Chapter Two
Esther
Imanaged to slip home while my landlord’s son was still out, though I heard his truck pull into the driveway barely half an hour later. It was silly to try to avoid him, but I wasn’t ready yet.
Then again, I’d probably never be ready. Maybe it’d be better to give in to the inevitable and get it over with.
Anita Vasquez-Silver was one of my closest friends, even if she was more a mother figure and mentor than a peer.
I owed her a great deal after she’d swooped in to help me when my husband died, but I’d spent weeks rolling my eyes at her little comments about her handsome eldest son.
I had encountered the younger one, Alex, several times in the years since I’d moved in, but Anita had never attempted to play matchmaker between the two of us.
Apparently the son who’d moved away was a different story.
He’d left town years before I moved here from Oakville for college. Though Anita spoke of him often and I knew she and Lou went down to visit him a couple times in the years since I’d moved into their guest house, he never came here.
Then again, my parents lived one town over in my childhood home and I didn’t visit them, so who was I to throw stones?
The only thing I knew about him was what I’d heard from Anita: he ran a successful business of some kind down in North Carolina, he was handsome and clever, and he was clearly enough of a sucker to let her convince him to come cat-sit over the holidays.
Though I told her I could feed the cat, Anita insisted the feline would be too lonely at home by herself and I couldn’t have Toni around while I was baking, so here we were.
Besides, nothing had been clearer than just how badly Anita wanted her firstborn to return to Spruce Hill, even if she wouldn’t be there to welcome him. It didn’t seem like the best time to butt in and foil her plans.
Once I finished updating my accounting spreadsheet, I rose to start a pot of water for pasta, but a knock at the door froze me in place for a solid minute before the soft sound came again.
I forced my limbs to move toward the door, bracing myself as I swung it open to reveal the handsome stranger who’d bought turnovers and cookies the other day.
For a breathless moment, we stared at each other in shocked silence.
He was the perfect combination of his parents: Anita’s rich brown hair and eyes the color of dark caramel, Lou’s chiseled jaw under a close-cropped beard that looked soft and lush. Thick waves fell over his forehead and his broad shoulders filled the doorway.
How the hell did I miss the resemblance when he came to the truck?
No, I knew how. I’d been caught up on the arrival of a new face—a gorgeous one that topped a muscled frame stretching somewhere over six feet, with the kind of deep voice I wanted to read me to sleep every night of my life.
While I blinked at him, taking in all that made up this beautiful man, his lips curved up into a sheepish smile, revealing a flash of straight white teeth. “You.”
“And you,” I replied, shaking my head a little to get my thoughts in order.
“You’re Esther?”
Stupidly, I glanced down at myself like I needed to check. “I am.”
“I’m sorry to barge in on you. I just wanted to introduce myself, since our paths haven’t crossed yet. Or, I guess, since I thought they hadn’t. I’m Theo.”
He held out a hand—a big, capable hand—and I ignored the fizzle of sensation that zipped along my veins when I shook it. His palm was rough and warm and I found myself staring down at how it dwarfed my own instead of responding.
“I swear I’m not trying to be a creep, but I pulled out a container from the freezer to make for dinner and found this,” he continued as he released my hand to pull an index card from his pocket.
“Oh,” I replied, wincing inwardly at the inanity of the word as I took it.
This is Esther’s favorite. Invite her to have dinner with you. Assure her I followed all the allergy protocols she’s taught me. Do NOT screw this up.
A strangled noise caught in my throat. For a second, I considered refusing, but I couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t turn around and tell Anita that I was an ungrateful wretch. Instead, I sighed and handed the card back to him, meeting his amused gaze as his fingers brushed mine again.
“Your mother is a meddling pain in my ass,” I muttered.
Startled laughter lit his expression, the dark amber of his eyes sparkling with mirth. “That much we have in common, then. Will you join me for dinner? I’m not sure what her punishment will be if I fail, but I imagine it will be swift and severe.”
My lips parted to say no and my fingers tightened on the edge of the door, ready to close it in his face, but beneath the glimmer of good humor and the quirk of his broad lips, I saw a loneliness so profound that its twin deep inside me responded immediately.
