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Julie continued speaking, inviting the second-place winners to step forward, but Noah didn’t hear a thing. It was hard to focus on anything else when Mindy kept looking at him with a wide, happy smile that made his heart race.
As the team that had won third place was called up after the second-place winners, Noah and Mindy clapped for them, and when the announcements were over, they strode back into the crowd.
People were still milling about, checking out the booths and vendors that had taken advantage of the crowd and lined the walls. As Noah and Mindy walked around the perimeter of the room and Noah bought a few things to make his hotel room a little cozier, a feeling of comfort washed over him.
“Excuse me,” came a voice from behind him, accompanied by a quick but insistent tap on his shoulder.
He turned to find an older woman standing directly behind him. Her long white hair was brushed back from her face and secured into a tidy braid, and her piercing hazel eyes were regarding him with a curious expression.
“You’re Noah Henderson, aren’t you?” the woman asked, her voice raspy but not unfriendly. When Noah nodded, the wrinkles on her face deepened as she smiled. “Ah. I thought so. My name is Edith Brinkley. I was a friend of your aunt Theresa’s.”
She extended a wrinkled hand for him to shake, which he did gladly. Her grip was stronger than he’d expected, her hand soft and warm.
“I was sorry to hear about Theresa’s passing,” Edith said, her voice dropping a little as the handshake ended.
“I’m sorry for your loss as well, since you lost a friend,” Noah answered, and Edith’s throat bobbed with emotion.
“Thank you.” She took a quick breath before her expression lightened a bit. “I bet you don’t remember me, but we’ve actually met before. When you were just a tot.” Her eyes flicked to Mindy, and they lit with amusement. “He was a cute little thing when he was younger.”
“Is that so?” Mindy asked, giving the woman a sly grin as Edith nodded.
“Seems like he turned into a fine young man as well,” Edith responded, giving Noah a considering look.
He didn’t know why, but her praise made him proud. When he thanked her for it, she quickly waved away his words.
“Nothing to thank me for,” she insisted. “I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t mean it. You were a sweet little thing then too. I know Theresa was proud of the man you became.”
Once again, warmth filled Noah’s chest. Her words touched him more than she probably knew.
Someone at the next booth started calling out for Edith, and she wished them both goodbye, telling Noah not to be a stranger while he was still in town before rushing off to meet her friend. When the older woman was out of earshot, Mindy bumped her shoulder against his.
“Careful, Henderson,” she said jokingly. “Keep getting glowing reviews from cute old women, and people might think your cold-hearted thing is just an act.” She leaned in close, her eyes dancing with amusement. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. I’ll let everyone keep thinking you’re just as frosty as a snowman.”
Noah gave a halfhearted laugh as Mindy turned away from him, her attention grabbed by something else in the crowd. But something in her words hurt him, and the smile soon fell from his face.
He didn’t like the idea of Mindy thinking he was cold-hearted. Even if she was joking, he didn’t like it one bit. And with a growing sense of determination, he realized that he needed to do whatever he could to change her perception of him.
CHAPTERTHIRTEEN
A few days later, Noah was at the Warm and Bright Hotel doing some work. He had spent every day since their big gingerbread house win with Mindy, but today, he had to catch up on some emails that had been gathering in his inbox.
The sound of his phone ringing pulled him away from thoughts of his latest adventure with Mindy, and he glanced down at the screen to see that it was his father calling.
He groaned, and for a moment, he contemplated not picking up. Although he’d been working toward fulfilling the requirements of his aunt’s will, he hadn’t made any headway on convincing the locals that the industrial complex was a good idea. In fact, he hadn’t even brought it up to anyone since the very first meeting in town. But he wasn’t eager to tell his father that.
Still, he knew that his father would just call him again if he didn’t answer, so he grabbed the phone off the table and pressedaccept.
“Noah,” his father barked, his voice as brusque as usual. “What’s going on? How are things in Snowy Pine Ridge?”
“They’re good,” Noah began hesitantly. “The time is passing quickly.”
“Good, good. How are things with the complex?”
Of course his father would get straight down to business. Slowly, Noah blew out a breath to steady himself before beginning on his explanation.
“It’s… going,” he answered. “But I’ve been thinking. What if we did something else there? Something that would feed off the charm of the town and enhance the area, rather than make it turn industrial.”
“Oh, Noah,” his father groaned, and Noah could picture him rubbing his temple. “We’ve talked about this. We crunched the numbers.Thisis the most profitable option. Don’t get any kind of fancy ideas in your head, kid. Keep with the plan.”
