by Parin, Sonia
She gave a fierce shake of her head. “That’s never going to happen.”
“So why not show him, Elizabeth? Show him you won’t give up the ground you’ve gained by getting on with your life.” His fingers pressed against her shoulders. “And by taking the chances you were obviously afraid to take before.”
“With you.”
For the longest moment, he looked at her without blinking. Then his fingers relaxed their hold and he brushed them along her shoulders.
“Sorry, for a minute there I thought I was making sense. Clearly I’m not the one for you. You want someone like Tom Ellis or… or Luke Sterling.” He eased his hands away from her shoulders and stepped back. “You should go.”
* * *
Mitch knew this was his call to action moment. So why was he telling her to go? Earlier he’d decided he would be whatever Elizabeth needed him to be.
She was making him work hard. Harder than he’d ever had to in his life, putting him through a meat grinder of emotions, frustrating the hell out of him. And he loved her for it.
No one had ever had that effect on him. Not even The Flea, and he’d completely revamped his life because of her.
Ask her what she wants, you fool.
No, he should wait. Give her some space. Getting her to agree to something while she was still trying to work through her thoughts wouldn’t be fair, to either of them. Best to let the dust settle.
“Go,” he said again, his voice calm, resigned.
She nodded and turned to leave. Her back straight, her head held high, but her steps uncertain.
Mitch braced himself.
He couldn’t believe she was leaving, without one tiny look over her shoulder. He supposed that meant one night… one point five nights with Eden’s bad boy had been enough for her. If she’d wanted more from him, if she thought he could offer more…
She wouldn’t be walking away.
Damn it. What had happened to making his grass as green as the neighbor’s? He was as good as Tom Ellis and Luke Sterling. Why push her in their direction?
When he saw her reach the door he knew he didn’t have a hope in hell of turning this around.
Her step faltered. Mitch looked around the bedroom to see if she’d left anything behind. Why else would she hesitate?
“Unless…”
Mitch saw her shoulders rise and fall and then relax as she turned to face him.
Unless… He liked the sound of that.
“Never mind.” She turned and strode out of the bedroom.
* * *
She had her pride.
Elizabeth rolled eyes. “I sure do, and I hope it keeps me nice and comfy in my old age.”
She dug her fingers through her hair. A new, expressive trait. After years of gathering her long locks into a neat bun, she’d been wearing her hair loose all these days, enjoying the breeze lifting it as she strode around. Who knew what she’d do next. Start gesturing with her hands in that unique way Europeans had of communicating? She laughed under her breath and turned her attention to the winding road ahead.
At the moment, there was only one certainty in her life. There’d be no going back to the shadow of a person she’d been. Whatever happened, she was moving forward.
After leaving Mitch’s place, she’d found her way back to Rosebud Cottage, had showered and dressed, and not bothering with breakfast, she’d hit the road, driving around, losing herself, trying to stay one step ahead of the thoughts that had been chasing her all morning.
“Am I going to be happy at the end of this drive?”
Mitch had asked her that. How long ago? She couldn’t remember. Everything she’d said, and everything she’d heard said since coming to Eden was all mashed up in her mind.
“But I can remember everything I’ve felt since coming here. And that’s all that matters.”
The excitement of making new friends. The warmth of their support. The joy of sharing her little triumph.
There’d also been the sense of relief at having made the right choice, and that relief had mingled with bursts of light joy and—
How could she explain how she’d been feeling since meeting Mitch?
Huffing out a breath, she slowed down, turned off the road and brought her little car to a stop at a lookout point with an uninterrupted view of the town below.
“Okay, Elizabeth. Out with it.” Why had she allowed the slightest glitch to throw her off balance? Everything had been perfect, even the day she’d spent thinking Mitch had lost interest in her. The depth of her disappointment had to be an indication of how she felt about him. Sure, the sex had been… great, but she wanted more from him, she wanted to experience more with him.
She’d been nothing but light relief. A source of entertainment.
You’re annoyed because you were kept in the dark.
“Too right.” Andrew had kept her in the dark, always knowing what was best for her, always expecting her to go along with his decisions without expressing the slightest doubt.
She reached inside her handbag and drew out the notebook and pen she always carried. This crossroads moment called for a pros and cons list. “And something to fire me up,” she said ripping the wrapper off a candy bar. As her teeth sunk into it, she slumped back on her seat and sighed.
She could sugarcoat that morning’s episode and say it was all part and parcel of living in a small town where everyone knew everyone else’s business. And maybe she was making too big a deal of it. “So what if Eddie and the girls wanted to have some fun… at my expense?”
She pressed the tip of her pen against a blank page and drew a small bullet point circle. Taking another bite of her candy bar, she savored the chocolate concoction and plucked the first thought that came to mind.
…We know who the owner is but he’s trying to keep the fact he owns the place a secret…
Eddie!
“Leader of the gang,” she wrote. Pro or con?