His smile faltered ever so slightly and that waver crumbled the rest of my resistance.
“Yes, okay,” I said quickly, and my reward came in the form of a grin so wide it was nearly blinding.
“Phew. Thank you. My mother would never let me hear the end of it if I failed in this, believe me. And I’d be eating pot pie for a week. I don’t know why she thought I needed so many frozen casseroles. I do know how to cook. Seriously, I owe you one for this.”
I started shaking my head even as laughter bubbled up inside my chest. “Believe me, it’s your mother who owes me. Let me just grab my coat.”
Theo waited in the doorway with his hands shoved into the pockets of his battered jeans, looking like the world’s most sheepish vampire.
He probably could’ve pulled off the sexy, brooding version if not for the tiny, self-deprecating smile peeking out from his beard.
Well, and the deep bronze of his skin that spoke to both his parentage and hours spent in the sun.
Before I could get too lost in those daydreams, I grabbed the first jacket I found on the rack and threw it on without a second thought.
It was my favorite, a dark purple trench coat with a flared skirt, and I normally saved it for special occasions when I was wearing something dressier than leggings and an oversized tee.
Though it was swiftly stifled, I didn’t miss the quick flare of Theo’s appreciative gaze as I cinched the belt around my waist.
We stepped out into the evening without another word.
The guest house I’d been renting since my husband’s death was about twenty yards behind the main house—far enough to give me the illusion of total privacy, but close enough that Anita regularly invited me over for coffee when our schedules allowed.
Crossing the distance with Theo beside me made it seem like a chasm between safety and the unknown.
Lou and Anita were amazing people and I didn’t doubt Theo’s motives for a second, not after reading Anita’s note, but running the food truck sapped so much of my social energy that I hadn’t done anything more exciting than having brunch with this man’s mother in the past year.
As we passed his pickup truck—not the shiny proof-of-masculinity kind so many guys his age drove around here, but an older model, slightly battered from clearly being used for actual work purposes—I snorted when I saw the writing on the side of it.
THE LAWN RANGER: LANDSCAPING SERVICES.
“Hi ho, Silver?” I asked, lips twitching. Anita and Lou both had a great sense of humor, but this flash of comedy was unexpected.
Theo grinned. “Might as well have fun with it, right?”
“Given that my business is called The Nutless Wonder, I can’t really argue with that,” I replied.
The deep chuckle that erupted from him was surprisingly satisfying. “Seriously love that name. And you were absolutely right about going for more cookies.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed them.”
“My mom’s note mentioned allergies, are you allergic to all the things listed on the truck?”
“Just peanuts now. I was allergic to milk and eggs as a kid, but I outgrew those two. Everything in the food truck is free of milk, eggs, peanuts, and tree nuts, though, and obviously fish and shellfish. Most of it is soy-free as well. The demand for it is growing, and it’s gratifying to help kids with food allergies enjoy the same things other kids do. ”
For fuck’s sake, I was babbling. When was the last time I’d babbled at a strange man?
I highly doubted Theo cared about my medical history, but he hummed thoughtfully, as though maybe he was actually interested.
I forced myself to stay silent until he opened the side door, then ignored his warm smile as I toed off my boots in the mudroom before walking into the kitchen.
Its homey familiarity comforted me and I tried to pretend I was just here to have coffee with this stranger’s mother.
Of course, my attempt to play it cool lasted a total of seven seconds before he noticed my socks, which were patterned with brightly colored mathematical equations.
“Ahh, I see now why my mom likes you. A math nerd, huh?”
I scowled at him. “Numbers are beautiful, and these were a gift from your mother.”
My expression didn’t deter him at all. Theo sent me a broad, friendly smile and asked, “Can I get you something to drink? Water, beer, wine?”
It was a stupid little question, certainly not worth the sudden clench of anxiety in my stomach, but the memory of Steve flinging insults at me on the drive home from a colleague’s house after I spilled a glass of red wine on my dress hit me like a softball to the chest, forcing the air from my lungs.
Standing there under the bright kitchen lights with a man I barely knew, I couldn’t stop myself from reacting. My mouth opened and closed a couple times before I snapped it shut in order to try to regain control over myself.
“Hey,” Theo said softly. “You okay?”
