Why couldn’t men be straight-forward? That’s what they were known for, weren’t they? But that hadn’t been the case for her. Not with Damon, and now, not with Armand.
A rush of frustration passed through her and she thought of ten different ways to elicit from him exactly what was going on. Damon could wait. This could not.
Arriving at the shop with a good-sized ax to grind, she was surprised to find no lights on upstairs. Upon entering, the wood stove wasn’t lit and no sound came from above.
Odd.
Well, when she saw Armand, she would deal with it then. There was still time to talk sense into him, and if that didn’t work, threats and bribery were in order.
Lindy worked most of the morning finishing the last of the big tasks. All four major areas of the shop were now cleaned, sorted, swept, tagged and priced, and displayed to perfection. At least, she hoped so.
Shennedy brought a quick lunch to eat at the counter, and still no sign of Armand. She had oohed and ahhed over the shop’s transformation, her beaming countenance infusing Lindy with relief and contentment. Now she was only too happy to discuss the next steps for the shop’s growth.
Looking at Lindy’s research, they began assessing the proposed website templates, page content, and graphics. Andy had turned out to be a gem, recommending an excellent graphic designer. The young man graduated in a few months from college and anxious for work, had already created the basic pages and cart needed to test launch Tuesday for the real online opening on Thursday.
“I like the idea of a layout like the Adamstown antiques website, but a little more like Millerston— are you listening?” Shennedy snapped her fingers in front of Lindy’s face.
“Yes, of course I am. The layout from Adamstown, yada yada, got it.”
“Okay, you can repeat it back but where are you?”
She nibbled at her chips next to her unfinished sandwich. “Here. There. Wondering exactly where Armand is, maybe cancelling a haircut to stay in practice for cancelling Saturday’s reading.”
Shennedy groaned. “Here we go again. Didn’t I listen to enough of this ranting last night? What is your burr with him? Have you ever considered there might be a good reason for his choices? So far he doesn’t act like a louse, although you’re ready to go the rounds with him as one. Could it be you’re placing your Damon issues squarely on Armand’s mighty fine shoulders? Don’t give me that look. Honestly, I pity that man when he walks through the door.”
“You know, I don’t think— ”
The sound of the front bell jingled and they looked sharply toward the door.
“Damon?”
Lindy could hardly utter his name. What in the world? He was standing in the entry way of This & That Antique Shop.
“Hi, Lindy.” Damon gave her a spine-tingling smile. “Man, you look amazing.”
Shennedy gazed between the two of them and quietly slid off the stool. “I think I’ll grab more cleaning supplies at the house.” She gathered her purse swiftly, passing him with a smile and nodded greeting, and closing the door behind her.
Wearing a tailored navy blue suit that set off his jet black hair, he looked like a Dolce & Gabbana ad. He loosened his tie and glanced around. “Can I come in?”
“Uh, yes, but what are you doing here, as in here.”
“You never responded to my texts.”
“So you flew 2400 miles to get a verbal?”
He took a step toward her. “Yes.”
Oh, boy. That familiar electricity threatened to hum. Damon always did have that effect on women. Care-ful. “Wait, no other business meeting as well? No two-for-one?”
Pause. “Well, yes, in downtown New York this week, as it happens.”
Figured.
Another step. “Lindy, I don’t have to fly here just for one thing, I can make it a two-fer and that doesn’t make me a bad person. But I would have flown for only this if needed. I hadn’t heard from you, and if we want to sling about who is possibly lacking in social graces, I will remind you that I only asked for one response. And I’ve had none.”
Lindy bit her lip. Well, when he put it that way. “I was thinking. No need to jump the gun.”
“I don’t believe I am. This is important, most especially to you.” He stepped close enough for her to smell his familiar aftershave, a cool spicy scent that snuck up on you. Lindy fought back the memories attached to that scent. “Can we talk for a minute?”
Lindy swallowed. “I— ”
The silver doorbell jingled brightly again.
She looked over. “Armand?” Was her voice breathy again?
