14. Annabelle
Annabelle
I sit at the table at Marie’s Place while Victoria makes us a coffee, ready for our weekly catch-up. My cell vibrates just as I grab it. When I see a text from Sawyer, I smile.
How are those tires doing?
All still on. They make the car go faster. I’m like a Formula One driver. I get to school a whole twenty seconds earlier now. How’s the city?
I send the message before I stress a little that he may not like my humor. But I watch with bated breath as the bubbles dance with his reply.
It’s fine. I've been working on the files for Gertie’s. I have some ideas I want to talk to you about.
And I also look forward to seeing you.
I smile. I haven’t talked to a man like this before. I don’t want to sound too eager, but I really want to see him too.
I’m looking forward to seeing you too. Six on Wednesday?
Six on Wednesday. Can’t wait.
“Here, one coffee for you and tea for me.” Victoria slides the steaming cup across the table.
“Thanks, it’s been a day.” I put my cell back into my bag, trying to contain my grin, the texting with Sawyer just now making me feel young and carefree, even though I’m far from it.
“I have no idea how you wrangle fifteen kids in a classroom.” She shakes her head at me, and I chuckle.
“The kids were very rowdy today because we did pottery. Actually, I’m pretty sure I still have clay stuck in my hair somewhere.
” I touch my hair and feel the small piece that I’ll have to wash out tonight.
Victoria and I meet at least every month or so to talk business and chitchat, although we talk often.
Late-night phone calls are our main method of communication, given how busy we both are.
“So catch me up. What’s been happening?”
We’re settled in, my boys both happy outside, milking the cow and playing with the goats she has here.
“Well, the lavender yield is still looking good, and I’ve actually tried something a little different.”
“Love it. What?” Her excitement over building businesses and trying new things is palpable.
“You can get different types of lavender, and for the most part, all varieties grow best in summer, but I’ve found some that bloom early summer and some that bloom later summer into early fall, meaning that the growth will be available a little longer, allowing me to pick and dry the flowers more consistently, and we’ll have fresh blooms for more of the year.
” I smile, proud of myself and how much I’m learning about flora.
“That’s brilliant. You know, if they’re different varieties, we could expand and offer different lines of soap.”
My brow furrows as I think about it. “Like English Lavender for early summer, and then French Lavender for late summer into fall?”
“It gives us the opportunity to provide new and different products without the need for us to invest in new scents, different plants, or additional materials. We keep everything the same, just offer two types of lavender and, therefore, two different types of soaps.”
I love that idea.
“I mean, they’ll smell similar. But maybe we can add in some lavender seeds in one, so that will give a soft exfoliant effect.”
Victoria sits up and claps in excitement at my idea.
“Oh, I love it! Brilliant.” She taps a few notes out on her laptop. “I will work on some fresh packaging, make sure it looks different on the shelf.”
Her cell chimes, and her eyes widen. “Oh… Ooooooh.”
“Everything okay?” I sip my coffee, the caffeine hitting my body right where I need it.
“Have you heard of Sutton Silver? The movie star? He’s Sawyer’s brother,” she says, and I shake my head, taken aback by that information.
“Sawyer's brother is a movie star?” He mentioned he lived in LA and worked in the business, but I have no idea about movie stars, my head too buried in survival to be looking at anything like that.
I can't even remember the last time I went to the movies or even watched one.
Kevin is always taking over the TV to watch baseball.
“Movie star? He asked for a box of soaps to give to his brother, but…”
“Sutton is big-time. One of the most high-profile stars in the world right now. And he just put us on the map.” Biting her lip, she moves her cell to my face, and my eyebrows hit my hairline.
“Whoa!” I take in the glistening abs before me.
I feel bad for a moment that I didn’t know about Sawyer's brother, and I hope I didn’t offend him.
But I have no idea about any of that kind of thing.
Most people scroll social media at night, in their downtime.
But I have no downtime. I make soaps or have a myriad of other things to do once the kids are in bed, and by the time my head hits the pillow, I'm so exhausted, I'm out.
“Ooohhh my gosh, look. His latest co-star put an image up too, which is a little more on brand for us.” Victoria shows me another image on her phone, this one of our products on full display in a gorgeous bathroom, near a vase of lavender.