His voice was gentle, and that sliced through the rush of panic rising in my throat. I blinked a few times, focusing first on his beard, then on the hair tumbling across his forehead, then finally on those caramel eyes, filled with concern.
Slowly, my lungs inflated again and the tension seeped out of my limbs.
“Esther?” he murmured, though he didn’t come any closer to me.
If he had, there was a distinct chance I’d either flee or throw myself into his arms. The fact that both seemed equally likely was disconcerting.
“I’m okay,” I said finally. God, I was mortified, but I was definitely okay.
Theo studied me for a long moment before he gestured to the fridge. “Can I get you something to drink?” he asked again.
“Water would be great.”
When he set a glass of filtered water in front of me, he didn’t look pitying or morbidly curious or even annoyed—all expressions I’d seen on people around Spruce Hill whenever they’d caught me in a weak moment.
Even Anita, only once in the years we’d known each other, but it was less pity and more motherly sympathy.
Theo had been gone for so long, though, that maybe he had no clue what exactly he’d missed.
The fact that I’d been married to a narcissist and had spent the years since his death relearning how to trust my intuition, especially around men, was not likely a topic Anita would have brought up to her out-of-town son.
The pot pie smelled amazing as it thawed in the oven, settling my nerves moment by moment even while Theo and I sat in awkward silence. I took another sip of my water before I glanced up and caught him studying me with a rueful smile playing across his lips.
I arched a brow. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You’re not what I was expecting, that’s all.”
“What were you expecting?” I asked, curious.
I hadn’t grown up in Spruce Hill, but I’d lived here since I started college.
After all these years, I was used to everyone knowing practically everything about everyone else.
It felt strangely freeing to realize that Theo didn’t fall into that category—even more so when I realized I knew next to nothing about him, aside from the fact that he was handsome as hell and had just a touch of a southern drawl after spending half his life in North Carolina.
He stretched out his long legs as he leaned back in his chair and tipped his head to one side.
“This is going to make me sound like a first-rate idiot, so I’d be very grateful if you would refrain from telling my mother about it, but I will admit I was under the impression my parents’ tenant was an old lady. ”
Oh, this was good.
I burst out laughing because I could absolutely imagine how vague Anita would have been in telling him about my existence.
Even in a town full of busybodies, she never stooped to gossip.
Her respect for my privacy was one of the biggest reasons I had taken her up on the offer of renting the guest house rather than finding myself an apartment.
“Did you, now?” I asked finally, still grinning. “If it’s any consolation, I’m actually ninety-three, you know, but I made a deal with a swamp hag to keep me looking young and spry.”
“Top notch swamp haggery, if I may say so. I shouldn’t have made assumptions. Being back here is throwing me off my game, I’m afraid.”
I wasn’t sure if that was an opening to question him, but I would never have taken him up on it even if it was.
Instead, I simply hummed and offered a smile as a token of forgiveness for his mistake.
The oven timer saved me from having to figure out how to respond without sounding like I was digging for information.
Theo waved away my offer to help serve dinner in a gesture nearly identical to his mother’s.
As I settled back into my chair, I watched him move around the kitchen with an easy sort of grace, the kind that came from being comfortable in one’s own skin.
Part of me wished Anita had been speaking from a place of motherly love rather than objective observation when she’d described her firstborn son.
He really was beautiful.
With nothing else to occupy my mind, I reflected on the little that I knew about him.
By the time I started college here, Theo had been gone for several years already, so the rumor mill had mostly moved on by then.
Respect for Anita, one of the college’s most beloved professors, reduced the chatter even further.
All I really knew was that something had happened in his senior year of high school and that he’d left town immediately following graduation.
From what I gathered, this was the first time he’d come back.
When Theo set the plate in front of me, he narrowed his eyes. “You’re smiling,” he said cautiously.
“I do that sometimes,” I replied, shrugging.
In truth, not very often, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.
He sat down across from me and shook his head. “No, there’s something going through that head of yours. What is it?”
“I was just thinking that it’s funny, us sharing a meal,” I replied.
“Why is that funny?” Theo asked, cocking his head at me.
“Because we’re two of Spruce Hill’s greatest mysteries, sitting right here in one room.”