Erin grinned. “I hear Finn fed you stew and cookies the other night.”
“Did you have some?” Noella knew better than to deny anything. “You need to get that cookie recipe.”
“I sure did, but I have a feeling you’d have a better chance of getting the recipe than I would.”
Turning toward her monitor, Noella frowned. “I’m not encouraging him like that.”
“I don’t get how you can’t see what a great guy he is,” Erin stated, her displeasure evident in her voice.
Noella snapped the elastic on her wrist. She really didn’t want to think of what a great guy Finn was. Her mom had dated and married great guys…and then gotten burned by them. Noella had even been happy when her mom had married a couple of them. The guys had treated them both really well—until they hadn’t. Those had been so hard to get over since the changes in the guys had been so unexpected, and yet it hadn’t stopped her mom from continuing to date, fall in love and marry.
“If you think he’s so great, you need to go after him,” Noella said, trying to ignore how the very thought of that made her feel a little ill. She tried to concentrate on the emails in her inbox instead. “Did you see the revised order that came in from Harleys Accounting? Either they’ve invited a bunch more people or they figure people are going to eat more than they originally thought.
“How much extra are they asking for?” Erin sighed. “Too bad for me, Finn’s only interested in you.”
Having someone say it so clearly made it a reality, and Noella had no idea how to react. So she didn’t. Instead, she snapped the elastic on her wrist a little more aggressively than usual. Was that ever going to work? She had read that the pain from the snap would be associated with the thoughts she kept having about Finn. Too bad the pain wasn’t the deterrent she’d hoped it would be.
“They want two dozen extra each of the vanilla and red velvet cupcakes.”
“I think that should be okay. We’ve got enough advance notice.” Erin pulled her phone out of her pocket. “Well, if you’re not interested in Finn, is there someone you are interested in?”
“I’ll forward you the email in case they didn’t copy you too.” Noella typed Erin’s address into the email then pressed send. “Why the sudden interest in the subject of dating? I don’t really have time for it right now.”
“Got it,” Erin said as her phone warbled an alert. “I guess it’s finding out that Finn feels something for you. It’s the first time that there’s actually a guy interested in you who is worthy of your return interest.”
Noella didn’t respond right away, taking the time to post a couple more photos to their Instagram account. She really didn’t want to think about how Finn might feel about her. She wasn’t dumb. It would have been hard to not notice over the past couple of months or so that suddenly Finn was in her vicinity a lot more.
“It still doesn’t matter, Erin,” Noella said as she stared at her monitor screen. “I don’t trust love. If my own mom, who claimed to love me, could leave me behind just because the man she happened to be with told her that she’d be much more lovable without me, then why would I trust some guy who doesn’t even really know me all that well.”
“But that’s the point,” Erin said. “No one is saying that you have to marry Finn tomorrow. I’m just saying that maybe you should give the guy a shot. We’ve all known him for almost a year now, and I think even the guys would say he’s worth you taking a chance on.”
Noella knew that the subject was as important to Erin as it was to her when the conversation between them dropped down to just one subject instead of their normal work/personal intertwined way of talking.
“He hasn’t even asked me out on a date, so everyone is probably getting all excited over nothing.”
Erin snorted a laugh. “The only reason he hasn’t asked you out yet is that the guys told him that he needed to take it slow. You are a bit skittish.”
Noella frowned at the revelation. “I’m not skittish. I’m just not interested in dating Finn. I really don’t see anything wrong with the way I am choosing to approach a relationship. It’s not as if I’m the first person who’s ever gone into a marriage based on something besides love.”
“Okay.” Erin crossed her legs and began to swing her foot, her boot tapping against the edge of Noella’s desk. “So do you plan to let the guy you eventually zero in on know that you have no interest in love?”
“I’ve never said I don’t want love. I would just prefer it not to be the reason we get married. Marriages around the world are still arranged. People fall in love after the fact. I’m looking for a man who is interested in having a wife who will take care of herself financially. Who won’t need access to his money.”
