Secretly Smitten

by Colleen Coble, Kristin Billerbeck, Denise Hunter, Diann Hunt

  “That woman is as rich as Croesus, and she has a responsibility. Don’t let her cry poor and put yourself in danger for something as ridiculous as money. She could buy and sell this town. Do you want me to talk to her?”

  “No, Arnold. Don’t worry, I’ll handle everything.”

  He shook his head. “I’m coming to check it out tomorrow.”

  “Arnold, I can’t let you do that.”

  “I’m not going to sleep until I check it out, so you may as well pick me up in the morning. You can get the Buick then.”

  “Exposed wiring is that big of a deal?”

  “Exposed?” Arnold slapped the table. “You didn’t say the wiring was exposed. The fire inspector must have missed that. He wouldn’t let you gather people in that place.”

  “The walkway by the store is really uneven. I’d feel terrible if you fell. I’m just going to have to hire an electrician and pray for a way to pay for everything until the income starts.” She mentally started calculating where she might come up with the money. Even worse, if Arnold reacted so violently, what must the new city manager think of her?

  “I’ll bring the walker,” Arnold said.

  Zoe knew that was a generous gesture on his part. He didn’t like to go out, and he didn’t like to look feeble.

  “I can’t ask you to do that. Maybe I’m not fit to run a business.” Why did everyone else know these simple details?

  “None of us is fit to do anything. It’s only with the Lord’s help we get by. Life is full of setbacks, Zoe. This town was dead as a doornail, but did we give up? Just put one foot in front of the next and accept the help. Accept the help.”

  She nodded, but wished she had a better alternative than calling on a ninety-year-old man for help. It was Arnold’s turn to rest in life. “All right, I’ll pick you up at eight tomorrow.”

  “Don’t be late.”

  She smiled. “I won’t.” When the coffee had dripped enough, she filled his cup and set it on the table. “Black, right?”

  “You better run home now before one of your aunts calls me looking for you. They’ll blame me for talking too much, and I don’t want to encounter their wrath.”

  “I’ll see you in the morning.” She flung her canvas bag over her shoulder. “I’m turning off the coffee machine. If you want more, you’ll have to heat it up in the microwave.”

  He gave a weary grin. “That’s my girl.”

  “Just once, I wish you’d eat with Miss Evelyn. She’s good company, and it would save me a trip.”

  “I don’t want no womenfolk. I want to watch the game when I want to watch the game, and I don’t want anyone telling me chocolate is bad for my cholesterol. At my age, you get stuck in your ways. You just focus on yourself—finding you a man and starting a family.”

  She shook her head. “Not me, Arnold. I may be young, but I’m set in my ways too. I was meant to put people together, not be part of a couple.”

  “I don’t believe that. Anyone who cooks like you must have to beat the men off with a stick. The trouble will be that no man is good enough for our Zoe.”

  Everyone she cooked for was well advanced in years and preferred soft, strained food. Unless she was planning on setting herself up with an octogenarian, her cooking skills were of little use in “finding herself a man.”

  “You’re just trying to change the subject. Maybe Evelyn likes chocolate. I’ll ask her tomorrow.”

  “Don’t ask her anything. You go on about your business and leave the romance to the young, where it belongs.” He crossed his arms and sat back in his chair. “That goes for your grandmother too. Don’t think I don’t know what you girls are up to, trying to track down David Hutchins.”

  She smiled. “Evelyn might cheer you up.”

  “Already wore one woman out,” he grumbled. “Besides, I’ve known Evelyn since before your mother was born. Don’t you think if we were meant to be, we’d be?”

  “Maybe, but I’m a romantic. Maybe romance is different at your age, but it’s still nice to think about having someone to talk to, isn’t it?”

  “You’d best be on your way, Zoe. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Zoe skipped down the stairs of Arnold’s house and hurried along the asphalt sidewalk, hurtling on her bicycle toward her mother’s house. When she approached the modest wood frame house, the sun was dwindling and she realized Arnold was right. She’d need a car soon.

