Chapter 43
Chapter Forty-Three
Eva
After breakfast, Gwen and I decided to walk the stores downtown for a while before she headed back to the hotel to lie down.
The effects of last night were obviously too much for her this afternoon.
While she slept off a little bit more of last night’s shenanigans, I took my laptop and stopped into a local coffee shop to check up on some emails from back home.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t also look at the local newspaper’s stats, and prices around the area to live.
Still not convinced at all that a move to the other side of the United States would be a good thing, it struck my interest enough to at least Google a few things and go from there.
That is, if I ever really did want to take that leap of faith.
Something about it thrills me and scares me at the same time.
I have been in a slump back home, struggling to move forward in a career and still feeling like I can’t get anywhere.
Maybe this is the break I need. Or maybe I’m just fantasizing way too hard about a future that could never exist, especially after the way Noah treated me last night.
It didn’t take long to email, research, and get way too deep into my thoughts about everything that had transpired in my life in such a short period of time.
So shutting down my laptop, I grabbed a coffee to go, put my work in the car, and drove downtown where I once again found myself walking the streets window shopping.
Hopeful maybe the fresh air will take all my troubles away on the heavy breeze that is blowing through after a thunder storm, I leisurely look in the windows of the adorably perfect boutique shops.
Life out here sure is more peaceful, I will give it that.
Everyone smiles at you when you walk into a local business.
No one is rushing around bumping into everyone, late for an appointment or mad at the world for God only knows what.
Cell phones aren’t glued to everyone’s faces, and people actually talk to one another.
Talk a lot to one another. It’s like they almost don’t care how long it takes to actually be civil and polite.
They’d rather do that and be a few minutes late than be rude.
Imagining a world like this compared to the one I grew up in is hard, yet it exists - and slowly I am finding myself falling in love with it the more I settle into this little town and the thought of a southern life.
Stopping to look in the window of a shop full of the kind of southern knick-knacks only a woman could love, I take a sip of my coffee and admire all the items on display. A car door shuts behind me and I hear an all too familiar voice talking on the phone.
“What time?” Noah asks. I have to remind myself to breathe as I secretly wish I could also disappear, vanish into thin air, and escape the possibly awkward moment that might be coming next. “I have to pick up a few things for momma, but I should be able to make it.”
I debate turning and walking the other way. I debate standing still, with the hope he won’t see me, not like there is really any chance of that happening. Then, I debate taking off in a fast run.
Instead, I turn slowly. His gaze meets mine as he takes a few short steps up the curb and toward the store I am standing in front of.
His eyes grow wide with shock. I try to smile a friendly welcoming sort of smile and hope my nerves aren’t showing too much.
I must have failed, because he gives me a look I used to see when he was on to me and could see right through my act.
With a sly smirk, he stops in front of me and listens to the conversation on the other side of the phone. I go to leave, but he grabs my arm and pulls me back. Shaking his head at me all the while smiling that panty-dropping smile of his, he holds his finger up and mouths to me, “one second.”
“We can talk about that later. I’ll be there tonight, I got to go, though. Something, or rather someone, just came up.” He says smiling. I look around him for a possible escape if this goes bad. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Alright, catch ya later.”
Ending his call and putting his phone back in his pocket, he looks up at me with an inquisitive smile and doesn’t speak. I cock my head to the side and question his silence. He laughs, and my heart instinctively melts.
“You know, one of these days, we are going to have to stop this whole ‘lost for words, you speak first’ chance meetings thing,” Noah says, coming a step closer.
Smiling, I cross my arms in front of me and take a playful stance. “Is that so?”
“Mhm,” He sexily insists. The sound of his voice is a seductive rumble as he comes a little closer. “You see darlin’, you’re in my neck of the woods now. I’m not the one with any explaining to do.”
His closeness makes my knees a little weak remembering last night and the way he held me up against the wall. There is a playfulness about him. The cold shoulder I’ve received since being in Kentucky is gone. I can’t put my finger on what has changed, but I’m thankful for whatever it is.
“Your neck of the woods, huh?” I ask a little too boldly. He only nods and steps closer. “Well, I was just uh..” I stutter trying to find words to speak. “I was out walking, you see Gwen is tired and..”
He smiles and glances down at the coffee cup in my hand. Figuring it was almost gone anyways, I throw it into the trash container to my right.
“A little tired, I mean. She didn’t sleep too well after last night,” I mumble.
“I know the feeling,” Noah admits, coming to a stop in front of me.
Inches away from my grasp, our shirts lightly touch as both of our breathing quickens.
Time slows, and just when I’m about to say some sort of excuse to break up the tension and leave the way I came, Noah says, “You ever been down a Kentucky back road at sunset?”
Trying not to read too much into what he’s said, and the promise I hope is behind his statement, I just shake my head no. He smiles, then grabs my arm and laces it around his as he leads me back to his truck.
“Well, what kind of a southern gentleman would I be if I didn’t show you one of God’s most beautiful masterpieces, Darlin’.”
Noah winks as we round the side of his truck.
“I thought you needed to get something?” I ask as we step up to the passenger door. He turns on me, and my back hits the truck as he takes a step closer.
“Oh that, I’ll send Jolene. She’s picking up Anna May in about an hour anyway.”
Noah reaches behind my waist and opens the car door.
He ushers me up inside and lets his hands linger on my waist. Closing the door, he stops for a minute at the rolled-down window and takes his phone out of his pocket, sending a text to his sister.
When he’s done, he glances back up at me, hesitation lingers in his eyes.
“You ready to go for a ride?” he asks.
“If you’re the one driving, you can take me anywhere, Mr. Stewart,” I tease. He laughs as he rounds the side of his truck and jumps in the driver’s side. Pausing for a moment, he looks over at me in the passenger seat.
“What?” I ask. I look down at myself and smooth out my shirt. Looking back up, his stare captivates me.
“Just never thought I’d see you here in my truck, Eva.” My heart skips a beat. “Kinda throws me a little. It’s still hard to believe.”
“I never thought I’d be here either,” I confess as I search his eyes, and wonder it accepting a ride off into the sunset is a bad idea. From the sound of it, we’d be a long way from town, and I am not so sure I could find my way back if I had to walk. “But I am sure glad I am,” I whisper.
He smiles at me before putting the car in drive. “That makes the two of us, darlin’. Buckle up. It’s time I showed you my world.”