Chapter Ten
chapter-seperator
“TESSA, THIS is Gwynn Sadler.” Cash took Tessa’s treat in one hand and extended his other toward Gwynn. “Gwynn, this is Tessa Reynolds. She manages The Nutty Bean coffee shop a few blocks away.”
Looking cute in a white puffer jacket, black leggings, and trendy UGG boots, Tessa offered her a warm smile. “Nice to meet you.”
Gwynn had never been on the receiving end of Tessa’s genuine smiles, so even though she smiled in return, Gwynn clenched her jaw to keep it from falling open in shock. Yet, why should Tessa’s kindness surprise her? Tessa had disliked Hadley Jacobs ; to the girls posing no threat to her love interest, however, she could afford niceties.
“As to Ainsley,” Cash said, addressing Tessa, “this morning, she showed me the financial package for the college she wants to attend next fall, and I informed her a carpenter’s income only stretches so far. That’s why she’s grumpy.”
Ainsley was getting ready to graduate high school? She’d been a nine-year-old squirt with deep blue eyes and lots of potential before a certain night had devastated so many lives.
“I’m sorry.” Tessa laid her hand on Cash’s forearm. “No luck, then, when searching for your father’s money this past weekend?”
“Nope. I’m starting to think this is a fool’s endeavor.”
“Your father’s money? Is that connected to—” Gwynn pressed her knuckles to her mouth. “Sorry. Another person had mentioned money and … Never mind. Thinking out loud again.” She needed to invest in heavy-duty duct tape.
Tessa tilted her head. “You look familiar. Have we met before?”
“This is Gwynn’s first visit to Prospect,” Cash said. “She’s staying with the Davisons.”
“Oh?”
Gwynn linked her hands behind her back. “I’m their great-niece.”
Delicate lines formed in Tessa’s brow. “So, you’re adopted.”
Cash coughed. “Tessa.”
“I don’t mean to be blunt.” Tessa held up a placating hand. “But you know my mother, Cash. And she knows everything about everyone in this town. Russell Davison had a sister who got married but couldn’t have kids. Which means she couldn’t have had a granddaughter, and therefore Russell …” Tessa shrugged at Gwynn.
Bravo, Tessa . Gwynn lifted her chin. “Yes, I’m adopted. Russ’s sister, Edith, and her husband, Jeb, adopted me when most couples their age were enjoying retirement. And I’m forever grateful to them.”
“That’s sweet.” Another warm smile. “I am sorry for prying, but when something in my little corner of the world doesn’t make sense, I tend to ferret out why.” Tessa’s speculative gaze moved over Gwynn again, and then she turned to Cash, curling her hand around his bicep. “What are you up to right now? I thought you could join me at Verdie’s Vittles for my break.”
Was Aunt Maude wrong and these two were, in fact, an item?
Cash kneaded the back of his neck. “I can’t leave the shop while I have a customer, Tessa.”
“Don’t stay on my account.” Gwynn pulled on her mittens, her gaze falling away from the picture-perfect couple. “I should get going, anyway. Enjoy your lunch.” She maneuvered around furniture to the entrance and glanced through the lone front window. Christmas garland swung in the light breeze where it spanned Broadway, and—
She sucked in a breath and ducked behind a tall dresser.
Cash’s forehead puckered. “What’s wrong?”
Gwynn chose her words carefully. “There’s a guy across the street. I saw him on my way here. He … doesn’t give off the best vibes.”
Tessa peered out the window. “That’s Charlie Parker. He’s harmless.”
Maybe. Maybe not. “Then why is he loitering?”
“He’s not loitering. Like Cash, he searches for buried treasure.”
“I don’t search on concrete sidewalks,” Cash said, his tone affronted.
Tessa’s laugh bubbled up a second time. “I said Charlie was harmless, not smart.” She tugged at Cash’s arm. “Let’s go. My lunch break’s only an hour.”
Cash studied Gwynn long enough she finally broke eye contact. He slipped from Tessa’s hold. “Sorry, Tess. Another time.” He nodded to Gwynn. “I’ll walk you home.”
“You will?” Gwynn blew out a breath. “That would be great.”
He picked up the pie plate and the treat Tessa brought. “Let me hide these from Gramps in case he returns before I do, and I’ll grab my coat.”
“Lunch tomorrow, then?” Tessa called after him.
“We’ll see,” he called back.
Tessa sighed, glanced at Gwynn with a polite smile, and left the shop.
Gwynn sagged against the dresser, her emotions snarled in knots. She’d often wondered growing up if she and Tessa would have become friends, had Cash not been in the picture. Tessa seemed nice enough now that Gwynn wouldn’t fault Cash if he eventually fell for her.
Tessa Cooper . Gwynn winced at the bad taste in her mouth.
“Ready?”
She started at Cash’s voice. He emerged from the back room, tugging on his gloves, his Stetson in place.
“Yes, thanks.” She looped her scarf around her chin. “Sorry to inconvenience you, though.”
“I’m happy to walk you back.” Cash ushered her outside and locked the door behind them.
From underneath an awning, Charlie watched them. Cash touched his hat brim, nodding at the shady man, and took her arm to lead her diagonally across Broadway. The warmth of his gloved hand seeped through Gwynn’s coat sleeve as they headed for a side street one block south of the church.
“I’ve never known Charlie to harm anyone,” Cash said in low tones, “but I wonder if you should mention this to Russ. Just in case.” He dropped his hold once they reached the side street.
“Uncle Russ retired from the force two years ago. What good would it do, other than make him worry?”
“I’m guessing sheriffs are like the Marines.” Cash turned up the collar to his Carhartt jacket. “Once an officer, always an officer.”
Gwynn grinned. “After Poppa Jeb passed away, Uncle Russ became a type of father figure to me.” I owe my life to him.