Whipping around to find Armand filling the doorway, Damon’s eyes went from Armand to Lindy. “Who’s this?”
Narrowing his eyes, Armand deliberately moved in front of the door and shut it more firmly than necessary.
Lindy gave her best sales seminar smile and gestured toward them both. “Yes, Damon, my friend, Armand. Armand, my friend, Damon. He flew in from California. Just now.”
Damon turned dismissively from him. “I need to talk to you, Lindy. Alone.”
Armand walked over next to Lindy and folded his arms over his fit chest. He stood in his six foot three-inch height with a set look on his face.
Wow, he looked good. Very, very good.
Armand turned to her. “Lindy, you are okay here?”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Damon reply by straightening to his full five foot eleven something, hands on his hips and bring-it face. It resembled a honey badger squaring off with a lion.
She nodded to Armand. “I got this.”
He nodded back and with a narrow look at Damon headed up the stairs.
“Who’s that, your new bodyguard?”
“Ease up, Damon. Nothing like it, he’s the town celebrity, staying upstairs.”
“Alone?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Rein it in, Damon. You wanted to talk?”
He took a deep breath, glancing at the stairs. “Sorry. That’s not your style, I know.”
With a nod, she led them toward the wood stove area but stopped. “Not here.” Without explanation, she moved them to the indoor tea table where Damon hesitated to sit in the fragile-looking chair. He unbuttoned his suit jacket and ran his hand through his hair.
Was he nervous? Damon?
For a moment he sat still, taking her in.
“Yes?” Lindy waited, a nervous wiggle in her stomach. What was he up to?
“I’m sorry, it’s just. Man, it’s been so long and…I’ve missed you. Sitting here, seeing you— ” he looked away and blinked quickly, then clasped his hands, elbows on his knees. “It’s been tough…without you. I’ll leave it at that.”
She looked down, realizing her arms were fiercely folded across her chest. A part of her mind rose a hesitant hand for attention: Hey, he could have truly changed. Maybe give him a chance to explain without skewing his words through a negative lens.
The other part of her waved both hands frantically. DANGER! Damon could be very smooth, giving all the right feelings and pressing all the proper buttons.
He paused, as if carefully considering his words. The spicy scent wove in and around them. “Look, Lindy, you know me. I’m not going to dance around this. I hope you’ve had your time away, to heal, and to think loathing thoughts of me, whatever you’ve wanted. But I need to know if you’re ready to move forward. I’ve paid my dues and I’ve changed. Period. You know when I set my mind to something, it’s done. I don’t know what else to do to convince you. The IRS is taken care of, which wasn’t actually my fault, but I still took care of it. And I’m legally divorced, official, signed on the dotted line.” He withdrew a legal document from inside his suit coat. “Proof positive. I told you it was a technicality.”
“Integrity is not a technicality.”
“Okay, bulls-eye.” He appraised her. “But I didn’t really know the papers had been held up like they were.”
“Right. You know everything, Damon.”
>
“Well,” he glanced at the stairs, “obviously not everything.” Pause. “Lindy, we have way too much invested to walk away and that’s it. We’ve finally got the chance to give us a real shot. I’ve made my mistakes and made restitution, isn’t that what relationships are about?”
He was saying all the right words and even sincerely, but something was missing and she couldn’t put her finger on it.
“Damon, I’m grateful for all you’ve done to make these changes, but mostly for you as much as for me. To fly out here and see me. And then this job, the fact that you would remember and then make it work. It’s truly— ”
“You can’t imagine all I went through to secure this job with Jed.” He jumped into the details, how at first Jed wouldn’t consider turning those kinds of reins over to a pretty woman under thirty, thinking she couldn’t handle it. The finagling it had taken to bring Jed in from the dark ages, and…
“Stop right there, Damon. I’m not interested in the desperate details of the deal. When you talk like that it makes me feel like the deal is the thing, not me as a person.”
