by Jill Sanders
“Data,” he interjected.
She nodded. “My data off the hard drive?”
“A cable,” he said, grabbing her arm gently and helping her around a rather large mud puddle. Another move most of the men she’d dated over the years had neglected to do.
“Thanks,” she said softly. “What kind of cable?”
“One that will connect your drive to my laptop. If they don’t have it, I can order one and have it delivered in a day or two.”
They walked into the hardware store together. She followed him as he made his way around the store almost as if he knew where everything was.
He spent some time in the tool section and picked out a new set of tools for her, describing to her why they were the best for the cost.
When they had made it all the way through the store without finding a cable, he sighed. “Looks like I’ll order a cable on Amazon tonight.” He followed her to the front where she paid for the new tool set with her corporate card.
“Does that card accumulate mileage or points?” he asked on their way back to her store.
“Mileage or…”
“Points?” He shook his head when she just looked at him. “Something else we’ll be talking about. What kind of retirement package do you have?”
By the time they got back into her office, her head was spinning from his questions.
“I know everything about running this.” She motioned to her building. “And nothing about anything else you’ve talked about.” She sat down and sunk into her chair.
“Don’t worry, we’ll fix all that. First things first, show me what you do still have.” He moved the extra chair in her office around so he could look over her shoulder as she worked at the computer.
They huddled over her new computer, which Rowan had helped her purchase, for almost an hour before she moved aside so he could update her system.
He told her what he was doing as he went, showing her how to change her passwords to more secure ones. She doubted she could remember them. When she started to write them down, he laughed until she set her pen down.
“Okay, if I can’t write it down, how am I supposed to remember it?” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Let’s pick something you can remember.”
“You shot down my passwords.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Remember?”
“That’s because you’d used your granddaughter’s name. Even the most basic hacker would have started there. How about something no one else knows about you. It can’t be names or dates.”
She thought about it, but couldn’t come up with anything.
“How about someplace you’ve always wanted to go? We can mix in numbers and symbols.” He suggested.
“I’ve always wanted to go to Machu Picchu.” She sighed. “But, with everything… life just seemed to get in the way.”
“Machu Picchu, it is.” He typed in her new password and showed it to her on the screen. She thought she could remember it easily enough.
“You should change your password once a month.”
“Once a month!” She looked at him.
“But”—he held up a finger— “I’d say twice a year will work for you. Now, we need to set up your employees.”
“Won’t they just sign in with this information?”
He shook his head and took a deep breath. “No, each employee will need their own log-in and passwords. We’ll limit what they can do and see.” He worked quickly with the list of employees he’d asked her to write out and their job duties.
Kayla was the next employee under her, at least in the office area and finances. Olivia was manager on the floor, while Brittany, Cora, Lea, and Joe were all just employees with simple log-in rights to clock into the time clock program that kept track of their hours.
“Now that we have the system set up, how about we take a look at your accounting program after lunch.” He turned to her. “We passed a place on the way to the hardware store, Roy’s Diner? If it’s any good, what do you say to grabbing a bite?”
“Sure.” She stood up and stretched. She’d been sitting for over an hour and her body felt sore. When she was done, she realized he’d been watching her. The attraction and interest in his eyes was blatant. “You should try it.” She smiled. “Stretching gets the blood flowing throughout the body.”
“My blood is flowing just fine,” he said in a low tone. She held in a smile as he helped her on with her jacket again. She could get used to this.
Rory had to admit that it was hard not to reach out and touch the woman walking beside him. They’d worked side by side all morning long. He’d seen the looks of interest she’d shot his way.
He could still feel her hands on him from the massage, soothing away his aches while causing a whole new set of them to arise deep inside him.
As they walked, he tried to keep his mind off how sexy she’d smelled every time she’d leaned in to look over his shoulder. Even now, with all the smells flooding the streets of the small town, he could still pick up her scent.
After spending a few hours on her computer, he’d figured out that the woman was a marketing genius, raising his opinion of her even further. He’d dated women with less brainpower than Crystal Holley before, but after his last dating experience, he’d chosen to avoid the ditzy type.
Carol hadn’t been that bad, but after a month of dating, she had sent all her bills to his apartment, claiming that she thought he’d pay them since they were dating and he was a financial kind of person. Her words, not his. He’d only taken her out on two dates and had yet to take her to bed.
When he’d broken things off with her, she’d continued to call and claim that she’d misunderstood, but it was too late.
Before Carol, there had been Jenny. The single mother of teenagers had been worth dealing with her busy schedule for a while. After the sixth canceled date night, he’d thought about moving on, but he only had after she’d informed him that she was getting back together with the kid’s father.
He could go on and on. His dating life hadn’t been anything like the movies, except maybe the horror flicks.
Most of his friends believed he was at fault for his inability to find the right woman, but in truth, the right woman hadn’t come around.