“In what way?”
“Hmm?”
“You said you owe your life to him.”
“Oh.” Gwynn skidded on packed ice and Cash gripped her elbow to steady her.
“Another slip of the tongue you didn’t mean to let slip ?” He chuckled. “You must drive your customers and housemates crazy with that odd habit.”
“It’s not usually this bad,” she grumbled.
“Well, I’d love to hear the story … whenever you’re ready to tell it.”
They walked in companionable silence for a while, Cash’s hand occasionally brushing against her mittened one. It may as well have been skin-on-skin contact for the way her heartbeat skittered.
He took a deep breath. “I want to apologize for Tessa’s needling earlier. Adoption can be a touchy subject, and I’m sorry if she provoked you into admitting something you weren’t ready to share.”
Did he apologize because he felt responsible … because Tessa was his girlfriend? “It’s fine. People learn of my adoption eventually.”
He took her hand in a casual hold. Her pulse raced in a very non -casual manner. So, maybe Tessa wasn’t his girlfriend?
“Did the Sadlers adopt you when you were a baby?”
“No, I was older. Though I managed to dodge the foster care system.”
“Oh?” Cash cocked his head as they turned onto the Davisons’ street. “Do you know your biological parents, then?”
“I … did.”
“Past tense?”
She nodded once. In her peripheral vision, Cash gave her a sidelong look as if expecting her to continue, but she compressed her lips between her teeth so she wouldn’t accidentally blurt something else. Their conversation already veered too close to the uncomfortable.
Cash squeezed her fingers. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
They approached the Davisons’ house a moment later and made their way up the front walk to the porch. “There’s a lot I won’t find out about you before you leave on Thursday, is there?” Cash asked.
“You know more about me than most guys I date.” Christmas garland hugged the porch handrail, and she batted the snow crystals clinging to its fake needles.
“Now there’s an idea.”
“What?”
“A date.” Cash turned her to face him. “Will you have dinner with me tomorrow?”
His pale gaze pierced her under the brim of his Stetson, and her insides flipped. Steady, girl. “Aren’t you with Tessa?”
“No.” Cash held up their linked hands. “I wouldn’t openly flirt with you if that were the case. I’m a gentleman.”
“So you claim. But that’s all I have to go on right now—your word and a few examples from yesterday.” Combined with all the memories she hadn’t locked away. Gwynn wriggled her hand free and ascended the steps.
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Cash said. “You heard her. She was stopping by with a treat.”
Gwynn pivoted on the top step, looping an arm around the porch post arrayed in more garland. “She was hoping for a lunch date.”
Cash removed his hat and studied its interior. “It’s true that she’s interested in me. But I don’t know how I feel in return.”
“Yet, the possibility exists for you two.” Gwynn adjusted a berry spray fitted among the garland as her spirits fell. She shouldn’t care. She was leaving in two days.
“Maybe.” Cash propped his foot on the second step and looked up. “I’m at the point where I want to find a girl to share my life with. I’m ready to get married, start a family, pursue common dreams and future hopes.”
Gwynn studied Cash’s face, made all the more handsome by his confession. He deserved such an outcome. She had once longed for it, as well. But while Cash ticked all the right boxes, he was off-limits to her. “Do you realize how unusual it is for men your age to desire marriage and a family?”
“About as unusual as women my age.”
“Which makes Tessa an attractive option.”
“What about you?”
“Me?” Gwynn’s heart bounced at the implication. “You mean … would I make an, uh—”
“An attractive option?” Grinning, Cash replaced his hat and ascended a step. “The attractive part is obvious. But I’m wondering when you hope to settle down.”
She brushed her mitten back and forth over the garland needles. “As a child, I wanted to get married young. Like, right out of high school.” Escape her pre-Sadler life. “I’m now twenty-four and suspect that marriage isn’t in my future.”
“Why not? If it’s because gentlemanly admirers are, as you said, scarce in Boston, then move here.” Cash climbed a second step. “I guarantee you’d have at least one admirer.”
Not if he knew the truth. She retreated toward the front door as he joined her on the porch. “You’re better off with Tessa.”
Cash rubbed a gloved hand along his jaw. “Funny. Hadley said the same thing about another girl when we were in high school.”
“Did you take her advice?”
“No.”
“Why not? If you did, you might be married by now.”
“Maybe I wasn’t interested in that other girl.” Cash’s gaze held hers. “Maybe I’m not interested in Tessa. I already told you I feel a connection with you .”
“You’d end up disappointed.”
The corner of his mouth lifted, and he moved closer. “Is that what you say to all the guys who take an interest in you?”
“Only those who matter,” she whispered, backing against the doorjamb.
A pleased spark lit his eyes. He inched forward until their boots almost touched. “You know you said that out loud, right?”
Gwynn nodded, catching his woodsy scent.
Cash gave her a slow, toe-curling smile. His focus dipped to her lips. “You haven’t answered my question about dinner.”
Not part of the plan. That’s what she should say. More time with him meant more opportunities for him to recognize her.
“Tomorrow’s my last evening with the Davisons, so I’m having dinner with them,” she said. Good job, Sadler. “Would you like to pop in for dessert?” Whoa—where’d that come from?
But what could it hurt to enjoy this man’s attentions over a sweet treat? She’d fly back to Boston soon enough and have the rest of her life to corral her treacherous emotions.
“Dessert it is.”
Cash leaned in and Gwynn swayed forward, her stomach tripping over itself. Their gazes tangled, his eyes sharpened, he reached around her and—
He opened the front door. It swung inward on silent hinges. “You should get inside and warm up,” he murmured, sweeping a strand of hair from her cheek with a gloved finger. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Warm up? Could she get any hotter? “See you.” Clutching the doorjamb, she turned to escape before her jelly legs gave out on her.