by Zoe York
He grinned. “Jaci and Seth Marshall’s wedding last September, actually.”
And of course, he knew the people’s names and the exact date. Because Jaci and Seth were two of only fourteen hundred and sixty-three people living in this town, according to the sign they’d passed on their way in. A lot of things about this situation were going to take some getting used to.
“A limo can be practical, actually,” Ava told him.
“Because it color coordinates with your outfit?” he asked, moving closer to her.
“Because I was able to plug in my laptop and Cori had champagne,” Ava said.
Cori held up her glass. “The champagne on the plane was better, but I’m not complaining.”
The champagne was definitely taking the edge off of traveling all day with Ava, who literally had a spreadsheet to keep her other spreadsheets organized. She had one for work, one for packing, one for items she’d need in the new house, one for things to check on with the pie shop, and God knew what else. Cori had tuned her out after hearing that she’d been in contact with some chef she knew in New York who knew some other chef who did something with pies.
Cori would love to give the pies a shot, honestly. She loved being the kitchen. There was something about creating recipes that would give someone else pleasure. But, after a brief session with Karen yesterday, she’d realized that maybe finding some of that same satisfaction would be good for Ava too.
Evan looked like he wanted to comment on the champagne thing, and Cori waited for it, knowing that it would be flirtatious. But Evan swallowed and looked at Brynn instead. “And was the limo practical for you too?” he asked.
Cori felt a stupid sense of disappointment.
Brynn nodded. “Plenty of space. To keep those two apart,” she said, pointing at her sisters.
Evan laughed at that and Cori sighed. She liked when he laughed. This was going to be the longest year of her life. He only has to date Ava for six months, she reminded herself. There were six more months in the year after that. Then he leaned in and kissed Ava’s cheek, and Cori felt her eyes widen. Yeah, all she had to do was leave him alone for six months. And not hate her sister for getting even the pretend Evan kisses.
Ava looked similarly stunned when he leaned back.
“We’re being watched,” he said quietly. “Look over my right shoulder.”
Ava did and Cori almost did.
“But not all of you at once,” Evan said, just as Cori was turning.
Instead, Cori watched Ava’s eyes go round. “There are about thirty people looking out the window of the—” She squinted and finished, “—the diner.”
“Probably more like fifty,” Evan said. Then he looped an arm around Ava’s waist and started toward the pie shop. “How about we get inside where we can talk more freely?”
Cori scowled at the sight of him touching Ava. And then told herself to chill out and consciously relaxed her expression. She couldn’t go around glowering at Evan for the next six months. And a big part of this trip was about Cori reconnecting with her sisters. Karen had talked her through that too. So she couldn’t hate Ava for going along with this plan that was for all of their goods. This pretend plan.
“They can hear us from here?” Brynn asked, following Evan and Ava across the street.
“I swear to God, even the trees here have ears,” Evan said.
Cori was the last to start for the pie shop and she made a point of not looking in the direction of the diner. Or watching Evan’s hand on Ava’s lower back as he reached to pull the door open for her. He also held the door for Brynn and Cori, and as Cori passed him, he said softly, “Needed something stronger than Nutella today?”
She paused in the doorway and smiled up at him, unable to help it. “Nutella is for when we’re hanging out for a few hours and Ava has vodka and I have pajamas on. When I’m stuck in airborne tin cans with her and I’m wearing a push-up bra and she’s organizing everything from what time we get to the airport to what carry-on bag I can use, it’s definitely champagne. Or whiskey.”
She didn’t miss how his eyes dropped to her breasts at the mention of her push-up bra, and she felt a twist of heat in her stomach. But almost immediately, his eyes were back on hers. He gave a soft chuckle and Cori actually sucked in a quick breath at the deep, rumbly sound that seemed to vibrate through her chest. And they weren’t even touching. They were just standing a lot closer than a guy and his girlfriend’s sister should be.
“Well, I included Nutella and bacon on the list of things they stocked the house with,” Evan told her.
