“Did you make the chest of drawers in the cabin where I’m staying?”
Eli nodded. “I made that as well as the ones in the other cabins and the lodge. My grandfather also made a lot of pieces. The dining room table and chairs are all his work.”
“I can’t wait to look at all the pieces. I’ll bet they’re gorgeous. I’d love to watch you work.”
It was a good thing he hadn’t taken another spoonful of soup because otherwise, her comment would have made him spew it out all over the counter. Setting his spoon down, Eli shifted to face her more fully. “You would?”
Anna nodded so vigorously her ponytail danced behind her head. “Of course. I have always been fascinated by how creative people well…create. I’d also love to watch Sarah.” Her excitement dimmed a bit then as she said, “I do understand, however, that a lot of artists don’t like to have an audience while they work, so if you’d rather not have me watch, that’s fine too.”
Eli turned back to his food and picked his spoon up once again. He’d never allowed people to come into his workshop while he worked, but then, not many asked if they could. Most just wanted the end result. They didn’t care much about the process. For some reason, however, he found himself actually considering Anna’s request.
“I’ll see. Right now, my focus is on getting the cabins painted.”
“I can help with that, if you need some extra hands.”
“Have you painted before?” Eli tried to keep the skepticism out of his voice, but he was pretty sure he failed. “Like walls, I mean.”
“I know, I know. You’re looking at my car and my appearance and assuming I’d pay someone to do something like that, but the reality is, part of what I do for my business is stuff like painting.” She turned toward him, an earnest expression on her dainty features, food apparently forgotten for the moment. “I’ve painted. I’ve done some sewing. I’ve hung curtains. I’ve restored furniture. Stained woodwork.”
Eli stared at her for a moment before he said, “Why?”
She sat back and tilted her head to the side. “Why what?”
“Why do all that stuff if you could afford to have someone do it for you?”
She let out a sigh and gave him an exasperated look. Eli found it rather endearing, though he knew he shouldn’t.
“Doing that myself is what helped build my business to this point.” She turned her attention back to her food. “Besides, I’m not lazy. I enjoy doing things for myself.”
“I never said you were lazy.” Eli suddenly felt bad for having made her think that was what he was saying. “I just know that when it comes to certain things, my sisters would prefer to have someone else do it for them. Doesn’t mean they’re lazy, just that they would rather spend their time and energy doing other things that they enjoy.”
“What about you?” Anna pushed her empty bowl toward the far edge of the counter. “Are there things you don’t like to do?”
“Well, honestly, the things I don’t like to do, I can’t really pay anyone else to do for me.”
“Like what?”
“Talk to people?” Eli kept his gaze focused on his sandwich, even as he felt her gaze on him. It was highly likely that she would take offense to what he’d said, and if his mom had been there, she would definitely have given him THE LOOK.
“Well, you can’t possibly mean me,” she said as she speared her fork into her salad.
“I can’t?” Eli asked, giving her a sideways look. He actually hadn’t meant Anna, but he was curious to know why she thought he hadn’t been referring to her.
“No.”
“Why’s that?” This time he didn’t bother to keep his attention on the food, turning his focus directly on Anna.
“I’m not hard to talk to. People say I’m very easy to hold a conversation with.” She arched an eyebrow at him. “You don’t think so?”
Eli felt another smile edging up the corners of his mouth, but he managed to hold it back, although he wasn’t sure why. “Actually, you’re easier to talk to than I’d imagined you’d be.”
“You imagined what I’d be like to talk to?”
Though he wanted to look away, he held her gaze. “I’m talking in an abstract way.”
She seemed to consider his words, then nodded and went back to her food. “So why don’t you like talking to people?”
“Not all people,” Eli confessed. “There are several people I actually do enjoy talking to, but there are a lot more, that I don’t.”
“I get the feeling you’re not talking about people like bill collectors.”
“You’d be correct.”
“How’s the food?” Norma asked as she came around the counter to stand in front of them. “Everything okay?”
“Everything is delicious,” Anna said.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it. What are you going to do after you’re finished here?” his aunt asked as she stacked Anna’s dirty dishes and moved them to a tray.
“I need to pick up a few groceries, but I’d also like to wander through a few of the shops. They look really interesting.”
Eli hoped she enjoyed herself even though wandering the shops of New Hope Falls was definitely not his idea of a good time. A couple of the shops wouldn’t exactly welcome him either. Particularly the one where Sheila’s best friend from high school worked. The looks she gave him whenever he crossed paths with her made it seem like she expected him to hurt her in broad daylight.
Never mind that he wouldn’t hurt her in a dark alley. He wouldn’t hurt her at all, but she didn’t seem to grasp that. They’d been good friends at one time, so having her think ill of him had been difficult to accept. And sadly, she hadn’t mellowed over the years like others in town had.
As Norma and Anna talked, Eli finished up his meal since he needed to get back to the hardware store. As he ate his sandwich, he listened to them discuss recipes and the food that was available at the grocery store. Anna definitely seemed like she didn’t have his problem of talking with people in the town.