He glanced at Crystal as they walked and she asked him questions about his life. He filled her in briefly on where he’d been raised and about his parents, who were now living in a brick farmhouse that had recently been remodeled in upper Vermont. His father had been a financial investor since the early days and even now, after a few years of retirement, played with day trading.
His mother had been a healthcare worker when his folks had met and married. She’d given up her career to raise him and his sister, Lisa, then returned to work in the private sector after they’d moved out. She’d retired earlier last year and, according to Rory, didn’t know what to do with her time.
His sister, Lisa, lived on the West side of Boston with her husband of almost fifteen years, Kevin, and their three daughters, Jordan, McKenna, and Sydney.
When they were finally seated at the diner, she talked about her family. Her sister and her husband had moved to Florida a few years back, where they played pickleball and golfed almost daily.
Their son, Rowan, lived across the street and was the town doctor who ran the local medical clinic.
“The doctor you suggested I see?” he asked over his menu.
“Yes, Rowan has found a nice balance between the medical worlds.”
“Worlds?” he asked, setting his menu down.
“Sure.” She leaned forward. “There’s the world of the drug companies. If they had their way, there would be a pill for everything and everyone would have a drawer full of bottles.” She tilted her head as she thought. “Then there’s holistic medicine.”
He picked up his menu again. “There are some things that need pills.”
“Of course.” She smiled over at him, ignoring her menu. “But what’s wrong with most people, you know,
the everyday stuff, can be healed without expensive pills that in most cases do more harm than what they were taken for in the first place.”
“Okay, I’ll bite. Like what?” He set his menu down again.
“Well, for instance, the common side effects for aspirin are rash, upset stomach, cramping, nausea, bleeding… I could go on. While most people suffering from simple headaches could use peppermint and lavender essential oil and be headache-free without any side effects.”
“You’ve tried this yourself?”
“For the past three decades. I’ve also been headache-free for that long.”
He thought of the last time he’d had a headache, then realized that he currently had one and went back to his menu.
“You can give it a try for yourself. I sell peppermint and lavender essential oils. I’ll give you a bottle to try.”
“What do I do with it? Drink it?” he asked. He’d made up his mind about lunch and waved the waitress over.
“No, you can mist it on your person or you can drop some in the mister in your room. I currently have lavender burning in there. Lavender relieves stress and helps with congestion and sleep, not to mention other benefits.” She dropped off as the waitress moved over to take their order.
She ordered her food without once glancing at her menu, which told him that she ate there often.
His eyes met hers once the waitress walked away. “How did you learn all of that stuff about holistic medicine?”
She shrugged. “I read a lot. I also took night classes in Portland when Serenity was young and my parents were still alive.”
“Did you get a degree?” he asked.
“Bachelor’s in holistic medicine and a master’s in mental health. It’s one of the reasons I got into making my own products.”
Suddenly, his measly bachelor’s in finance didn’t seem so impressive. She probably knew more about the human body than most doctors, and all he knew was how to crunch numbers.
His eyes roamed over her. It was a wonder some lucky man hadn’t snatched her up years ago. Not only was she smarter than anyone he’d ever dated before, but a million times better looking.
Where had this woman been all his life?
Chapter 5
Crystal had a hard time controlling her urges during lunch. Her eyes kept locking with his over the table as they talked. It was even harder to focus when he looked at her the way he was. As if he’d prefer having her for lunch instead of the roast beef sandwich he’d ordered.
It had been years since she’d felt this much need. Her eyes ran over him, dreaming what it would be like. What it could feel like having his hands on her.
She watched him eat for a few moments, then pushed her empty salad plate aside and reached for her vegetable soup.
“You know,” she said in a low tone, “you really should think about cutting some meat from your diet.”
She could tell he held in a groan. “I like roast beef,” he replied.
“I’m not suggesting you drop it forever, just until you get your cholesterol back in check.”
He set his sandwich down and nodded. “I’ll think about it. Do you always tell everyone how they should live and eat?”
“Only when it’s obvious they don’t know.” She swallowed another spoonful of her soup.
“I’m taking those pills my doctor…” He dropped off and smiled.
“Have you cut out fried foods?” she asked, eyeing the plateful of fries he’d half devoured. “Or coffee?” She nodded to the cup the waitress had filled three times already.
“Do you nag everyone like this?” he asked, leaning closer to her.
She smiled. “Only the ones I care about.” He was silent for a while.
“I’ll think about changing my diet,” he finally said. “Maybe while I’m giving you hints on how to fix your finances, you can give me clues on what to eat and what not to.”
Her smile doubled. “I’d love to. The first thing I’d do is have you start yoga.”
“I don’t want to wear tights and show my junk to a roomful of people.” She chuckled as he frowned into his coffee mug, then set it down without drinking another sip. Instead, he reached for the water glass and downed half the liquid.
