Chapter 9 Evangeline
EVANGELINE
Evangeline looked at herself in the bathroom mirror that evening, trying to come to terms with the idea that the pretty girl reflecting back was actually her.
Ana had insisted that she take the long, plaid, woolen skirt and cream-colored sweater, so she’d added them to her pile after a quick try-on in the dressing room.
But seeing them now, together with her cute new boots, she felt like someone new—someone serious. Maybe even someone who belonged at the table of a dinner party at an inn by the lake.
She was still nervous though, and hoping Grayson would let her take care of Leo tonight. Focusing on the baby would help her feel less self-conscious.
Thoughts of Grayson reminded her of their ride home today.
The man was a mountain of kindness and confidence. Until he wasn’t.
She’d pretended not to notice, but it seemed like he was practically imploding in the car today. She prayed she hadn’t done anything wrong. He’d seemed so pleased that she got Leo that mirror, and the baby had been so happy…
Did he feel insulted that I bought something Leo needed?
Did he not like that I spent so much of his money on clothing?
Grayson didn’t strike her as that kind of man, but then she didn’t know him very well yet.
Now she was heading off with him to a nice dinner, and she still wasn’t sure if things were okay between them.
There was a knock on her bedroom door and she hurried over to open it.
“Hey,” Grayson said, gazing down at her, his eyes widening slightly as he took her in.
“Is this too much?” she asked right away. “I wasn’t really sure what to wear.”
“It’s perfect,” he told her, his deep voice sending a funny little shiver down her back. “You look beautiful.”
“Thank you,” she managed, tearing her eyes from his cerulean gaze.
“Leo should be up from his nap soon,” he told her. “Then we can head out.”
“Okay,” she told him. “And don’t worry, I’ll take care of Leo tonight so that you can catch up with your friends.”
She expected him to smile and thank her. Instead, his face went completely blank.
“You should take advantage of the opportunity to meet new people,” he said tightly after a moment. “We can take turns with the baby.”
He turned and pulled her door closed behind him before she could even try to piece together what his tone and expression might mean.
She paced a little in the room, her fingers toying with the new phone in her pocket.
It wasn’t the kind of phone where you could check your email or anything, it was just a simple flip phone for calls and texts. But she could use it right now to call Rory or Rooster or maybe even someone else from their group of friends to check on her brother.
The trouble was that she wasn’t sure what was going on with Rory, or whether a little phone like this might be trackable by the people he didn’t want knowing where she was.
She also felt a little weird about using a phone Grayson had bought for her to do anything that wasn’t work related. Especially when what she wanted to do was communicate with someone who might be in jail, or in trouble with a local gang.
She had already emailed Rooster when she was at the library, but she wasn’t sure he checked his email very often, or even still used the address she remembered.
Thankfully, Mrs. Anderson had replied to her email right away to say that she was sorry to hear Evangeline had a family emergency and not to worry about the short notice she had given.
But she had no idea how long it would be before she heard anything about Rory.
Her stomach twisted at the thought that her selfless, heroic brother might be the kind of person other people feared or looked down on. A man like Rory should be held up as an example of what loyalty and family meant.
Sinking to the bed, she let herself feel awful for a moment.
It wasn’t hard to do. It was hard enough to think that Rory was suffering right now.
But it was even worse that she didn’t even really know what was happening to him.
And here she was in the lap of luxury, with her own beautiful bedroom suite to enjoy, a whole wardrobe of new clothing, and a good-hearted boss with a sweet baby to care for.
She wanted to do something, anything to help her brother. But all Rory had asked of her was that she run. If she wanted to honor that, the only thing she could do was wait.
But the idea of waiting gnawed at her belly, and she was up again a moment later, pacing, until an idea came to her.
She pulled the phone out of her pocket and frowned before clicking on the text feature and entering Rory’s number.
Sending him anything at all was a risk, but hopefully her plan was only a minimal risk.
She typed out the message and read it over a few times.
Final notice: Your car’s extended warranty is about to expire. Failure to renew will result in a lapse of coverage. Click here to renew now with Henhouse:
She typed in something that looked like one of those weird scam message links, and crossed her fingers that if Rory had his phone he would get past the beginning of the message to see that it was from her.
Taking a deep breath, she hit send and waited.