“My bad, but that’s not what’s happening.” He leaned forward. “You know I love the deal, that’s my way. It’s not yours and that’s okay. I’ve learned that. What matters is that you know I want to help you fulfill your dreams.” He took her hand firmly. “I’ve realized how often I assumed my dreams were yours. And it’s time to do it differently, to help you reach your summit, regardless of how it relates to mine.” He caressed her hand as if seeing it anew. “I’ve got a couple of days here. But maybe I could extend my trip, and we can see what comes of it.”
Lindy stood abruptly. “No. I don’t want to muddy the job waters. Let’s stay focused on that.”
He looked up at her in earnest. “But what about us?”
Heaven help her, he was good. “I closed that chapter and right now I’m not sure that can ever be re-opened. Don’t push me, Damon.”
He stood as well, rising up slowly, close enough for her to see his jet-lag scruff and piercing green eyes. “I’m not trying to push, but a decision needs to be made either way. The job starts next week. Jed has the opening and he’s willing to give you a shot.” He lingered on her face, visually tracing it. “I’ve done all I can, on both fronts, and now, it’s your choice.”
She got exactly what he meant.
He reached to put a wayward strand of hair behind her ear. She could feel that old raw connection, that familiar charisma drawing her in. Lindy heard a soft creak sound on the stairs. Damon dropped his voice. “I think you and I have a fantastic future together, if you’re willing. This— ” he looked around the shop “is a stopping place. It’s not the future for an intelligent, beautiful, talented woman like Lindy Marchant.”
He said it the American way with harsh syllables. March— ant. The sound jarred her back to reality.
“What?” he said.
“Nothing— I, nothing. Thank you, Damon, and I hear you, I do.” She took a deep breath, steeling herself against him. “And I can let you know on the job this week. There’s a lot going on right now that needs my attention, so I’ll do my best. Will that work for you?”
He took that in, knowing when he’d lost the point, and paused for one last look at her. “I’m staying at the bed and breakfast down the way until Wednesday, going between the city and here.” Walking toward the door, he cast a last look at the stairs. “You never know, I may stick around a few days anyway, see what’s happening in town.”
With a raised eyebrow, he turned and left.
In the stillness of the shop, Lindy listened for anything at the stairs— silence. She sat down on the chair and rubbed her eyes. A new job? Dealing with Damon and his past lack of integrity, wondering whether or not to re-open that door? Not knowing about Armand and his current seeming lack of integrity?
What happened to Echo Ridge being a place of quiet healing?
SHIVERING FROM THE TURNED weather, Lindy pulled the wool sweater wrap closer to her body and went back to checking off the To Do list for opening day tomorrow. The antique shop was colder than usual even though she’d stoked the woodstove already. Gray skies threatened a storm but Shen said the Echo Ridge weatherman often predicted some sort of storm, microburst, or even hurricane winds, which proved to be predictably unpredictable and often dead wrong.
Shennedy brought two cups of herbal tea to Lindy at the baked goods mini counter. The wind gave a loud howl that slightly rattled the front window. “A little fall weather today. You know I love this tea tray counter off to the side but with a good view of the window front. Whose idea— ”
“Armand’s.”
Lindy hadn’t even looked up.
“Where is— ”
“I don’t know, but he’s not here. No good smells from above, or sounds.”
“He could be— ”
“I knocked. No answer.”
Shennedy took a sip of tea. “My, aren’t we thorough.”
“Yes, we are.” She shook the loose hair hanging in her face back in a makeshift ponytail. “Okay, so far things look good on the promotion side of the opening— flyers in the main promo spots in town, they turned out very nice. The banner has been ordered and should be here by this afternoon, as well as the street stand. The pastries are scheduled, Armand,” she blushed slightly “suggested bread and cheese so Martha is adding that too until we find a solid vendor, assuming the women like it.”
“Thorough as in, I wasn’t talking about the opening day plans, although that all sounds fantastic.”
Lindy glanced at her. “I know.”
“So?”
“So what?”
“What have you decided?”
“To leave for Australia for a month, how’s that? I don’t know, but the answer should fall from the sky any second, so let’s get back to work.”