  At her mom’s, she parked the bike off the pathway and took the stairs two at a time. Anna stood in the door with a hand on her hip. “It’s about time you got here. Where have you been, young lady?”

  Zoe kissed her cheek and brushed past. “Just running late, as usual. Do you need help in the kitchen?”

  “Don’t be silly, dinner’s on the table. What did you bring?”

  The family ate weekly in a potluck format, and though the meals rarely made sense or went together, it had become their way. They might enjoy a meal of Mom’s sweet potatoes and marshmallows served alongside Aunt Violet’s chicken tikka masala that she’d garnered from some gourmet magazine. Her oldest sister, Tess, always brought her incredible homemade bread, and that went with everything. Clare always brought fresh vegetables.

  Aunt Violet, with her haphazard red lipstick and cotton-candy-pink blush, met Zoe as she entered the dining room. “’Bout time. Being late conveys the message that you think you’re more important than everyone else, Zoe. Keep that in mind.”

  Zoe kissed her aunt on her sparkly cheek. “I love you, Aunt Violet, and I’ll make it on time next week. I promise.”

  “What did you bring?”

  “Orange Jell-O,” she answered sheepishly. She often got so overwhelmed cooking for the elders of Smitten, her family paid the price. They got what was left in her, and today that amounted to Jell-O salad set with mandarin oranges. She wished she’d thought to say orange aspic. It sounded better. Not that any of the women ever complained. They simply enjoyed being together.

  Most folks said Smitten was a man’s town because it had been a logging town for decades, but you’d never know it by Zoe’s family. Her mother, Anna Thomas, considered herself an abject failure at romance after the divorce. Zoe disagreed. That was her father’s failure, since he’d left them after she and her sisters were grown and had begun another family as if they’d never existed.

  Zoe scanned the dining room, which somehow didn’t feel right. As her aunts and grandmother parted, she noticed a male figure standing at the head of the table smiling conspiratorially at her. William Singer? Her stomach betrayed her by fluttering at the sight of him.

  “What’s he doing here?” she whispered to Aunt Petunia.

  “Yes!” Aunt Petunia shouted. “We have a man here! Good-looking one too. Did you see the build on that guy? Didn’t think they made ’em like that anymore.”

  Zoe wanted to crawl under the table. Tess, God bless her, tried to salvage the moment.

  “Zoe’s business must already be working. We have a man at our table.” Tess winked at her. “This is William Singer. He’s new in town. It appears the success of Smitten has brought the need for a city manager.”

  “We’ve met,” Zoe said, avoiding the pull of his gaze. She kept her eyes locked on Tess, though everything in her fought the urge to stare at the mystery of William Singer. Gone was his telltale city suit, and though she’d only caught a glimpse of him, she realized she could name every detail of his presence: dark-washed jeans, nothing that might be purchased in town, and a gray collared shirt, casually unbuttoned at the top. She could picture the outline of how the shirt hugged his muscular chest, and the depth of those sea-colored eyes, and she wondered if that’s why the Garner/Thomas women were destined for romantic failure. Perhaps they were programmed to find attractive only dangerous men who couldn’t stay put.

  She cleared her throat and pulled Clare around the dining room wall. “What is he doing here? Did you know about this?”

  Clare, now dresse
d for dinner in a loose-knit cardigan over an ancient cotton dress that hung like a sack on her, smiled as if she’d done a good deed. “I thought you’d be happy I invited him. Maybe he can give you some advice on what you can do to fix the store. He didn’t have anywhere to go, and I know how you hate to see people alone.”

  “Not him,” Zoe hissed. “I don’t mind him being alone. He should be alone. Clare, I’m trying to stay under the radar with this guy. If he finds out I don’t have the money to fix the wiring and open for business on Friday, I could get shut down, and you know I can’t afford that. Every penny is accounted for, and I only have so much time to make this work.”

  Clare raised her brows. “I think you might protest too profusely, if you know what I mean.”

  Zoe pursed her lips.