When there was a lull in the conversation, Eli excused himself and said his goodbyes. He wondered what his aunt would say about him once he was gone. Normally she wasn’t a gossiper, particularly when it came to the family business, but the fact that she was encouraging conversation between him and Anna said she had something else in mind.
Which left him with a decision to make. Would he avoid Anna or would he allow himself to open up to her in a way he never had before with a guest at the lodge?
CHAPTER NINE
Arianna left the restaurant not long after Eli had, armed with Norma’s suggestions on where to go for her first wander down Main Street, New Hope Falls. She’d told Nadine not to worry about dinner for her because she planned to make herself something to eat before working on her video so that she didn’t have to rush.
She popped into the bookstore first, curious to see what they carried. There was a lanky young man behind the counter who looked up from the book he was reading when she walked in. His casual movements told her that he had anticipated someone he knew. When his gaze landed on her, however, he jumped off the stool he’d been sitting on and shoved his book under the counter.
“Welcome to Books ‘n’ Such. Can I help you find something?”
“Hi,” Arianna said as she headed over to the counter. “I’m not really looking for anything in particular. I’m just new in town and seeing what’s here.”
The man cleared his throat and glanced around the store. “Well, if you’re interested in local history, we do have a section of books on New Hope Falls. We also have a large assortment of non-fiction, if that’s your thing.” He waved his hand to the far side of the store. “And we do carry some fiction, particularly books written by authors from Washington State.”
“Oh, that’s great you support local writers. I’m sure they appreciate that.” Arianna loved the aesthetic of the store with its floor to ceiling bookcases around the perimeter while lower bookshelves were interspersed with comfortable loo
king chairs throughout the middle of it. “Do you ever host book signings?”
The man nodded. “We have in the past, but there’s nothing on the calendar until next year.”
“My name is Anna, by the way,” she said as she held out her hand.
The man stared at it for a moment before reaching out to shake it. “I’m…uh…Adam.”
“Nice to meet you, Adam.”
“Are you just in town for the day?”
Anna shook her head. “I’m staying out at Nadine’s cabins.”
Adam’s brows drew together. “Aren’t they painting them?”
“They are, but they’ve graciously allowed me to stay in one while they’re working on the rest.”
“Their cabins are nice, and so is the family. I went to school with Sarah and Leah.”
Arianna talked to him a bit more about what it had been like growing up in New Hope Falls before she told him she was going to look around for a bit. It was odd how curious she was about the small town and its inhabitants. Until she’d seen the sign for New Hope Falls, her interest in small towns had been limited to the role they’d played in the Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel.
Now she wanted to know about the people who lived there, and she wanted to see how their life differed from hers and how it was the same. Although her curiosity was still mainly centered around Nadine and her family, it was starting to spread as she met more people in the town.
She supposed that there was probably curiosity about her as well. If the main tourist season was over, her presence in the town was likely being noticed. Especially because of her car. If she’d been smart, she would have left her car in LA and rented one that wasn’t quite so noticeable. It was too late for that now, though.
Arianna was aware that she should probably keep a low profile. It was naïve to think that no one in the town watched YouTube. Still, she kind of hoped that even if they did, they didn’t watch the videos in the lifestyle and beauty sections, which were where her videos were most predominantly featured.
The young woman at the restaurant—she thought maybe she was Norma’s daughter—had seemed curious about her. Arianna just hoped that by keeping her appearance super casual, people might think she looked like Arianna Carrington, but that she wasn’t her. It wasn’t often she wished to not be herself, but right then, she wished that more than anything.
When it seemed that Adam had run out of things to say, Arianna took pity on him and wandered off to investigate the store. It didn’t take her long to find something that interested her, and soon she was lost to the books.
“Do you want me to put those at the front for you?”
Adam’s voice drew Arianna’s attention from the shelf in front of her. She glanced at him and then down at the armful of books she held.
“Sure! That would be great.” Arianna transferred the books to him then shook out her arms. “Thank you. I didn’t even realize how heavy they were getting.”
“You’re welcome,” Adam said with a small quirk of his lips before heading back to the front counter.
Arianna figured that now that she was committed to staying in New Hope Falls for a bit, maybe she could fill some of her time with books. A couple of them were going to go on her coffee table when she went back to LA. They were beautiful picture books of the area that she looked forward to studying later on.
Once she’d made the rounds of all the shelves, Arianna went back to the front counter with the other books she’d found that interested her. Adam’s eyes widened as he took in the stack when she added them to the ones he’d taken from her earlier.
“My boss isn’t going to believe this sale,” Adam mumbled as he reached for the first book.
“You can tell the owners that they have a great selection. As you can see, I’ve found plenty to interest me.”
“Books are the best.”
“So I take it that you enjoy books and that you’re not just working here for the money.”
Adam shook his head as he deftly scanned each book. “I started working here as soon as I was legally able to. The owner is somewhat…reclusive, so I take care of the shop most of the time now.”
“They’re lucky that you love the business enough that they can trust you with it.”
“I was fortunate to find a job I love in a small town like this. Otherwise, I would have had to move to Seattle or somewhere else.”
