Chapter 14
Noelle
‘If you break any of your rules, even once, then I get to break them as many times as I want.’
I laugh at his rule as it tumbles around in my head, finding it completely ridiculous.
The fact that he wants it to be a rule at all is ridiculous.
I’m not going to break any of the rules I laid out.
I mostly made them for him so he would stop acting all lovey dovey.
I am in no way shape or form going to break any of our rules.
Even thinking about breaking them makes me want to throw up.
If that were actually true then explain the dreams you’ve been having the past week, a voice in my head sneers.
It’s a good thing you said no sleepovers or else you would have failed at following your precious rules days ago.
No way to do what you were doing in your dreams without kissing, it continues.
I shake my head, trying to get the voice to shake itself loose from my mind.
Blinking hard, I move from behind the check-in desk and walk towards the kitchen.
Thanksgiving is only three days from now and I want to make sure Eve has everything she needs for dinner.
Holly House always hosts a free Thanksgiving dinner for our guests and anyone in need who’s able to come.
This year we’re expecting to have about fifty people joining us, Grams being one of them.
She and I always celebrate the holidays here as per tradition.
“Eve, how are things going with—ope,” I stop short when I step into the kitchen and see her sitting on the prep table, mouth wide in a smile, talking to Jack.
He’s leaning with his hand on the table, hovering only a few inches away from her with a matching smile of his own.
Our delivery days are Tuesday which makes seeing him here now a little out of the ordinary.
When he sees me come in he nearly jumps away from her, banging into the pots and pans hanging from the ceiling above the sink before catching himself.
“Noey, hey,” Eve greets with a smile. She’s looking at me over her shoulder until I bring myself to stand next to her.
“Hey, you two, what’s going on?” My eyes flit between the two of them but only one seems like they’ve been caught doing something they shouldn’t be.
“Oh, we were just talking about the winter harvest season. Jack’s built a greenhouse on the farm so we can get fresh produce year round. Isn’t that exciting?” Her voice tips up in genuine excitement.
“Yeah, sure is,” I agree, trying to match her energy. While she’s excited about the abundance of year round produce, I’m sure Jack is excited because she’s paying attention to him.
“Probably won’t have anything worthwhile this year, but next year for sure. Gotta get through the trial year and all,” he comments, rubbing the back of his head.
Eve jumps off the counter and brushes his arm with her hand. “If anyone can do it, it’s you, Jack. You’ve always been a master of figuring things out like that.”
He watches her move into the pantry, his eyes following her like a dog watching its owner.
“How’s your head?” I whisper so she doesn’t hear.
“Huh? Oh, it’s fine,” he says, pulling his eyes from where she disappeared to look at me. “I guess I should be going.”
“Oh, don’t leave on my part. You should stay,” I say, feeling bad that I’ve made him uncomfortable.
“No, that’s alright. She’s busy and I should get back to the farm.” He drops his hand from the back of his head and cranes his neck to look into the pantry. “Eve, I have to get going,” he calls out.
She doesn’t come out to say goodbye. “Okay! I’ll see you later!”
His shoulders slump as defeat settles in on his face. He gives me a tight-lipped smile and moves towards the backdoor to leave.
“Hey, Jack,” I say before he’s too far away.
“Yeah?”
“Are you busy on Thanksgiving?” I ask, an idea forming in my mind.
He shakes his head. “Just the normal dinner with my parents.”
“You should come here, if you want of course. Eve has this amazing dinner she’s making and the place is going to be packed full of people. It’ll be fun and Eve will like seeing you.”
“She will?” His voice drips with so much longing and hope that it nearly makes me cry. This poor man is so far gone for her it hurts.
“Yeah, you should come. Bring your parents, it’ll be fun.”
He bites his lower lip before nodding. “Yeah, okay. I’ll talk to them about it and let you know. Thanks Noelle, it’s really nice of you to invite us.”
I smile at him. “Of course. Please, we’d love to have you. Eve too,” I add.
