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Afraid.
“So, what do you do when you’re not stranded on the side of the road with craft supplies?”
She chuckled nervously, cast a quick glance at his profile, then forced herself to relax back into her seat. “I’m a graphic designer. My partner, Junie, and I have our own business in Milltown.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Partner?”
She turned her head to study him. “Business partner and best friend.”
He wondered if she’d briefly considered lying.
“Just the two of you run the business?”
“Our friend, Minty, looks after all the administrative duties. She’s an artist, too. She’ll be at the craft fair today.”
“You are also an artist, right?”
She laughed. “You should never ask an artist if they’re an artist.”
He smiled, enchanted by her easy laughter, and rumbled back at her, “And why’s that?”
“You’ll set off an avalanche of anxiety and self-doubt.”
He grinned, turned to face her for a moment and caught her easy smile. “Wouldn’t want to do that.”
She rubbed her palms down her thighs. “So, what do you do when you’re not staging rescues at the side of the road?”
“You’re my first human rescue. Usually, I stick to animals. I’m a veterinarian.”
He felt her excitement. “Oh! I love animals. I work part-time at the animal shelter in Bridgewater. I’m the volunteer coordinator and I do all their graphic design work. I love it there.”
“Sounds like it. What days do you work?”
“Tuesday and Thursday, the occasional Saturday.”
“Interesting.”
“What’s interesting?”
“I work there, too, but I’ve never seen you.”
“I’m usually in the volunteer office. You should pop in to visit me.”
He smiled. “I’ll do that.”
He normally checked in at the shelter on Mondays and Wednesdays, but that was about to change.
She was an odd combination of easy cheer and guardedness. She had a ready smile and conversed easily but was obviously wary of him. He wasn’t sure if she was wary of all men, new men, or only him. He hoped, for many reasons, it was only him.
After carting out all her boxes to the tent where their table was, Willa thanked him profusely for his help, then got busy setting up. He stood off to the side, watching her while he waited for Rhys to make plans with Rebecca. He and Rhys were going to pick them up afterwards and he was ecstatic to realize he would see her again so soon.
Barrett ended it with the woman he’d been seeing that same day, in between dropping Willa off at the craft fair and picking her up. They met at a park close to her home and walked a bit before he told her it wasn’t going to work out with them. She was sad, but said she’d always sensed he’d been holding back.
“I don’t do it intentionally; I was with you because I think you’re an incredible woman. I still think you’re an incredible woman,” he rumbled, watching her steadily, monitoring her reactions. He cared about her, enough that he’d been contemplating a forever kind of commitment to her. How things changed in the space of a single chance encounter at the side of the road.
She shrugged and flipped her long brown hair behind her shoulder. “Ah, but it’s not about thinking with your brain when it comes to these things. When it comes to love, you need to feel it in your gut.”
“Yes,” he agreed, surprised at her response.
