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“I told you why. We’re already in debt to you far more than I’m comfortable with. I’m not going to let you spend a penny on anything we need. I have more than enough money to get us by, but my dad won’t let me pay for any of the bills. Surely you can understand me wanting to pay for my family’s things.”
The look on his face must have demonstrated his disbelief enough that she felt she needed to elaborate.
“He gave me a card to use for supplies for the farm, but I’m not going to use it. He can get mad all he wants. I’m part of this family, and this farm will be mine one day. I’m pretty sure that’s what my mother would have wanted anyway.”
Great, the guilt returned with a vengeance. He’d had no reason to believe that Scarlett wanted to take over her father’s business. Sure, she’d insisted several times that she wanted to stay, but to live in her childhood home and run the farm? It was far more likely that the Queen of England would decide to drop in for a cup of tea than for him to believe that.
This was all talk. He just needed to remind himself of that fact a few more times. Scarlett would tire of this stage of her life just like she had before. All he needed to do was play along.
Elijah grabbed the handle of his door and pushed it open. “Fine. I’ll go inside. But you’re getting me a doughnut.”
“Deal.”
Before he could check to see if she looked like she was joking, she’d slipped out of the front seat and shut the door behind her. Scarlett headed for the front of their little country store. The glass doors slid open and she disappeared inside.
“Lucas is going to owe me big time and it’s gonna take a lot more than a doughnut to cover his debt,” he muttered under his breath as he followed her inside.
Scarlett was already making his life harder than it needed to be just by being present when he had to get work done. Throw in the fact that she was causing strange feelings to stir in his chest like little flickering flames, and he’d have a forest fire on his hands soon if he wasn’t careful. He needed to get his head on straight again. He needed to remind himself that Scarlett wasn’t who she appeared to be. He knew the real Scarlett.
Carlos had even said something similar.
Elijah yanked off his hat upon entering the store and gave a nod to the gal at the front register. He didn’t see Scarlett immediately, but that didn’t matter. The store was only so big. She was bound to cross his path eventually.
He trudged onward, fighting the thoughts about Scarlett that had surprised him the most. If she was being genuine about her reasons for coming home, he was going to look like the biggest jerk in town.
Shoot.
Elijah stopped in the middle of the aisle and nearly got run over by an elderly woman with a shopping cart. She gasped, her eyes wide. He muttered an apology and jumped to the side. Once she was past, he returned to what he’d been thinking about prior to his near collision.
Everyone deserves a second chance to be a better person.
Even Scarlett.
He’d already committed to not scaring her off, but maybe that wasn’t good enough. Maybe he needed to give her the benefit of the doubt.
Elijah raked a hand down his face with a groan. Why did he always get saddled with the hard stuff? Why couldn’t he just go about his merry way like Lucas? His brother seemed pretty darn happy with the way he was leading his life.
It was because Elijah was a decent human being with morals and a firm understanding of just how small the gray area in life really was.
Well, shoot. He was going to have to start being nicer to Scarlett, wasn’t he?
That was a heck of a lot easier said than done.
“Here. As requested.”
Suddenly, a plastic bag was pushed into his chest. He scrambled to get a good grip on it, and then his focus landed on Scarlett.
“I’m all done. You ready?”
His eyes bounced down to her cart, finding several plastic bags already purchased. “How—”
“I know this place like the back of my hand. It might have been ten years, but this place has never changed. Come on. Let’s get to Ingrid’s before it gets too late. It’s almost dinner time.”
8
Scarlett
Scarlett pushed past Elijah, hiding her smile in her shoulder. The surprise on his face was worth every penny that doughnut cost her. She led the way out the front door and straight for the truck. When she heard Elijah get to the vehicle, she glanced toward him. “We’re going to have to be quick in the hardware store. I don’t want any of this to sit in the car for too long. It’s cool, but there’s not a cloud in the sky, so the sun could still ruin the food.”