This gets him to smile before dipping out the back door and leaving for good. Right as the door closes, Eve comes out from the pantry carrying arm loads of dry ingredients. When she feels my eyes burning into her, she finally looks in my direction.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Why do you do that to him?”
“Do what? We were having a pleasant conversation,” she argues, tearing open the bag of sugar and dumping it into a mixing bowl.
“No, you were flirting with him and you know it.”
She laughs before grabbing butter and milk out of the fridge, setting it on the metal table with a force.
“I was not flirting with him. You can’t flirt with someone while talking about the growth rate of cucumbers,” she scoffs.
“That one feels way too easy,” I lament, shaking my head at her. “You know he likes you, Eve. I know you know he likes you.”
“Jack does not like me. You and Belle are ridiculous for thinking so in the first place. Don’t try to pull me into your delusions.”
“That man,” I say, leaning into my words and pointing at the back door where he once stood, “would eat the dirt off your shoes if you asked him to. I’ve never seen a man adore someone as much as he adores you.”
“That’s funny coming from you. When was the last time you actually paid attention to how Nick looks at you?” she asks, tipping her head to one side. “How is that dear husband of yours, by the way? Things working out okay between the two of you?”
“I’m not talking about him with you.”
“Fine, then I’m not talking about Jack with you.” She shrugs with pursed lips.
“That’s fine. But so you know, I invited him to Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.”
“What do I care if he’s coming? We’re friends, Noey, only friends.” She shakes her head at me as if the insinuation of them being more friends is crazier than me marrying Nick for the sake of inheriting Holly House.
“You mark my words, Eve Barns. There will come a day when you realize you’re in love with Jack as much as he’s in love with you and I’ll be standing here ready to say ‘I told you so.’”
“You’re going to be standing there until you return to the Earth because that’s never gonna happen,” she snarks.
I sigh and shake my head at her. “I came in here in the first place to make sure you have everything for dinner on Thursday. You’re good, right? ‘Cause if not, our produce guy is probably just down the street if you need him.”
“I’ve got everything I need and dinner is going to be delicious. Don’t you worry your pretty little head about me or my dinner.”
“Fine, let me know if you need anything.” I cross my arms over my chest and smile at her before leaving. Making my way down the hallway, I find Grams standing at the end of it looking around the inn. It’s rare for her to come in these days and the sight of her here makes me smile.
“Grams, hi. Did I know you were coming in today?” I loop my arm around hers when I reach her. She pats my hand like she likes to do.
“Ohh, no, this is a surprise inspection. I wanted to make sure the place was all set and decorated before the holiday on Thursday.” Her eyes circle the front desk area and library which have been decorated to the nines with garland, ribbon, and small bunches of holly leaves. “It looks beautiful like always.”
“I’m so glad you think so. We’re putting the wreaths up tomorrow on the windows then we should be all set for Thursday.”
She’s moving us towards the library. Reaching it, I help her down into one of the chairs and sit in the one next to her.
“There’s something else I came here to discuss with you. Another surprise, if you would,” she starts. The corners of her eyes wrinkle as she looks at me.
“Oh? What kind of surprise?”
“The one of your recent marriage,” she says easily. I feel my heart sink in my chest realizing that the entire town probably knew before she did. I don’t know how I failed to tell her before now.
“Oh,” I say, feeling a fresh wave of guilt crash into me. “Grams, I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, I just—”
She takes my hand and smiles at me. “I’m so happy for you and Nick. Carol and I always knew you two were meant to be together. When Joy told us that she saw you two together in the square and that you had gotten married, I almost didn’t believe it. But after speaking with Nick this morning—”
“You spoke with Nick this morning?”
“I know that you two are happy and that’s all that matters,” she finishes, smiling softly at me again.
“We—we are happy, thank you Grams. And thank you for being so understanding.” My heart sighs a breath of relief seeing that she seems to be buying into the act.
“That’s why I invited him to join us here on Thanksgiving. Him and his parents, and Carol of course. It will be like a little family reunion and celebration all in one,” she says cheerfully.