“Do a lot of people move away?” Arianna asked.
Adam nodded. “A good chunk of the people I graduated with left to go to college elsewhere, and they never came back.”
“So how has the town not died out?”
“Enough have stayed, and we do get people moving here if they’re willing to commute a bit. Several of the newer specialty type businesses like the bakery and the dance studio are owned by people who moved to town within the past few years.”
“That’s good that new growth has come into the town. It would be a shame for this place to die out.”
“We need growth in order to keep businesses here and to bring more in,” Adam said, his expression serious.
“So you didn’t leave town for college?”
Adam shook his head. “I had things besides my job that kept me here, but thankfully, I was able to take what courses I needed online in order to help them out here.”
“That’s great,” Arianna said. “I’m glad you didn’t let the situations in your life hold you back.”
Adam gave her a startled look as if he couldn’t believe she’d picked up on that. “It was an answer to prayer, that’s for sure.”
He hit a button on the register and gave her the total. After Arianna had paid, she took the bag he’d put all the books into, grateful that he’d double-bagged her order.
“Thanks so much for the chat,” Arianna said. “I’ll probably be back.”
“I look forward to that.” Adam’s friendly smile appeared genuine, and Arianna found herself smiling in return as she turned and left the store.
After putting the bag of books in her car trunk, she headed for the bakery, interested to see what they had to offer. She was just passing the hardware store when the door opened, and Eli stepped out.
“Fancy meeting you here,” she said with a smile.
Eli tilted his head as a ghost of a smile crossed his face. “You have a pretty good chance of running into people you know, especially here on Main Street.”
“Are you going back to the lodge now?” Arianna asked.
Eli nodded. “Did you need something?”
“Just wondered if you wanted something from the bakery. I’m going to pop in there and see what they have.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I’m good. However, I will suggest—on Sarah’s recommendation—that you try their salted caramel mocha latte.”
“Have you tried it yourself?” Arianna asked, trying to imagine him drinking an elaborately named coffee.
“I have, but it’s a little too…fancy for me. Sarah swears by it though, so if you’re inclined toward those type of drinks, you might like it.”
“Do I strike you as a fancy coffee sort of person?”
“Uh…yes?” Eli replied, obviously hoping he hadn’t offended her.
Arianna grinned at him, feeling the need to tease him just a little. “So you don’t think I drink black coffee?”
Eli stared at her for a moment, his brow furrowed. He was no doubt wondering why he was holding a conversation about coffee with a virtual stranger on the sidewalk outside the hardware store. “I’m going to go with…you can drink it, but you don’t.”
“Almost right,” Arianna told him. “I can drink plain black coffee and do when I have to, but I prefer French Vanilla with a little cream and sugar. However, I do also very much enjoy the specialty coffees too, just not on a regular basis.”
“That’s what I do,” Eli said. “I’ll drink one if Sarah brings it to me, but I have to start my day with straight black coffee.”
“So, no recommendation
on a treat?”
Eli shrugged. “I’m kinda partial to what my aunt, Mom, and Leah make, but once again, Sarah would probably recommend one of their chocolate chip cookies.”
“Hmmm. I like those, so maybe I’ll see how theirs stack up compared to some I’ve had.” She smiled at him again, hoping that maybe she could coax one out of him in response. “Thanks for your recommendation. I’ll let you know how it goes.”
She felt an odd sense of satisfaction when a small smile curved the corners of his lips. The smile slipped away as quickly as it had appeared, but that was okay because a warm look lingered in his gaze. He gave her a nod then stepped to the side so she could continue on to the bake shop. Arianna glanced back to find him watching her, and she fought the urge to wave at him. She found his stoic, reserved interactions with her fascinating, and getting him to smile was quickly becoming a goal each time they talked.
She turned her attention to the bake shop and inhaled deeply as she stepped inside. A quick glance around the interior revealed that it was decorated with a mix of country and shabby chic. It wasn’t large, but the space had been maximized with small round tables, each with two chairs at them.
“Hi. Welcome to Sweets & Treats.”
Arianna turned toward the long baker’s cabinet at the back of the room. A woman about her age stood there, a welcoming smile on her face. With a smile of her own, Arianna approached the woman.
She looked at the contents of the case, checking to see if she might want something else to take home for later. There was a good selection of baked goods, but in the end, she figured she should leave something for another day.
“Can I get you something?” the woman asked.
“I think I’m going to go for a salted caramel mocha latte and a chocolate chip cookie.”
“That sounds familiar.” The woman quirked a brow before she said, “Did someone recommend that, by any chance?”
Arianna smiled and nodded. “Sarah McNamara. By way of her brother.”
The woman’s eyes lit up at the mention of Eli, making Arianna wonder if there was something between the two. If that was the case, she’d have to dial back her friendliness just a bit. If he had a girlfriend, another woman—a stranger—laughing and smiling with him could be misconstrued. She wasn’t there to make trouble for anyone, but least of all, an established couple.
A Love So Real: A Christian Romance (New Hope Falls Book 1) Page 6
