Where the Heart May Lead: A Clean Romance (Harlequin LP Heartwarming)

by Elizabeth Mowers

  Paige had stopped in front of him, her eyes widening the way a cat’s did spotting birds on a window ledge. They were hypnotizing, yet not as sincere as he’d remembered from the night before. Getting rejected had put a damper on his memory of the evening. Of her.

  Following her into the office, he’d wanted to ask again about what had happened at the restaurant. He wanted to know if she had led him on purposely. His heart was still very raw since arriving in Roseley, although she wouldn’t have known that. Disclosing his relationship history was more appropriate for a fourth or fifth date, which now wasn’t in the cards for them.

  She had spunk. He had to give her that, he’d thought, as he listened to her pitch. He had taken enough from her presentation to know she was good at her job. Peter would be a fool to turn down her expertise, although, the way Mara told it, Peter hadn’t been making the wisest decisions lately.

  But when Paige had sprinted out of the room, he knew he’d regret not following her this time.

  “Paige,” he called, pushing through the front door to find her furiously unlocking her bicycle. “Hold up a second.”

  “What for?” she asked, eyes averted, from a crouched position.

  “What’s your hurry? Are you really going to run out on me again?”

  She looked up and shielded her eyes against the morning sunshine.

  “I wasn’t running out on you, Charlie. I had to get out of there. That bickering...”

  “It drives me crazy too. Heck, it drives them crazy. But it’s quieter out here, so give me a minute, huh?”

  He wanted to offer a hand and help her to her feet, but at the same time he already felt too exposed. If she refused to take it, it would turn the rusty nail in his heart another quarter inch. And if she did accept it, he wasn’t sure he could stand to let it go.

  Paige stood and crossed her arms.

  “So, if you’re not Mara’s husband, I take it you’re her new hire? She said she had a new person starting today.”

  “Sort of. I moved back to Roseley to help Mara and Lucy—”

  “Lucy?”

  “My niece.”

  “Your niece? Are you Mara’s brother?”

  “That’s usually how it works,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m her big brother.”

  “I never would have guessed. You don’t look that much alike, aside from the height.”

  He shrugged. He’d heard that plenty of times before.

  “My father died shortly after I was born, and my mother remarried quickly. Mara’s father, my stepfather, Glenn, is Polynesian. She was blessed with his ridiculously handsome good looks.”

  A smile slipped over Paige’s lips. “You’re not too bad looking yourself.” He shrugged, avoiding her compliment. “How old is Lucy?”

  “She just turned ten.”

  “Was she blessed with Mara’s supermodel good looks?”

  He laughed. “In high school Mara was voted most likely to be a secret supermodel. I think they added the category that year just for her. She always jokes that she never took full advantage of her high cheekbones.” Paige nodded, solemn, as if waiting for an answer. “But no. Lucy is adopted.”

  “Does she know she’s adopted?”

  Charlie made a face. “Of course. Have you known adopted kids who don’t know they’re adopted, or something?”

  She dragged the toe of her sneaker against the sidewalk before kicking at a loose shard of concrete. “Yeah, something like that. What are you helping Mara with...if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “I do, actually.”

  “Oh,” she said, her neck reddening as it had earlier during her pitch. He had to fight the urge to touch her blushing cheek.

  “Look, I followed you out here to get a little closure after our date last night. I had a nice time with you and wanted you to know that.” What was he saying? What was she supposed to say to that? If anything, he was grasping for words to keep the conversation going.

  “I know I left quickly, Charlie, and I probably got you confused. I’m so sorry if I hurt you.”

  “I wasn’t hurt,” he said, but he knew it was a lie.

  “That’s a relief,” she whispered, lowering her eyes. Had she worried about hurting him last night when she’d run out on him suddenly? Did she regret leaving now that the intimacy of last night had dissolved?

  “If I moved too quickly last night,” he began, not sure how to finish his sentence. He certainly hadn’t felt like he’d moved too quickly. He’d only let himself drift along on their date, like a raft carried downstream by the current. If that current had moved too rapidly for her, who was he to say?

  “You don’t need to—”

  “No. If things moved too quickly for you, I’m sorry about that.” The truth was, after all that had transpired between him and Crystal, things last night should have felt like they were too fast paced. But somehow, they hadn’t. “I should have given you a bit more space for a first date.”

  “Thanks,” she muttered. He wondered if her response was an admission of sorts. He’d been warned before of falling in love too quickly and not seeing the warning signs until they were flashing right in front of him.

  “Anyway, there isn’t much more to say about it, especially since Peter’s away for a few days and has put off any hiring. I guess our paths won’t cross again, huh?”

  “Not unless you head back to The Sandwich Board and help me order my next sandwich.” By the way she angled her head to look up at him, he could swear she was flirting with him.

  His lips parted in surprise. He shifted his weight to his heels, deciding whether he should leave, when his mouth rambled on with another question. “How long are you planning to stay in Roseley?”

  Paige squinted up at the morning sunshine as if contemplating the question for the very first time.

  “Are you that anxious to get rid of me?” When he didn’t answer, she continued. “I haven’t decided, Charlie. My life is complicated right now, but if I stay, I know one thing that’s for certain.”