  “You have to play by the same rules as everyone else with your business. Taxes aren’t convenient either, but we have to pay them. Besides, until William’s rental house is ready, he’s staying in one of Carson’s smaller cabins—the ones with no kitchenette. He doesn’t have any way to cook for himself. If I were you, I’d make friends with him until that junker of yours is fixed.”

  “What are you two whispering about?” Grandma Rose asked. “Let’s eat. Dinner is getting cold.”

  “Yes, Grandma.” Zoe whispered to Clare again, “Why didn’t you send him to Zak’s grill if he can’t cook for himself?”

  Her mother smiled at her and pressed on her shoulder toward the dining room. “William, I’d like you to meet my youngest daughter. This is Zoe, our matchmaker.”

  William stood and nodded his head in greeting since he couldn’t get around the table in the cozy dining room. “We met earlier.” He touched the scrape on his forehead absently.

  Out of his suit, William Singer still looked just as much the city man. Zoe tried to find any flaw, but the truth was his flaws had to be within, because on the outside he was impeccable.

  His face seemed to belong in Smitten, though. He sported a rugged five o’clock shadow, and his hair, if left to grow, would curl at the edges. She wondered if he’d left it to do just that when he’d been in Hawaii, and if the crisp haircut was for Smitten alone. She wondered if he’d stay in Smitten long enough for her to watch those curls grow, or if he’d continue to clip his hair as if he’d attended an all-boys school.

  “Zoe,” her mom said, “I saved the seat next to William for you. I imagine you’ll want to grill him for your dating business.”

  “Thanks, Mom.” She lifted the chairs away from the wall and made her way to the back of the dining room, where William sat trapped by the women of her family. “Aren’t you afraid you might not make it out of here alive?”

  “I wasn’t until you came.”

  He smiled, and again her stomach flipped. What was up with that?

  “You’ll be happy to know I found an electrician to help me with the wiring,” she said—not adding that the electrician was ninety years of age and unable to walk without assistance. An electrician was an electrician.

  “I knew you would. You seem like a capable woman with a strong arm.” His eyes twinkled, and her mother seemed to take note.

  “Zoe, what did you do to our guest?”

  “I didn’t do anything. Let’s eat, the chicken’s getting cold.” She pulled the bowl from her canvas bag. A Tupperware bowl of mandarin orange Jell-O. It appeared less than gelled after its trip across Smitten to deliver the rest of the dinners, and she watched William eye how much it jiggled.

  What kind of man notices that Jell-O hasn’t set right?

  “William,” her mother said from the other end of the table, where she could easily access the kitchen. “Would you mind leading us in prayer?”

  He cleared his throat. “Of course.” He reached for her hand and their grandmother’s, then bowed his head. Zoe felt a bolt of energy surge through her arm at his touch and forced herself to focus on his prayer.

  “Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for the warm welcome to Smitten, and for providing me with these welcoming, beautiful friends for dinner. Thank you for this food that has been provided and for the hands that prepared it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

  “Amen,” the women said in unison.

  Aunt Petunia stood and served their guest a few slices of chicken and mashed potatoes. She poured gravy over the plate, and Zoe rolled her eyes. “Auntie, I think he can serve himself.”

  Petunia sat back down. “I’m terribly sorry.”

  William chuckled. “Not a problem. For a moment I was back at my mother’s table, and I wanted to hold my palms up to show you I’d washed for dinner.”

  “Did you?” Anna asked.

  He held up his palms. “I did.”

  Everyone around the table laughed, and Zoe thought how easily he charmed them. She wasn’t fooled by his smooth talk and velvet smile. With William Singer as city manager, Smitten would lose control of the way things had always been done. He brought change, and she worried that his kind of change would ruin what made Smitten, Smitten.

  “So, Zoe.” William seemed so close to her in the cramped dining room that she couldn’t look directly at him when he spoke for fear it would prove too intimate. “What is it about matchmaking that intrigues you? Are you a hopeless romantic?”

  The way he made her feel light-headed went against all she knew to be true about his kind, and she struggled to keep her dark impression of the stranger.