But her screen stayed blank. Either he didn’t have his phone, or he had just ignored the message as junk, and maybe even blocked the number she’d called from.
After a long time staring at the blank screen, she gave up and shoved the phone back in her pocket.
I’ll get back to the library and check email again, she told herself. Maybe tomorrow. And in the meantime, I’ll make myself indispensable here so that I can be sure to do what I promised my brother, and stay away.
Half an hour later, Grayson knocked on her door again, this time with a very plucky post-nap Leo, and they all piled in the SUV and followed the winding road through the darkened trees.
This time Grayson put on the radio himself, and Evangeline was relieved not to have to make conversation when so many conflicting feelings were still swirling around in her chest.
By the time she had sung her heart out on a song or two while Leo chuckled at her in the mirror, she was feeling much better.
They rounded a bend and suddenly the lake came into view in front of them, shimmering in the moonlight, and she drew in a quick breath.
“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Grayson asked softly.
“Beautiful,” she agreed.
“The inn has the best views,” Grayson said. “Trudy inherited the place. It’s been in her family since it was built.”
“I can see why no one wanted to move,” Evangeline said, her eyes on the lake as the SUV carried them around it, with a series of old-fashioned lampposts lighting the way.
After a moment, a beautiful, old inn came into view. Twinkling white Christmas lights hung from every window and the trees on either side were lit as well. The whole shimmering vista reflected back in the lake making it look even bigger and brighter than it was.
“Leo, you’re going to love the lights,” Evangeline said softly.
Leo was gazing out the window, but at an angle that would have shown him the starry sky, not the lake or the house.
He was such a thoughtful baby. She felt like she could see his mind working, trying to figure out what was shining in the sky.
“Here we are,” Grayson said, pulling the car into the small lot.
She waited for him to get her door and when he offered her his hand again, she took it, trying not to let herself get lost in the sensation that swept through her every time the warmth of his big hand enveloped hers.
“There they are,” a man’s voice called out in a friendly way from the front porch.
“Hi, Mr. Sullivan,” Grayson called back to him as Evangeline opened the back door to scoop Leo out of his seat.
He kicked his little legs out when he caught sight of her and made impatient noises while she unlatched him from the seat. As soon as she had him in her arms, he got a satisfied look on his sweet little face.
“Ahhhh,” he said, grabbing a hank of her hair and giving it a nice tug.
“I’m excited too,” she told him as they approached his daddy. “Do you want to see all those lights?”
Coming out on the other side of the SUV the house came into view, shimmering like it was on fire.
Leo stilled in her arms and then started kicking his legs and reaching for it with his cute little hands.
“It’s really cool, isn’t it?” she said to him.
He was wiggling like he thought he could fly to the house. When Grayson caught sight of them he headed over.
“Let me take him,” he said gently. “You’re going a little bit bananas, aren’t you, buddy? That’s making it too hard for Evangeline to hold you.”
She relinquished the boy, though she’d been having no trouble at all. Grayson looked more at peace the instant he had his son in his arms, which was probably the real reason for the handoff, so she figured she shouldn’t feel like she was shirking her duty.
“Ward Sullivan,” the older man on the porch said. “Trudy’s husband.”
Mr. Sullivan was wearing a weathered cowboy hat and a friendly smile. He was tall and handsome with twinkly blue eyes.
“Evangeline Dunn,” she said. “Nice to meet you.”
“Come on in,” Mr. Sullivan told them. “Trudy has quite a meal going and we have some interesting guests here right now.”
“Athletes?” Grayson guessed. “Musicians?”
“Not that interesting,” Mr. Sullivan said, chuckling. “We’ve got two men who own an excavation company out here to look at the site for the highway. And a pair of birdwatchers with their granddaughter.”
“The highway?” Evangeline echoed.
“Don’t get us started on that,” Mr. Sullivan laughed.
“Trudy will tell you all about it,” Grayson said. “It’s been the talk of the town forever—for better and for worse.”
“Small town people like us don’t like change,” Mr. Sullivan said. “That’s all. But we’ll get used to it, and it will bring good things too.”
“Hello there,” a pretty lady in an apron said warmly. “I’m so glad you three could make it.” She was tall and lovely with a ponytail of chestnut hair streaked with gray down her back.