  “Yes?”

  “I will be going back to The Sandwich Board, and if you happen to show up too, I’d be very...”

  “Very?” he prompted.

  She bit her bottom lip and smiled up at him, the sunlight reflecting tiny bits of gold in her bright green eyes.

  “Excited.”

  “Excited?” It was hardly the word he’d expected. Glad, fine, okay—any of those words were polite enough, but excited? Just the word rolling off her glossy lips made something inside him leap.

  “I did a lot of thinking last night after I left you, Charlie. Perhaps finding you here at your sister’s shop was fate’s way of handing me a second chance. Do you believe in that?”

  “In fate?”

  “In second chances.”

  Charlie dipped both hands into his front pockets. For a woman who had been so hell-bent on getting out of here this morning, she had certainly pulled a one-hundred-eighty-degree turn, now lingering on the sidewalk with the ease of a retiree. Perhaps because he apologized for moving too quickly before...

  “I don’t know, Paige. I need to get some work done before the shop opens.”

  “What time do you get off work?”

  His fingers toyed with a loose string in his trouser pocket, plucking it taut as he processed her question.

  “Three. I’m picking Lucy up from school today.”

  Paige smiled. “Good for you. I didn’t mean to pry or insert myself where I don’t... Never mind. You’ll be too busy with your niece this afternoon. I’ll let you go.”

  She rolled her bicycle to the curb and swung a leg over the seat. A jolt of anxiety flooded his blood. If he let her ride off without another word, he knew he’d regret it for the rest of his life.

  “Why don’t you meet me here at three? I’m taking Lucy down
to the lake, and you’re welcome to join us.”

  Her face broke into a teary smile as she quickly slid her sunglasses into place. It made him hopeful she had regretted the way the night had ended as much as he had.

  “Are you sure? I don’t want to impose.”

  “Be here no later than three,” he said, heading back into the shop. “And wait until you meet Lucy. She’s the greatest.”

  * * *

  PAIGE RAN HER hands nervously over the tops of her thighs. Of all the places she had dreamed of being when she woke up this morning, on her way to meet Lucy wasn’t one of them. She couldn’t believe her luck. No matter how much she wiped her hands off, they continued to perspire. It was almost a release valve; every cell in her body was humming. She hadn’t been this nervous since the night she’d wrapped Lucy in an old sweatshirt and huddled in the darkness, waiting for the flash of Aunt Joan’s car headlights. Although these nerves were due to excitement and not to fear.

  Heart pounding, she noticed Charlie. He was riding casually in the driver’s seat, watching her.

  “Is everything okay?” he asked, pulling his eyes back to the road.

  “Just peachy. How was your first day on the job? Did you sell any mountain bikes?”

  He rested his hand on the top of the steering wheel. “I love my sister, but she doesn’t know what’s good for her.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “Have you ever met a person who didn’t get it?”

  Paige twisted her mouth, thinking. Truth be told, she didn’t really know that many people. She had lived the past decade keeping her distance, carefully shielding herself from the harmless conversations that could quickly diverge to pointed questions she didn’t want to answer. The fatigue of thinking several steps ahead to avoid those questions had led her to avoid most people altogether. Aside from staying close to Aunt Joan and Uncle Craig, she mostly kept to herself. One of the first times in a long time, when she had let her guard down was when she’d met Charlie. She had deviated from her standard cold shoulder, and all because the gentleness of his handsome smile had lulled her into conversation.

  “Family has its challenges,” she said as her mind wandered to sad memories of Trudy. “And as a matter of fact, I do know what you mean. Some people really don’t get it, Charlie, and they never will.” She knew thinking of Trudy made her tone bite.

  “Whoa. Who burned you?”

  “Nobody worth mentioning,” she said with a forced smile. “That’s a pretty extremist attitude to hold, huh?”

  “Not if your life experience gives you the right to hold it. People can be pretty awful sometimes.” Paige nodded in agreement, tightly clasping her hands in her lap. “But,” he said. “People can come through in pretty amazing ways too, you know.”

  She turned quick enough to catch his eyes as they squinted into a grin, and even though it wasn’t exactly a logical conclusion, she had a feeling he was referring to the two of them. She tore her eyes away and cleared her throat.

  “Tell me what Mara doesn’t get.”

  Charlie released a groan. “For starters, she doesn’t see how she’s the root of most of her problems.”

  “Most people are.”

  He shrugged. “I’ll give you that, but the way she talks to Peter immediately puts him on the defense. Then he snaps back at her. Then she begins to emotionally unravel...”

  “And Lucy lives in that?”

  “Unfortunately, but it’s only a recent thing. I visited them eighteen months ago, and I don’t remember any arguing. They’ve always been happy, so something must have happened.”

  “Mara might now be ready to tell you.”

  “I hope she trusts me eventually. All I want to do is help.”

  Paige inwardly sighed at the sincerity in his voice as he looked out over the road. His words rang with nothing but compassion, and it stirred a deep desire in her heart that had been hidden away for so long. She had always believed that trust was something a person had to slowly earn, as they came through time over time. Once a person had plunked enough trustworthy tokens into her bank, she’d consider trusting them. And every time they failed her, she’d dump out the bank and write their balance sheet back to zero. After all, her entire childhood had been a sad exercise in dumping out her trust bank. It was an experience she had never wanted Lucy to face.