Evan’s hand was still on the door and there wasn’t much space between them, and for that moment, she let herself just enjoy the close proximity, turning to face him fully. “Someone stocked the house for us?”
“And cleaned it, made the beds, all of that,” he said. “I’m sure there are a few casseroles in the fridge too so you don’t have to cook for a while.”
“Are you serious?”
“I am.”
“Why would they do that?”
“They loved Rudy and you’re his daughters. And they’re glad the pie shop is opening again. Well—” he grinned, “—Parker is, anyway, and his mom was one of the women getting the house ready. And—” He broke off and looked past her.
But Cori understood. “And they love you and think your girlfriend is living in that house,” she said.
He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to. Everyone in Bliss already knew that he and Ava were supposedly a couple. Awesome. Which meant Cori should really move away from him.
Don’t you dare ruin Nutella for me, she thought as she stepped through the doorway. Don’t be sweet and flirtatious and make me think dirty thoughts about my favorite snack when you’re out of reach.
But she already liked him, so him being out of reach was a good thing, she reminded herself. She wasn’t supposed to be dating. Which was also good, because she was not in a position to leave or avoid him after she called it quits. Karen had also brought that up when she’d pointed out that Cori was committed to being in this one place for a year now. Her shrink loved that there would be no moving on after a few weeks or months when Cori started to feel like she’d used up her welcome. She had to stay now, and she knew Karen was hoping that she’d see she was able to contribute to a relationship long-term. But Cori was going to concentrate on that relationship being with her sisters. Because they had to keep loving her anyway.
Shaking all of that off, Cori concentrated on looking around the little shop that now belonged to her, Ava, and Brynn.
The lights weren’t on, but two of the four walls were made up of windows and the sunlight poured in onto the white linoleum, the six tables with mismatched chairs, and the long Formica counter that stretched along the top of an empty glass case. There was an opening that gave access to the area behind the counter where, presumably, the pie shop staff would be positioned, ready to help the customers. And behind that was a white swinging door that had to lead to the kitchen.
The place was dusty and drab and, frankly, a little sad. Especially after seeing the bright and cheery outside.
“This is…” Ava started.
“Dull,” Cori supplied.
Ava sighed. “Not what I expected.” She turned to Evan. “I thought you said that he’d had it renovated.”
“It used to be a soda fountain,” Evan said. “But the building had been empty for a long time. Rudy hired a guy from Kansas City who specializes in rehabilitating old buildings in small towns. He came in and helped with things like removing the soda fountain and fortifying the interior walls and updating the plumbing and electricity. But Rudy liked that it was…rustic.”
Cori snorted. “I don’t think that word means what he thought it meant.”
Evan smiled. “He wanted it to be basic. He wanted the bare minimum. Said he wanted people to come for the pies and the company. He thought that doing a lot of fancy upgrading might change that.”
�
��Yeah, heaven forbid people come in because the place looks nice,” Ava said. She turned a full circle. “Well, we’re going to have to do…something.”
“We can easily paint, get some new furniture, put in a photo booth,” Cori said, also turning a circle and taking it all in. When she’d turned all the way around she stopped. And realized that they were all looking at her. “What?”
“A photo booth?” Ava asked.
“Sure. That would be fun,” Cori said. She looked at Evan. “Is there already a photo booth in town?”
He shook his head slowly. “No.”
“Then it would be something unique,” she told them. She frowned as they continued to just stare at her, looking confused. “A photo booth,” she repeated. “One of those things where you get in with a bunch of friends or a date and it snaps a strip of photos and you pose differently for each of them.”
“Yeah, we know what a photo booth is,” Ava said. “What does it have to do with the pie shop?”
“It would be something that could pull kids in,” Cori said. “And people on dates. We could call it something about Sweetie Pie. Oh!” she said as another idea occurred. “We could do pies shaped like hearts and serve one with two forks. This could become the new it spot for date night. And we could have a photo wall. If people want to hang their photos up here, it would show all the fun people have when they come in.” She turned to Evan again. “Is there a jukebox anywhere in town. At the diner or anything?”