  “Not really,” she said. “I just hate to see people alone. I’m so grateful I have my family, but I look around town and I see that it’s not that way for everyone. Sure, we all look out for one another here in Smitten, but we’re like the rest of the world. Life gets busy, and marriage takes effort.”

  “So you’re focused primarily on marriage, then?”

  “I suppose you think that’s simple, coming from the big city where everyone dates willy-nilly.”

  He laughed. “I’ve been in Hilo, Hawaii, for the last two years. It’s not exactly a big city, but I suppose dating there was for the purpose of marriage.”

  “Which you object to?”

  “Zoe!” her mother chastised.

  “No, it’s fine, Anna.” He looked at Zoe again, and she focused on the shifting Jell-O on her plate. “I don’t object to marriage by any means. It’s just that I specialize in shortterm projects for cities on the verge of big changes. It’s not a lifestyle that’s conducive to marriage.”

  “I wouldn’t think so.”

  “Zoe, not everyone wants to stay planted in the place they were born. Some women would find that a great adventure,” Clare said.

  “Would you find that a great adventure?” William asked her in a way that caused Zoe to question her own commitment to stability.

  “We have each other,” Tess said. “I doubt it’s easy for a guy to be brought home to all these women, but when the right one comes along, he’ll put up with us.” Her cheeks pinked and she looked at her plate, no doubt remembering the way they’d all welcomed Ryan.

  “The right man will.” William looked at Zoe with soft eyes, and she shifted in her chair.

  “I—I should get home.”

  “You just got here!” Tess said. “You didn’t eat a thing!”

  “Zoe, you’re too antsy for your own good,” Violet said. “Finish your meal and make polite conversation with the good-looking man next to you. Maybe you’ll learn something.”

  “I’m having my grand opening this weekend and I’ve got a ton to do. You don’t mind, do you?” She smiled toward William. “I have to take the bus home, and I want to get there before too long. Early morning with the electrician and all that.”

  “Actually, I do mind,” her mother said. “I don’t like you taking the bus out to the lake so late at night.”

  “Mom, it’s not even six o’clock.”

  “Regardless, it’s nearly dark out there, so I’ve asked William to drive you home.”

  “Of course you did.” Zoe slumped in her chair. She may have been the matchmaker
, but she supposed she had to have learned it somewhere. He was near her age and gainfully employed, so why wouldn’t her mother think he was perfect for her?

  CHAPTER FIVE

  William waited as Zoe hugged her family good-bye. He grinned at the show of emotion. It was as if it was the last time she’d ever see them. She turned toward him and descended the stairs in slow motion, as if being pulled by a force she couldn’t control.

  In contrast, his heart raced at her approach. It was like nothing he’d ever experienced before. It wasn’t some primal attraction. He wanted her good opinion desperately, and he’d felt that way from the start when he’d made a fool out of himself by walking into her ladder. If there was ever a time to make a good impression, that had been it. And he hadn’t.

  In her worn blue jeans and faded shirt, Zoe evinced a luminous presence that captured his attention with every subtle movement. She was a rare breed who could sport pixie hair and tomboy clothes, and stream femininity in the process. One thing she didn’t hide was her feelings about him and all he represented to her precious town of Smitten. He was eager to prove himself her ally, but the harder he worked at it, the worse the situation became.

  “Do we need to get your bike to the lake?”

  “I keep it in town to deliver the dinners. Clare will toss it in the back of her truck and get it to me by morning.”

  “Sounds like you’re used to this car of yours not working.”

  “I simply haven’t readjusted my clock to fall yet. That’s all.”

  He raised his hand to the women on the doorstep. “Thank you again, ladies. Dinner was wonderful.”

  The women all smiled with warmth and waved him goodbye. He wondered how her family could see him in such a different light . . . and why none of their opinions mattered like hers did.

  “Your family is incredible,” he said as she stepped beside him on the walkway. “I suppose you know that, but it was nice to feel welcomed by them.”