  “I’m sure you’ll get to the bottom of it...for Lucy’s sake.”

  “Wait until you meet her. She’s going to win you over in about two seconds.”

  Paige’s palms began to sweat again at the prospect of it.

  “How soon until we’re there?” she asked, staring out the window. Charlie swung his pickup truck into a half-circle drive in front of a wide redbrick building and rolled down Paige’s passenger window.

  “Here she comes.” He motioned to a little girl bounding out of the school. “My little jackrabbit. She has more energy than anyone I’ve ever known. I hope you’re ready for her.”

  Paige brought her fingertips to her lips. She had been ready for this moment since she was seventeen years old.

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHARLIE CHUCKLED AS Lucy galloped up the sidewalk before clinging to Paige’s car window. She batted thick brown eyelashes back and forth between him and Paige, the shadow cast by the truck giving her normally bright green peepers a gray and brooding look.

  “Uncle Charlie, are you on a date?” she said, raising a dramatic eyebrow at Paige. He waited for Paige to laugh or shake her head or at least look at him, but she seemed almost transfixed by the little girl. He couldn’t blame her; Lucy sometimes had that effect on people. Mara liked to refer to her as having an old soul, but he hated that description. It was true that she did pick up on things other ten-year-old children didn’t, but her balance of spunk and decorum was entirely hers.

  “This is my new friend, Paige.”

  “Paige?” Lucy said, leaning farther into the truck to get a look. “Like a page in a book?”

  Again, Charlie waited for Paige to respond, but after several moments of silence, Charlie explained.

  “It sounds the same, but it’s spelled differently.”

  “Oh,” Lucy said, tipping her head back in eureka. “That’s a good name. I’ve never heard it before. Is it your nickname? Do you like to read a lot?” Before Paige could respond, Lucy’s eyes widened mischievously. “My nickname is Cat. Can you guess why?”

  When Paige slowly shook her head, Lucy ducked down out of sight before leaping back up into view and clawing her hands in the air. She made a playful meowing sound before erupting into laughter. Charlie chuckled and motioned for her to hop in the back seat as Paige spun around to get a lock on Lucy again. She leaned on the center console, the scent of her citrusy shampoo filling his senses like a spring morning.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Lucy,” she said as if finally finding her voice. “Your uncle Charlie has told me so much about you.” She smiled up at him, as if realizing she had moved much closer into his personal space.

  “I’ve never heard anything about you before,” Lucy said, buckling herself into the center seat. “Charlie usually tells me everything.”

  “We only met yesterday.”

  “Where?”

  “At The Sandwich Board.”

  “The Sandwich Board?” Lucy made a face and slugged Charlie on the shoulder. “You found your new girlfriend at Angelo’s? That’s not very romantic.”

  “I found a new friend, yes.”

  “Well, you need to find a new girlfriend. Mom says the only way to heal a broken heart is by falling in love again. It’s the gold sold...soldering the broken pieces of your heart back together again.”

  Charlie gripped the top of the steering wheel tighter and shifted in his seat. From the corner of his eye, he could tell Paige was working hard to not look at him.

  “What grade are
you in, Lucy?” she asked, noticeably changing the subject. She really was nice.

  “Fourth. It’s the best grade, because we celebrate Storybook Characters Day next week for the end of the school year.”

  “What’s Storybook Characters Day?”

  “We wrote and illustrated our own chapter books. Our teacher helped us print and bind them, and next week, we each get to read them to a first-grade class. We’re supposed to dress up like one of the characters in our story but—” Lucy sighed. “Mom hasn’t gotten around to helping me with my costume.”

  “She has a lot on her mind, kiddo,” Charlie said. “Don’t worry. I’ll help you figure it out.”

  “But I need her to sew me this.” Lucy dug through her book bag to retrieve a sketch of a girl wearing a simple purple dress. “This is what it’s supposed to look like.”

  He glanced at his niece in the rearview mirror. “That looks easy enough, Lucy, and I can wield a glue gun. I’m sure we can pull something together.”

  “Maybe I can help,” Paige said. “I sew a little.”

  Lucy leaned forward. “Did your mom teach you?”

  Paige shook her head.

  “Self-taught. No matter what problems come my way, I tend to buckle down and figure them out on my own eventually.”

  “Why would you want to do that?” Lucy said.

  “I grew up having to do things on my own.”

  “Didn’t your mom help you?”

  “Uh... I didn’t have a mom like your mom.”

  “Do you know my mom?” He noticed Paige hesitate. After a few quiet moments, Lucy became impatient. “She’s a good mom, but I’ve already reminded her about this costume three times.”

  “We’ll help you make a costume, Lucy,” Charlie said. “As long as it’s not a cat costume.”

  Lucy giggled.

  “Do you really love cats?” Paige said, hugging the back of her seat to better angle her body toward Lucy.

  “Who doesn’t?”

  “I can think of a few people.”