“Wow, what a bathroom.” I take in the double sinks and granite countertops, the kind of bathroom I envy. My small bathroom at home is the same as it was when I was a kid, making it decades old by now.
“Our followers are growing,” she nearly squeals.
I can’t help but get caught up in her excitement. I pull out my own cell again. I have social media and full access to our channel, but I rarely look at it. I bring it up now, refreshing every few moments, seeing our followers rise.
“This is amazing.” I look at the image of Sawyer's brother again and bite my cheek, wondering what Sawyer will think, and I can’t help but laugh.
“Sawyer is going to hate that image,” I say, and Victoria looks at me with a quirked eyebrow.
“Probably. Although, he loves his brother. They’re super close.” With her curiosity shining through, I already know what she’s about to say before she says it. “So you and Sawyer have been spending some time together, hmm?”
I roll my lips. “A little.”
“That makes sense.”
“What does?” I ask, taking a sip of my coffee.
“Why he hasn’t hightailed it back to the city, like we all thought he would.”
“But he is back in the city?” I question her tentatively, trying to put the dots together, and she gives me a smile.
“He is today, but not permanently. He loves the city and definitely isn’t a country boy at all.
I mean, Tanner has been trying to get him to move here for years, but he never truly thought he could get him over the line.
So it’s clear that something else, or should I say, someone else has caught his interest,” she teases, and I feel my cheeks blushing.
“Oh, I just had him over for dinner. It was nothing…” I try to deny it’s anything, but she calls me out.
“So he came for dinner?” she murmurs.
“I had plenty… sooo I offered for him to join us. That’s all.” I almost stumble over my words, slightly embarrassed. I’m still trying to sort out exactly what’s going on between us, so I don’t think it’s time to gush about him just yet.
“Of course… I heard he was also at the baseball game to watch the kids?” she asks, and I still.
I clear my throat. “Yes, he was there.”
“You have him over at your place for dinner, spending time with him at the baseball game… It sounds like you are getting along well.”
“Just getting to know each other a little.” I take comfort in that statement. We had one meal, a bit of flirting. But he did get me a set of all new tires and is coming for dinner once he’s back.
“Well, if he’s flying back and forth to the city each week, then he’s clearly keen to get to know you. The Sawyer I know, he likes his city comforts too much to ever spend too much time here in Whispers.” She sits back with a satisfactory smile on her face.
“He said he wants to sweep me off my feet.” I can’t help but share that tidbit, and she smiles like the cat that got the cream.
“Good. Make him work for it.” She winks at me, and I suddenly feel giddy.
“So Sawyer grew up in New York?” I ask, wondering what she knows.
“Yes, born and bred there, raised by a single mom. Tanner tells me that it was tough when they were kids, only finding success in their twenties. I think that’s why Tanner loves him so much.
He came from nothing and made something of himself.
He has good morals.” Victoria starts tapping on her laptop, looking at something.
I swallow as I take in the information. He was raised by a single mom?
He hasn’t mentioned that. I start to feel a little odd, given that I’m a single mom of two boys as well.
Does he feel sorry for me? Does he feel some weird connection to me because of his own upbringing?
Self-doubt starts to creep in, because I was already struggling to understand why a man such as Sawyer is interested in a woman like me when he could have anyone in the city.
I know all those women in the city are glamorous, beautiful, smart.
Yet as I lift my phone and look at my text messages, I see the one where he mentioned he was looking forward to seeing me, and my heart still skips a beat.
“Oh, wow.” Victoria breaks into my thoughts.
“What?” I look over at her and see a wide grin.
“Our sales. They’re going through the roof!” I look at her screen and see in real time, orders coming through for the soaps, and my eyebrows rise.
“Thank God we’ve got good stock levels stored at the distillery warehouse. I’ll be packing these all night!” She laughs, and I join her, both of us dancing in our seats.
Sawyer didn’t have to do that. Just like he didn’t have to fix my car, and he didn’t have to deliver the contracts to my door.
I just hope he’s doing everything for the right reasons.
As much as I’m looking forward to seeing him again and cooking for him, I want him to look forward to it because he has feelings for me, not because he’s trying to save me from a life he’s already endured.