My mouth falls open and I’m almost positive I feel my left eye begin to twitch.
“You did what?” I screech. The thought of having them all here at once and having to sell our fake marriage immediately sends me into a tizzy.
“I invited Nick and his family to join us for Thanksgiving. It’s the least I could do seeing as how you two ran off and got married without telling any of us what you were doing. It can be like a little wedding party. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
I have to remind myself to breathe. “Mmhmm,” I manage to get out.
“Oh, Noelle. I’m so happy for you,” she says, patting my hand again. “Nick is a wonderful man and is going to make a great partner to you and Holly House. Only a few more weeks now until it becomes yours.”
“I can’t wait.” The words come out forced. I feel like a horrible human being for lying to her but I remind myself that this is what I have to do in order to save the inn.
“Alright, well, I have to be going. Carol and I are working on organizing a real ceremony for the two of you that will take place in the spring once the weather warms up again. No sense in having a wedding when the sky is as gray as it is these days. Plus, the whole town will want to come so it will have to be outside. We’re thinking in the square with the flowering apple blossoms.”
“Wait, Grams, we don’t need a ceremony,” I try to stop her but she’s not listening. Ignoring me, she buttons her coat back up and waves a hand at me.
“I’ll fill you in on the details when there’s more to share. See you Thursday,” she calls out, slipping out of the front door.
“Grams, we don’t need a ceremony,” I try to say but she’s already gone.
I close my eyes and take a breath. I can’t let our grandmothers throw us a wedding ceremony when we’ll already be divorced by the time it’s supposed to take place. Standing in the hallway, I pull out my phone and dial a number I’ve had memorized since I was in tenth grade.
“Hey, you. This is a nice surprise,” Nick says with a warmth to his voice that does something to my insides.
Stay focused. Don’t get distracted.
“What did you tell my grandmother when you saw her this morning?” I bark over the line.
“Whoa, someone’s cranky. Do you need a snack? You usually get this way when you haven’t eaten in a while. Do you want me to bring you something? A coffee maybe?”
“A coffee does sound nice—wait, no. I don’t want you to bring me a coffee. I want you to tell me about the conversation you had with Grams this morning. When did you even see her? Why did you see her?”
“Slow down there, sugar. I didn’t see her, she came looking for me. Both of our grandmothers did. I was happily hiding away in my cabin getting some work done when they showed up on my doorstep ready to talk about marriage arrangements and who’s living where,” he begins to explain.
“What?” I holler. A few guests turn to look at me and I quickly smile at them so they don’t feel threatened. I shuffle back to the desk to have this conversation somewhere a little more private.
“Then they started in on having a ceremony here in town and where we would spend the holidays,” he continues.
“To which you told them wasn’t any of their business and that we didn’t need a ceremony, right? Because we won’t still be married come spring, Nick. That’s the agreement.”
“You know as well as I do that when those two get together there’s no stopping them,” he answers. I know he’s right but still, he should have done something to slow them down. “They came to me, Noelle. I promise.”
“I know they did.” I sigh, feeling my shoulders relax. “I’m sorry for jumping down your throat.”
I hear him laugh on the other side of the phone.
“That’s okay. I know you didn’t mean it; you’re just a little hungry that’s all.”
“I’m not hungry,” I mumble even though I know it’s a lie. I never ate lunch today because I was distracted by getting the Christmas decorations up in time for Thanksgiving.
“Okay, you’re not hungry,” he hums and I can see the stupid smirk on his face without even needing to see him.
“Well, I have to go get back to work. I’ll talk to you later, I guess,” I say after a beat.
“Yep, I’ll be over in twenty with a coffee and a snack for you. I’m on my way now.”
“Wait, what? Nick, no I don’t need a coffee. You don’t need to come here,” I hurry out.
“Too late, I’m already half way into town. See you soon, wife.”
“Nick, no,” I try to argue but he’s already hung up.
What a freakin’ mess this is becoming.