Erin shrugged. “So just sign a prenup, for goodness sakes.”
“Doesn’t it seem a little bit anti-romantic to ask the man that you supposedly love and trust to sign a prenup?”
“I would guess that if the guy really knew you and understood how important it was to you, he would sign one.”
“The only problem with that plan of attack is that I would need to let a guy know that that was my intention almost as soon as we started dating. I can’t wait until a guy proposes and then spring the idea of a prenup on him.” Noella took a moment to consider what Finn’s reaction to such an idea might be. Something told her that the idea of a prenup would never have entered his thoughts.
Before Erin could respond, there was a knock on her open door. She looked over to see Betsy, their assistant baker, standing there with an apologetic look on her face. “I’m so sorry to interrupt, but there’s a gentleman at the front asking for you, Erin.”
Erin got to her feet but before leaving she gave Noel a pointed look and said, “We are not done discussing this. I really don’t want you to lose the opportunity of having someone love you like Finn might just because of how messed up your mom was.”
Even without Erin’s warning, Noella had already been pretty sure that her foster sister planned to continue their discussion at a later time. Sometimes she found it frustrating trying to convey to Erin why she felt the way she did. Erin had been taken by the Department of Family Services at a fairly young age. She had no memory of her mom or dad and had been placed with the Johnsons just before she’d started kindergarten. Noella, on the other hand, hadn’t been taken by DFS until she was almost seventeen years old.
Her mom had been a smart woman — she’d had a job as a researcher at a local cancer research center as proof of that — but she’d been woefully stupid when it had come to men and had an almost incessant need to be in love. Noella had never known her own father, but she’d known the countless other men who had paraded in and out of her mom’s life over the next sixteen years.
She’d been sixteen when Stewart Anderson had come into their lives. Right from the start, Noella had not trusted that man. One night, she had tried to convince her mom that life would be better if it were just the two of them. That they really didn’t need a man to complete their family. Stewart must have overheard what she’d been telling her mom because the following week she’d come home from school to find the apartment they’d been living in empty of all her mom’s things.
Noella had known that they were going to be moving to a new city eventually because her mom had been sending out job applications across the country, but she hadn’t expected to get left behind when the move happened. For the first few days, she’d managed to live on what had been left for her in the apartment but on the fourth day when she’d run out of bread and milk, she’d told her favorite teacher at school what was going on. The teacher had been obliged to contact the Department of Family Services, and very quickly, just before her seventeenth birthday, she had found her life turned upside down. Being under the age of majority and with no family to take her in, they’d ended up placing her with the Johnsons.
Unfortunately, she’d had no idea what city her mom been planning to move to since she hadn’t told Noella if she’d ac
tually gotten a job. In the end, Family Services had managed to track down her mother in Toronto, but she’d had no interest in reclaiming her daughter. Noella still wasn’t sure why her mom hadn’t been charged with child abandonment. Maybe it had been because she was just a year away from the age of majority. She was just so thankful that she’d been placed with a family who, when she had turned eighteen, hadn’t turned her out of their home.
It wasn’t until Noella was nineteen that she’d heard from her mom again. At the time she’d wanted to have a conversation with the woman just so that she could try to understand why she’d done what she had. Sadly, the excuses her mom made did nothing to change Noella’s opinion of her. Which was why she had yet to return the call that Mama Kay had phoned her about over the weekend.
Noella ended up staying at the bakery until closing that evening even though she’d been up since five. Erin had left at around three since her day had started even earlier. It was dark as she left the bakery shortly after six. Not that that was so unusual. With the sun setting a little before five in the afternoon, there were days when she arrived at work before sunrise and left after sunset. Thankfully, the front of the bakery had large glass windows that let in lots of natural sunlight throughout the course of the day.