“How about private lessons in the evening?” His eyes met hers. “I can show you a few simple moves that will help with stress. Then, once you get the moves down, you can do them in the privacy of your room.”
“If you think it’ll help.”
“I haven’t met anyone who’s been hurt by yoga.” He shoved the rest of the fries away and finished his sandwich instead.
It wasn’t as if Rory was overweight. Actually, he was perfect for his build and height. But after getting her hands on him that morning for his massage, she instantly knew there was more wrong with him than just high blood pressure and cholesterol. The amount of stress she’d felt in his body was dangerous, even if he was in perfect health. She wondered if some of it was pent-up sexual frustration. But she doubted coming out and asking him about his sex life was a good idea.
What Rory Sinclair needed most was relaxation and a healthy diet. And while he was under her roof, she was determined to give it to him.
Her phone chimed when Serenity sent her a text saying that Aurora had scooted across the floor. She tried not to cry at the short video clip of her doing just that.
She should have been there to see her granddaughter crawl for the first time.
“Something wrong?” Rory.
“Aurora.” She sniffled.
“Is she okay?” Rory jumped in, worry flooding his face.
Crystal smiled. “She’s crawling.” She turned the phone over and showed him the clip.
Rory’s smile was instant. “Cute kid. Looks a lot like Ben.”
“She’s the spitting image of Serenity.” Crystal turned her phone back around and smiled at the image.
“I’ve known Ben since he was six,” he supplied. “Trust me, I can see him behind those eyes. Mischief.” He chuckled. “Mark my words. That kid is going to get into everything.”
“Why did you never have children?” she asked once they were outside and making their way back to the store.
He glanced over at her and remained silent for a few moments. “I guess I never found the right woman to have children with.” He shrugged. “Why didn’t you have more after Serenity?”
“Never found another man who could fill Johnathan’s shoes.” She looked around the town and smiled. “Look, they’ve put up the Christmas decorations. I didn’t notice them before.”
Every lamppost along the main street in Silver Cove had green holly vines wrapped around them, along with brightly colored holiday flags hanging from the tops.
It was still almost two months to Christmas, but shew knew that the entire town would transform in the coming days now that Halloween was over. Already, several shops had put up their own decorations. She had plans to spend a day this week decorating her own storefront, now that Holley Hall was fully decorated. She’d gotten Ben and Rowan to help put Holley Hall together before her guest had arrived.
They had started the day after Halloween by taking down the ghost town on the front yard. As one of the oldest homes in Silver Cove. Holley Hall had a reputation to maintain. The decorations for every major holiday filled racks in her garage, each one carefully packed and labeled. Most of the decorations had been around for more than a dozen years. She added new ones every year.
“Nice.” Rory looked down the street.
She took his hand and started tugging him towards the town square.
“Let’s see if they have the tree up in the center of town yet.”
He followed her down the block and smiled as they watched a group of men hoist the massive tree into place.
“The official lighting won’t be until Sunday.” She sighed as she looked around. “This is my favorite time of year. Before the holiday madness takes over. We’re supposed to have snow before Sunday. It will be nice to have a fres
h covering before the lighting ceremony.”
“I heard about the weather change,” he chimed in. “I’m supposed to be at the resort by then.”
“If you can find my money.” She glanced over at him with a smile. Taking his hand once more, she pulled him down the center of the square. “They’ll put the ice rink up here.” She motioned to the area where the small rink normally went. Already the structure pieces were laying around, ready for assembly before Sunday’s all-day event. “The kids train will start there and go around…” She traced the pathway. “Rowan has donated his time to be conductor every year since he’s been back in town.”
“It looks like a great town,” he said, still looking around.
“There was a time when I though I didn’t want to spend another night in Silver Cove.” She sighed and dropped his hand.
“What changed?”
“I was so young. Things changed.” She shrugged. “I had Serenity.”
They started walking back towards her store.
“What made you decide to open your own store?” he asked.
“The same thing, I’d wager, that made you go into business for yourself.”
He nodded. “Money.”
She stopped and looked at him. “No.” She shook her head and smiled. “We both wanted to be independent and work for ourselves.”
“How’d you know that?” he asked as they walked back into the store. It was strange, but in the short time since he’d met Crystal, it was as if she knew more about him that he knew about himself. She rolled her eyes at him and he chuckled. “Is it that obvious?”
“It was in your cards today,” she said as they entered the store and made their way back to her office.
He sat across from her and asked, “Cards? The tarot cards?”
“Yes.” She relaxed back in the soft leather chair across from her desk.
He was impressed with how tidy her office and desk were. The space looked very professional, almost like his old office when he worked for Elite Resorts. It was so different from the rest of her store and from her personality.
“You… read tarot cards every day?” he asked, his interest spiked.
