”
“Nice to meet you, Sophie,” Annie murmured. “Hazel mentioned we were neighbors. No wonder we haven’t crossed paths. Most of my waking hours have been spent over at the library.”