Still, she was glad for the security lights at the back of the bakery that illuminated the employee parking area. It wasn’t a large lot, but there was enough room there for five cars. Hers was the only one left, and she held out her keys to press the button on the key fob to unlock it, frowning when there was no corresponding flash of light when she did so. She’d bought her car second-hand three years ago, and it had never given her a lick of trouble. Unfortunately, it appeared that that was about to change.
Unwilling to believe just one sign of trouble, Noella unlocked the door manually and slid behind the wheel. When she turned the key in the ignition, the absence of normal engine sounds made it abundantly clear something was indeed wrong. Tired and hungry, Noella thumped her fists on the steering wheel before jerking her head back against the headrest.
She sat there for a moment trying to rein in the aggravation that was now layered over her exhaustion. When she felt as if she could talk to someone without bursting into tears, Noella pulled her phone from the pocket of her coat and tugged one glove off using her teeth so that she could tap the screen to bring up her contact list. She debated between Tenn and Forrest, trying to decide which of the two would be most likely to help her out without ragging on her.
It really wasn’t a long debate. Tennyson was always the more mild-mannered of the two, and most likely he would be willing to come out and give her hand. Forrest would be more likely to ask her a bazillion questions and have her try a bazillion things before he’d actually agree to come to her aid. She really did not need that aggravation tonight.
She tapped Tennyson’s number then put her phone on speaker as she waited for him to answer.
“Hey, Noella.”
“Hi. I kinda need some help.”
There was a beat of silence before Tennyson said, “Sure. What’s up?”
“Well, I came out of the bakery to leave, but my car won’t start.”
“Won’t start at all or it just keeps turning over but doesn’t engage?”
“Not at all. Nothing. It makes no noise at all.”
Noella heard muffled voices as if Tennyson was telling someone else about their conversation.
“Why don’t you give Finn a call,” Tennyson suggested. “You know I take my car to him for any of my repairs because I have no idea about that kind of stuff. He’s a mechanic, after all.”
Noella bit back a frustrated sigh. She had known that would be their suggestion, but it had been worth a try to see if they would help her out first. “All I want is a ride home.”
“I’m sure he’d give you that too,” Tennyson said with a chuckle.
Renewed aggravation rolled through Noella. “I just want a ride home, but no worries, I’ll figure things out myself.”
Before Tennyson could respond, Noella hung up and tossed her phone onto the passenger seat of her car. All she needed was some help. She didn’t need people trying to take advantage of her situation to set her up with Finn. She didn’t want to have to deal with him tonight. Her conversation with Erin was still too fresh in her mind. She would’ve called him about the car the next day, but now she didn’t want to call him at all.
She shoved her hand back in her glove since it was starting to get cold without the warmth of her car heater. Picking up her phone, purse, and laptop bag, Noella left the car, making sure to lock it again. As she walked back toward the bakery, her phone rang. She looked down to see Tennyson’s name flash across the screen but instead of answering, she just slid the phone back into her coat pocket and kept walking.
One inside the bakery with the door locked securely behind her, Noella returned to her office to try to sort out a ride home. She thought about calling Erin, but she knew that the woman would be going to bed shortly. It wouldn’t be fair to ask her to drag out on a cold night when she could just as easily call herself a cab.
Her phone rang again, but this time, it was Forrest’s name that showed up on her screen. Rolling her eyes, Noella ignored the call and used her phone to search for the number of a taxi company. Once she’d called and given them her address, Noella made her way to the front of the bakery to watch for the cab. Her phone rang again. And even though she was aware it was probably a juvenile response, she was prepared to ignore it again until she saw the name. Erin. This call she was more willing to answer.
“What’s going on, Noella?” Erin asked as soon as she answered the phone.
“I’m having car problems, but I don’t really want to deal with them tonight. I’m just taking a cab home.” She paused. “I’ll give Finn a call tomorrow to see if he can fix it for me.”
“So why are Tennyson and Forrest calling me all upset with you?”