Eddie had been supportive. Massively so. Then again, she’d also been…
Elizabeth tapped the candy bar against her lip. “A duplicitous practical joker having a laugh at my expense… maybe, I’m not sure.” Mostly, she’d been accepting of Elizabeth. On their first encounter, she’d shied away and Eddie hadn’t held it against her. Acceptance, Elizabeth told herself, was a two way street. She had to give it as well as receive it…
There’d been no real harm in the prank. But had there been an attempt at maneuvering her?
She reached for another candy bar.
Had Eddie tried to bring her in direct conflict with Mitch?
Elizabeth shook her head.
“Nope.” She’d bet anything her intentions had been harmless.
An hour later, surrounded by candy wrappers, she looked at her list of pros and cons. The scales tipped heavily toward the positives, and every negative she’d listed had positive flip sides to them. She turned the page and scanned the list she had scribbled under Mitch’s name.
He’d known she was stealing his rhubarb. “And he didn’t say anything.” Andrew would have been quick to use it to his advantage while Mitch had…
She filled one page and then another and another. Half an hour later she sat back and watched the sun dip over the horizon. “I should get back.” In a minute, she thought.
Setting the notebook aside, she leaned back and closed her eyes.
Chapter Thirteen
“I found her.” Mitch hung up the phone and peered inside the car. Elizabeth had curled up into a ball, one hand clutching a candy bar and the other a pen. He considered going back to his car and turning the high beams on, but then that might startle her. He tested the driver’s door. Locked. The windows were up, and so was the soft top.
“Elizabeth,” he said firmly.
She stirred and, in the process, brushed her cheek against the candy bar.
He tapped the window with the tip of his finger. She stirred again, this time pressing her cheek against the window and leaving an imprint of cho
colate.
He’d found her. That was all that mattered.
He could breath easy now.
She hadn’t left.
Stepping back, he drew out his phone and selected her number. Within seconds, her phone rang. He’d already tried calling her several time and she hadn’t answered. Had she been ignoring him?
After a couple of rings, she jolted upright. For a moment, she sat there staring at her hands, as if trying to understand why she was holding a pen in one, and the candy bar in the other.
When she turned and saw him, she scrambled away from the window and gradually leaned back to peer at him, the chocolate smudge turning her lip into a half smile.
Brushing her hair away from her face, she unlocked the car door and stepped out.
“I fell asleep.”
She sounded dazed.
“And—” She brushed her hand across her cheek and frowned. “What are you doing here?”
Mitch smiled at her. “Looking for you.” He took a step toward her. “You had us worried. You told Glenda you’d be back by lunch at the latest.”
“Oh. I got caught up… I was busy. I worked on a list. In fact, I worked on several lists. Thinking time on paper works best for me.” She held up a finger and then dove inside the car. Moments later, she emerged holding a notebook. Tearing off a page, she waved it at him. “These are the reasons why I should stay.” Flicking through her notebook, she found what she wanted and tore another page off. “This page is blank because I couldn’t think of any reasonable excuse to pack up and leave.” The page fluttered to the ground.
“Elizabeth, are you all right?” Her voice had a high lilt to it, the words running into each other, as if pushing and shoving to be heard.
“I’m great. And…” she tore off another page. “These are the reasons why I’m sure I have feelings for you and, despite everything…” she frowned at her notebook, “I wrote it all down… Anyway, I’m fast on my way to falling in love with you—”
“You are?”
She nodded. “But I’m not supposed to tell you that because you’ve sworn off women and you’re not interested in anything serious. In fact, you only want fun and games, especially the sort that involves me stealing your rhubarb, but I’m willing to overlook that because I shouldn’t take things so seriously, see… I wrote that here… somewhere. And in hindsight, I suppose it was funny… to you and everyone else and eventually, I might even find it amusing…”
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that.” She was falling in love with him. Mitch took a deep swallow and tried to remember what he’d been about to say. “If I’d known you were going to take it to heart—”
She gave a vigorous shake of her head. “Nope, it’s not an issue. I know I made it one, but I was wrong.”
“Um. Do you need some water?”
She shook her head and clutched the notebook against her chest. “How did you find me?”
“A driver spotted your car.”
“You had people out looking for me?”
“You didn’t answer your phone. We used twitter to put the town on alert. HashtagWheresElizabeth.”
“You made a hash tag for me? I’m touched. No one’s ever done that for me.”
“We would have found you sooner, but not much traffic comes out this way, that’s why it took so long.”
“I wasn’t lost, not in the way you think. I know where I am.” She looked around her, her brows furrowed. “And I know where I want to be.” Her eyes bounced back to him.
“Okay.” He shoved his hands inside his pockets. “It’s dark and it gets cold out here at night. How about I drive you back home and you can tell me all about it. We can collect your car tomorrow.”
Dropping her notebook, she clutched her stomach. “I feel queasy.”
“How much chocolate did you eat?”
“I don’t know. Some. A lot. I nibbled, so it’s hard to tell.”