He shook his head. “No. Definitely not at the diner. But no.”
“A jukebox would be fun too,” she said, scanning the room and mentally putting the photo booth into the corner by the glass case. “We might have to take part of the case out though. But that thing is huge. We don’t need that much display space.”
“We could…” Ava trailed off. “I don’t even know where to start with all of that.”
“Well, and obviously we wouldn’t just focus on sweetie pie stuff,” Cori said. “There’s a lot of other types of customers too, but that just came to mind.”
While her sisters were looking at her like they had no idea what language she was speaking, Evan was looking at her with a mix of amusement and wonder. She kind of liked that mixture.
“You walk into this shop and immediately things like photo booths and sweetie pie specials come to mind?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I guess so.”
“It’s a basic, boring shop,” Ava said. “Of course, she immediately starts thinking up ways to make it more fun and…unique.” Ava gave her a smile. “It’s how she’s wired. She can’t help it.”
Cori decided to take that as a compliment. “It’s okay if you use the word crazy instead of unique,” she told her sister.
Ava laughed. “Well, I think we have a ways to go before we can start adding photo booths and things, but yes, we need to do something here.”
“But shaped pies would be cool,” Cori said. “And that’s gotta be easy. I mean, all the pie stuff stays the same, we just need different pans.”
“Do they make different shaped pie pans?” Ava asked.
“If they don’t, they should,” Cori said. “We’ll commission something. It could be a side business.”
“Oh, I could talk to Brent Gerwin. He’s into restaurant supplies, I think,” Ava said.
“Great. Email him tonight.”
“Wow.”
They both stopped talking and looked over at Evan. He was standing next to Brynn and they were watching Ava and Cori with wide eyes.
“You haven’t even seen the pie pans that you already have,” Evan said.
Cori crossed her arms. “Are there heart-shaped ones?”
“Definitely not.”
“Well, then.”
Brynn looked at Ava. “You’ve never even made a round pie. You sure you’re ready to get into different shapes?”
Ava looked pained. “I’m not ready to even go into the kitchen.”
“Right. Maybe one step at a time,” Brynn said.
Okay, she had a point. But Ava was right. Cori couldn’t help that her mind started spinning with new ideas that seemed like fun. It was a problem, actually. Her ideas were often a little wild, and she loved to just jump in. Doing this with Ava and Brynn was a good thing. They could keep her craziness reined in and tell her when her ideas were too much. Which was probably about eighty percent of the time.
“Okay,” Cori agreed. “We’ll just start with paint and some new tables and chairs.” She looked the current furniture over. Honestly, it looked like Rudy had picked up the various pieces from different yard sales or something. But that made her wonder… “Evan, do you know where Rudy got this stuff?” she asked.
He looked the room over. “Around town. Yard sales and stuff,” he said.
So she’d nailed that.
“Like I said, he didn’t want this to be fancy,” Evan said. “Just the basics. Just a place where people could come and sit and chat. Like a friend’s house.”
The tables and chairs were mismatched and clearly not new, but there was something nice about them being from people in town. “Maybe we could just give them a makeover,” she said to Brynn. “Paint them or refinish them, add some cushions to the chairs, some tablecloths, little centerpieces.” She pulled her phone out and quickly did a search. Then she held her phone up to Brynn. “We could do something with little tartlet pans like these for centerpieces so it’s sort of pie themed.”
Evan stepped forward and wrapped a big hand around her wrist, lowering her hand and phone. “The front of the shop is Brynn’s. The pies, of all shapes, are Ava’s. Come here.” He started behind the counter, pulling her along with him.
Cori wasn’t sure she’d ever felt tingles from a guy holding onto her wrist, but she did with Evan Stone. That was how complicated this was, of course, going to be.