Shennedy didn’t budge. Lindy’s pen tapped incessantly on the counter. “Take the job or not? Stay here or not? Stand by and watch Armand cancel or not— do I just go and tell Britta myself and have her get a plan B in place? What is with that guy? Oh sure, one minute he’s charming and gentle, and the type to curl up next to like a warm woodstove— ” Shennedy pulled a what-was-that-metaphor face— ” but the next, it’s all Napoleonic male dominance.”
“So I’m guessing this means Armand hasn’t changed his canceling mind?”
“Dang it all. Men are annoying, especially when they’re good-looking and give you that swirl-thing in your stomach, right here. I’ve seriously had it with both he and Damon. Both of them need a serious wake-up call and I can’t wait to dial that number— ”
They both turned at the sound of the front silver bell. The door opened with a gust of wind.
Armand entered wearing light washed jeans on his hips, open collar shirt with light tan jacket, and tousled hair. Lindy reminded herself she was furious with him and re-opened her notebook. She had important work to do.
Shennedy whispered with a smirk. “You were saying?”
“Bonjour mes demoiselles.” His voice carried a slight edge, although he toted a box of Martha Jean’s goodies.
“Good morning.” Lindy knew her cordial tone could frost a window pane.
Shennedy furrowed her brow but turned to him. “Well, hey there, Armand. Would you like a cup of tea?” Lindy kicked her beneath the counter top.
“No, merci. Would you like a patisserie, et, muffins and the cheese danish?”
Lindy continued taking imaginary notes. “No, thank you.”
He nodded, looking at Lindy then quickly around the shop. “Perhaps there is a need today for moving a few— ”
“— nope, we’re good.”
Shennedy glanced at Lindy then smiled widely at Armand.
He gave a short nod and walked toward the stairs then suddenly stopped. He turned back around. “I see you have put together the window display.” The words were clipped. On the wide window sill amidst various antique pieces stood the painting.
�
�Working on it.”
“You perhaps had forgotten to leave the painting by the sitting area. Where it would be better viewed, est-ce pas?”
“Just trying something new. You know, shake things up a bit.”
Silence.
“If someone were wise, they would assure that the air and moisture from the window would not ruin such a valuable, meaningful piece.”
“Not to worry. With that piece at that price, it won’t be there long.”
Pause. “Very well.”
He turned, placing the box of baked goods on the counter, and walked upstairs. A door shut very firmly.
Shennedy had her hands on her hips and a mischievous look on her face. “What was that all about?”
“No idea.” Lindy continued to scribble nothing but her intended victory felt hollow. She could put the painting wherever she liked, it was her call. Never mind that she hadn’t figured out how to finish the display and the window jam required repairing. Still, it would draw customers and tomorrow’s opening desperately needed a draw. And frankly, she hadn’t any other ideas except an eclectic collection of ladies’ wear and jewelry which would take way too long to do.
“Well, whatever it was, you successfully ticked him off.”
“Perfect. Maybe it will move his self-centered backside into action.”
“I’ve got a few great words that would describe his backside but self-centered wouldn’t be one of them. And a word to the throw-back to junior high attitude— your being frost central will not move him to do as you wish.”
“Fine, but at least he knows I know it’s not right. We’re both adults, I get it. He can make his own decision, I get that too. My thoughts are about the fundraiser and a disappointed circle of rabid women, as well as sweet Britta. If he wants to engage in premeditated cowardice, that’s his rational choice.” She jabbed the paper with hard quick writing strokes.
The wind rattled again. Shennedy looked outside and got down from the stool with some effort. “Yeah, I can tell you’re appropriately detached from the emotions of the situation. Lindy girl, you know you, and I know you. At some point you’re going to ‘share’ your feelings, but be sure not to let the past twelve months of life angst supercharge the encounter. And I encourage you to take a few cleansing breaths first. Maybe a whole yoga session.” She leaned toward her. “From my view, he’s a good guy with a kind heart and something gnawing at his roots. Better to find out what that is than waste time and hurt in emotional ping-pong.”
Kisses Between the Lines: An Echo Ridge Anthology (Echo Ridge Romance Book 2) Page 50