Mitch stepped forward and wove his hand around her waist. “Come on, I’ll take you home and you can have a cup of Glenda’s magic potion.”
“Potion?”
“Lemon verbena. Good for upset stomachs, and… hangovers. She grows it in her garden.”
“I need my notebook. It has all the reasons why…”
… she was sure she loved him.
He reached inside her car, brushed aside the candy wrappers and grabbed her handbag. Then he stooped down and collected the notebook and scrunched up pages.
“You’re rescuing me again.”
“Looks like it.” He smiled and guided her to his car.
They both settled in, stealing glances at each other.
He was about to turn the ignition on, when she stopped him.
“Can we talk for a bit,” she said.
“Sure.” After a few minutes, she still hadn’t said anything, so Mitch cleared his throat. “So… you have feelings for me and you think you might love me.”
She shrugged. “I only got as far as deciding that… yes, I do have feelings for you and it’s okay if you don’t. I’ll deal with it. I’m happy I have feelings. It means I’m getting on with my life, and I’m not afraid. Sure, I’m still a little wary, but I’ll get used to having so many people in my life who take an interest and care. I haven’t experienced that before.”
He sat back and stared down at the valley. “You have some catching up to do.”
“What do you mean?”
“We like you. Of course we care.”
“And you came looking for me.”
“We do that out here.” And if she’d packed up and gone back to Melbourne, he would have followed, just to make sure she was okay. Then, maybe in time—
Everyone deserved a second chance. If she had feelings for him, then…
He didn’t have the benefit of a sugar rush, so he took his time sorting out his thoughts. Whatever he said to Elizabeth would determine the next step, and the next…
And he was fine with that. He wanted to take steps and to move in one direction. Towards Elizabeth. But he didn’t want to scare her off, or rush her into something she’d regret.
…she was sure she loved him.
That was a good start.
“Um, what I said earlier—”
“I’m sorry about leaving the way I did. I panicked and I wasn’t really listening. But some of it came back and I wrote it down. You know how you can look at something but not really see it? Well, the same applies to listening. I heard you, but nothing really sunk in. That’s why I came out here. I needed to regroup…”
“Yes, but what I said about you being Tom and Luke’s type…”
“Oh, that. I spent a day with them. They’re nice and helpful. And very knowledgeable but… They’re not you.”
Mitch savored the words. Who needed chocolate for a sugar rush when he could listen to Elizabeth saying Tom and Luke were nice but they weren’t him… “I’m glad to hear that because I didn’t mean it.”
“Is there… um… any chance I might be your type?” she asked.
He leaned toward her and caressed her cheek, brushing his thumb over the smudge of chocolate. “I don’t know if you heard, but I’ve sworn off women.” He thought about mentioning the reasons why, but something more important took precedence.
“Oh… yes, I did hear.”
“But that’s because I want to make room in my life for only one woman.”
“You do?”
He nodded. “In fact, I know I have a lifetime’s worth of room for one particular woman. And that means… I want to be your type. I know you’re my type and I think we could be good together. I already know I love you. I’m not sure about all the reasons why, but they’ll come to me. I know they will. Every day, I’ll find something new to love about you. And that’ll be half the fun. And if you let me, I’d like to build you a hothouse for your rhubarb.”
“You love me?”
He laughed. “Yes. I haven’t looked at or thought about anyone else since you stole my parking space.”
“Crap,” he said under his breath. A simple yes would have been enough. But he was desperate to make her understand. To make her believe he could love her so soon. As crazy as it sounded, he knew that in twenty or more years’ time, he would look up from whatever he was doing and tell her he loved her, and it would sound as exhilarating as it did right that moment.
“I stole your—”
“I was hoping you’d missed that.”
“When?”
“That first day you came to Eden.”
“Oh.” She sat back and sighed. “I was a different person.” She laughed softly. “Actually, come to think of it, I was already the new me.”
“Does that mean you’re going to make a habit of stealing car spaces?”
“And rhubarb.” She clamped her hand over her mouth. “I’ve become a delinquent and a daredevil. I told Glenda I wanted to wear a gossamer gown and dance under a full moon but I really wanted to dance naked—”
“I’d like to see that.”
They sat in silence for a while.
Mitch thought about how she made him feel.
He brushed his hand across his face. “It feels like having a honing device inside me. I can sense you’re nearby.”
“Have we known each other long enough for that to happen?”
“Do we need to?”
She looked down at her hands. “After only a day of living in Eden I knew I loved it. One bite of Joyce’s Puff Doughnut was enough for me to decide I loved it. But Eden’s a place and the donut’s a thing. People are… complicated.”
“I know and sometimes people do and say the wrong thing.”
“It’s okay, so long as they don’t mean any harm.”
“If I had to start working on a list, I’d say I love you for the person you are and the person you’re becoming.”
She gave him a big smile. “It’s a relief to be able to be me. If that makes sense…”