He took her through the swinging door into the kitchen at the back of the shop. It was…a kitchen. Which she’d guessed. But this looked like the kitchen in a house, not a restaurant. There was a stove and oven—one, basic, white stove and oven—a refrigerator, which was yellow, a sink, and countertop that was a gray granite, and some oak-colored cupboards. Nothing matched in here either. And there was no stainless steel, no restaurant quality appliances, no enormous center island, no racks hanging overhead displaying copper pots and pans. Yes, she’d imagined copper pots and pans. She wasn’t sure why. But she realized as Ava came through the door behind her that she’d actually envisioned the kitchen in the pie shop. And it was nothing like this.
“Let me guess, the appliances and stuff came from yard sales too?” she asked.
“He bought the stove from a woman who was remodeling and was getting new stuff. He bought the fridge from a guy whose mother had passed away and was cleaning out her house. He got the countertop from a guy who does remodels and had extra. And he took the cabinets and cupboards out of a house they were tearing down.”
“Wow,” was all Ava said to that.
Evan chuckled. “The pie shop was more like a clubhouse for him and his friends and he set it up with odds and ends. He made pie and coffee and hoped people would come by and sit for a while and talk. It wasn’t about looks, but about function,” he said. “This is why no one had any idea how much money he had. Everything was really basic with him. He didn’t mind secondhand and he lived pretty simply.” Evan shrugged. “I can’t explain it better than that. This pie shop totally fit your dad.”
Cori felt that getting-familiar stab of sadness. She shook her head. “Not the guy we knew.”
Evan’s expression softened and the fingers around her wrist tightened briefly. Those tingles zipped up her arm, effectively distracting her from thoughts of how she would have really liked to get to know the Rudy Carmichael who collected stray furniture and rescued unwanted appliances so that he could make pie for his friends in his version of a clubhouse. She supposed if little boys had the ability to put ovens into their tree houses, they’d do it. For the frozen pizzas,
if nothing else. And she supposed that her father hadn’t had a clubhouse or a tree house growing up. And maybe he hadn’t had that many friends either. Cori hadn’t known her grandparents on her father’s side, but Rudy had been raised with money and had grown up in a Manhattan penthouse and had gone to private schools.
Just like Cori, Ava, and Brynn had.
Hell, they hadn’t had clubhouses or tree houses either. And suddenly she felt like she’d missed out. And like maybe this pie shop could be something similar for them too.
“You okay?”
She focused on Evan, finding him watching her with a look of concern. He was also stroking his thumb across her wrist, over her pulse point. And it had a strange combination effect of increasing the tingles, but also making her feel calmer. She nodded. “Yeah. Probably.” Especially if you keep touching me.
He looked like he wanted to say more, but Ava pushed past them and further into the kitchen.
“This is not what I expected,” she said. Then she sighed. “I wonder when I’m going to quit saying that in regards to this whole thing.” She started opening cupboards and drawers. Then she turned toward Evan. “There’s nothing here.”
“Well, there are measuring cups and stuff,” he said.
Ava held up some plastic measuring spoons. “There are these.” She held up a wooden spoon. “Two spoons.” And she stepped out of the way of the cupboard she’d opened. “And one set of bowls. I don’t even see measuring cups.”
Evan shrugged. “Simple. Basic.”
Ava tossed the spoons back into the drawer and rubbed her forehead. “Not what I expected.”
Evan started across the kitchen, tugging Cori along with him again. He stopped in front of a door. “Ava’s in charge of the kitchen, Brynn has the front, and this—” He turned the knob and pushed it open, “—is your domain.”
He dropped his hold on her now, and Cori felt the instant loss of comforting tingles. If there was such a thing. Though it really seemed that there was.
Evan flipped on a light switch just inside the door and Cori peered around him, with admitted trepidation. Trepidation that was absolutely warranted as she took in the room. Or rather the closet. That had a card table, a folding chair, and a file cabinet in it.
