Chapter 18 #2
Starting over with someone new seemed impossible, especially as a mother.
How could she hold another man’s hand? Kiss his lips?
Tell him her secrets? Maybe time would allow it, but the idea seemed too complex.
It would take so much effort, and she just didn’t know if she had the time or the energy for any of it.
Noel toweled off realizing no one had knocked on or opened the unlocked bathroom door.
With kids in the house around the clock, that only happened if she showered after their bedtime or in the early morning hours.
A surprising sense of relaxation settled into her shoulders during an otherwise tense time.
She wrapped the towel around her body and ventured to her bedroom where she slipped on a pair of jeans and a white sweater with navy blue pinstripes.
Noel spent the next twenty minutes blow-drying her hair and applying a thin coat of makeup. Then she climbed into a pair of light brown boots and grabbed her gray parka jacket.
“Mom, you look beautiful,” Levi claimed with enthusiasm when Noel walked downstairs.
“You sure do, Aunt Noel.”
Mrs. Madelyn smiled proudly in the background as she finished running the numbers at the register.
“Thank you both,” Noel replied, hugging each of the kids individually.
When Noel recognized the data on the screen in front of Mrs. Madelyn, she scurried behind the counter to check the Small Business Saturday sales total.
She couldn’t believe she forgot about this until now.
The numbers could have even been pulled up on her phone at any point while upstairs, but she had been so preoccupied with getting ready.
Looking now at the figures, she experienced a sharp pang of disappointment in her heart.
She exchanged glances with Mrs. Madelyn, but neither wanted to say anything in front of the children.
The numbers weren’t bad; they just weren’t good enough.
Similar to yesterday, the customer count was solid, but the overall sales weren’t.
Mrs. Madelyn hoped Noel could get this off her mind tonight.
She needed a way to escape the pressures of business, and she prayed Cavin could offer that opportunity.
“Mrs. Madelyn said we get to spend the evening at her house with her and Mr. Jack,” Laney mentioned with her chin resting in her folded arms atop the wooden counter as she studied them from the customer’s side.
Noel smiled. Mrs. Madelyn always made things fun, and she remembered that from when she was young.
“She said we might get ice cream, too,” Levi added.
“Mr. Jack’s special homemade Christmas ice cream,” Mrs. Madelyn clarified.
“It’s red and green,” Laney informed Noel.
“That’s amazing,” Noel exclaimed remembering the ice cream. “You will love helping Mr. Jack make it. He will let you add Christmas sprinkles, too.”
“Really?” Levi checked looking at Mrs. Madelyn for confirmation.
Mrs. Madelyn’s whole face smiled. “Of course.”
“Why aren’t you coming, Mommy?”
While upstairs earlier, Noel thought about how to answer this anticipated question.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t come up with a worthy answer, and she turned to glance at the cuckoo clock hoping Mrs. Madelyn would leave with the children before Cavin arrived.
In eight short minutes, an hour would have passed since he left.
She should have told him she would meet him somewhere else.
She also should have told him she didn’t want to eat out in Beaufort.
“Mommy has some things to take care of,” Noel finally replied.
Levi frowned, and Laney’s brow furrowed as her lips puckered.
Mrs. Madelyn recognized and understood Noel’s avoidance tactic. “Let’s go surprise Mr. Jack,” she suggested quickly.
The kids jumped at the idea, but as they made it to the front door and Noel reached hurriedly to unlock it for them, Cavin appeared on the other side dressed in dark blue jeans, a navy blue sport coat, and a button-up shirt looking like a GQ magazine cover model.
“Oh my,” Mrs. Madelyn whispered as she turned and fanned herself where only Noel could see the gesture.
“What are you doing here, Kevin?” Levi asked inquisitively.
Noel had no idea how Cavin would respond, so she beat him to the punch with the first thing that popped into her mind. “Mommy is having a business meeting with Mr. Cavin,” she concocted.
Cavin’s eyelids fluttered a little as his gaze locked onto Noel’s, and then he smiled as he turned his attention to the kids.
“Where are you two going?” Cavin asked, realizing Noel’s desire to change the subject.
“To see Mr. Jack and make homemade ice cream,” Laney announced excitedly.
“That is no fair, I want to do that,” Cavin exclaimed with a pouty face. “Ice cream sounds much better than a business meeting,” he replied, glancing at Noel with a smirk.
“You can come if you want,” Levi invited.
“Maybe next time,” Cavin responded, touching the little guy on the shoulder.
Mrs. Madelyn winked at Cavin and then herded the kids toward her vehicle while Noel let Cavin into the candy shop to provide adequate time for them to pull away so Levi and Laney didn’t spot her and Cavin leaving together.
“Would you like to choose the place we have dinner, or would you like me to suggest one?” Cavin asked. Earlier he researched the fine dining options in Beaufort preparing to make a choice.
“I would prefer to eat somewhere other than Beaufort,” Noel requested.
“To be fully transparent, I am not ready for all the questions and comments that are going to come from people seeing me in public with another man.” As soon as she spoke the words another man, she wished she chose different terminology.
The phrase made it sound like she was either cheating on Fletcher or that people saw her out with lots of men.
“I respect that,” Cavin accepted his facial expression showing understanding.
“Thank you,” Noel responded, but she had no idea what to suggest. None of this had been thought out, and she hated that she kept running into snags at every corner.
“We can go to the grocery store and pick out ingredients, and I can cook a meal for you at my place,” Cavin offered.
“No,” Noel responded promptly and more harshly than intended. “I mean that’s nice of you to offer, but I definitely am not ready for that either.” Being together in public with a man seemed scary enough; she couldn’t fathom being alone with Cavin at his house.
“I am open to any suggestions,” Cavin replied. Too bad his family didn’t have a private jet yet. He could fly Noel anywhere she wanted—somewhere she wouldn’t know anyone.
“Let’s go to Swansboro.”
“Sure,” Cavin replied although he had no idea how far away this town could be. He didn’t remember driving through the place on his trip from the airport. It didn’t matter; he didn’t have anything else going on tonight.
The neighboring towns like Morehead City and Atlantic Beach would be too close, Noel decided. The chances of them running into someone there that she knew seemed likely.
“There’s a nice Italian restaurant on the Swansboro waterfront. How does that sound to you?” Noel inquired.
“Absolutely perfect.”
Noel figured the time she and Cavin spent figuring out where to have dinner should have given Mrs. Madelyn ample opportunity to get the kids settled in the car and off to their destination.
“Where is your Santa hat?” Cavin asked with a grin.
He never saw Noel without it until now, and he wasn’t sure which look he liked better.
The chin-length wavy bob seemed to fit her face just right.
Of course he previously noticed the rich brown color spilling out from beneath the white puffy rim of the hat, but in a way it was as though he was seeing Noel Puckett for the first time all over again.
While she looked super cute wearing the Santa hat, this Noel, with her hair fixed and a smidge more makeup than he remembered, was absolutely stunning.