“Because Tennyson’s first suggestion was that I call Finn. What’s Finn going to do about it at this time of night? All I wanted was a ride home, and I didn’t need that from Finn.” Noella sighed. “I’m not stupid. I planned to call Finn tomorrow to see about arranging to have the car picked up and taken to his garage.”
“I’m sorry, sweetie. I guess the three of us have somehow sort of ended up on Team Finn and forgotten that you’re our sister first. Do you want me to come get you?”
“No. I’ve called a cab, so I’ll probably be home in about forty-five minutes. Thanks for understanding, though.”
“I probably won’t be up when you get home, but I made cream of potato soup for supper so be sure and eat a bowl or two of that before you go to bed.”
“Thanks. I’m super hungry.”
She’d barely hung up with Erin when her phone rang again. Noella wasn’t terribly surprised to see Finn’s name on the screen. She’d figured it would only be a matter of time before one of the guys would call to let him know of her predicament. Since she’d planned to call him the next day anyway, Noella tapped the screen to accept his call.
“Well, I have to say I’m a bit surprised you took my call,” Finn said when she answered. “Your brothers said you hung up on Tennyson and wouldn’t answer when they called back.”
4
Noella watched as a cab came to a stop at the curb in front of the bakery. “I was going to call you tomorrow anyway, but since you saved me the trouble, I figured I’d answer.” She slid her laptop bag and purse over her shoulder then headed out the back door, pausing to punch in the security code before locking up. “I need to have my car towed to your garage. When I came out of work tonight, the silly thing wouldn’t make a single noise.”
“It been givin’ you any trouble in the last little while?” Finn asked.
Noella opened the rear door of the cab and slid in, taking a moment to give the driver her address before answering Finn. “No. Nothing that I’ve noticed.”
“Okay, I’ll have a truck come by to
pick ‘er up in the morning. And I’ll see if maybe we have a loaner available for you to drive until we get your car repaired. It would get rather pricey taking cabs back and forth every day, especially if it’s not a quick fix.”
Noella wanted to groan. If it wasn’t a quick fix, then it most likely wasn’t going to be a cheap one either. She had to remind herself that it was for things like this that she had a savings account. “That sounds great, Finn. Thanks for taking care of that for me.”
“It’s my pleasure. I love to solve the puzzle of why a car is not actin’ the way it should. I look forward to solving the puzzle of yours.”
Noella was surprised that without much more chitchat, Finn ended the call. Probably one of the boys had warned him that she wasn’t in the mood for flirting. If that was the case, it was the first thing either of them had done right since her call to Tennyson. As the cab wound its way through the city’s streets, she sent them both a text to let them know that she was on her way home and that Finn would be taking care of her car the next day.
Once home, she happily ate two bowls of Erin’s soup before taking a shower and crawling into bed. It was early by most people’s standards, but she usually spent some time reading or watching TV before falling asleep. And lately, she’d been having difficulty falling asleep right away. Thoughts of Finn seemed to fill her mind as soon as there was nothing else to occupy it. Unfortunately, those thoughts rarely had to do with ways to keep the man at a distance.
***
Finn had no idea of the reception he’d get from Noella when he showed up at the bakery the next morning. Erin spotted him first and greeted him with a wide smile and a quick hug. Where Noella had dark brown eyes and hair and lightly tanned skin that hinted at perhaps some Aboriginal blood, Erin had light blonde hair with bright blue eyes.
“Well, if it isn’t our favorite mechanic.” Erin and the other girl behind the counter both wore a dark green T-shirt with their company’s logo intertwined with Christmas lights. The bakery itself was also decorated for the holiday season with greenery draped around the windows and a large tree in one corner. Christmas music added to the festive mood, and it all made Finn smile. “Would you like a fresh cinnamon bun?”
The Wonder of His Love: A Christian Romance (Fostered by Love Book 1) Page 3
