Chapter Six
Lottie
Lottie spritzed her barrel curls with setting spray, ensuring that they would stay in place for at least the next six hours as she went about her rounds in the community.
It had been nearly a month since Nate had told her to stay away, and while she had taken that quite literally and sequestered herself in her home for most of that time, Lottie was ready to get back out and rejoin the world around her.
Town Hall and any other building where she was sure to run into Nate were still at the top of her no-go list, but she had missed going to the senior center, the shops downtown, and visiting anywhere else she could find someone wanting to chat for a bit.
Being alone in her house with only Willa and occasionally Beckett to keep her company had reminded Lottie a little too much of her early childhood, and while she’d been thinking about taking all the information she’d gathered over the years and writing a book about the town, she missed the day-to-day interactions she was used to having and couldn’t stand to be home a moment longer.
There was also a need to get out and gather information for her town newsletter, something she had considered shuttering permanently only to change her mind when she got way too many emails and phone calls asking her when the next issue was coming out.
Lottie was flattered that so many people read and cared for her work, but it didn’t feel quite as good as it would have if one of those calls had been from Nate.
Painting her lips a dazzling red, Lottie smiled at her reflection in the mirror.
Not only did she look much more like herself, she was feeling better as well.
Still not one hundred percent, but she would get there with time.
Space may be needed as well, but Lottie had put thoughts of moving aside for now since she promised Willa she would consider that option as a last resort.
It had been a while since she’d interacted with Nate, and while she wasn’t optimistic that she would be able to see him and not feel each and every crack in her heart, Lottie would try for her best friend and for herself.
She didn’t want to move, but she also didn’t want to live her life constantly confronted with the man she couldn’t stay away from but who wanted nothing to do with her.
Cinching the tie on her pale blue satin robe, Lottie walked into her bedroom to change.
As she rifled through the items in her closet, she thought back to Mrs. G and the kindness the woman had bestowed upon her.
Lottie had started dressing the way she did to honor the woman, and the same reason was why she was so generous with her money.
She liked to think that she was an inherently unselfish person, but there was no denying that her past kindness and generosity toward Nate had been born out of her own need to matter to him, to be a part of his life even when he’d made it clear that was something he didn’t want.
Sighing, Lottie tried to dispel any other thoughts of the man she needed to forget from her mind when there was a knock at the door.
After carefully considering her state of near undress, she turned and walked toward the front of the house.
Curiosity always got the better of her, and Lottie hoped that whoever stood on the other side of the door didn’t mind her being not completely put together.
As she moved toward the wooden door, Lottie’s feet stumbled over themselves when she caught sight of the outline visible through the beveled glass.
It was a man, one whose silhouette she had memorized long ago and could draw from memory if asked, the man she’d just been trying to banish from her mind.
“Who is it?” Lottie’s voice shook, a flutter of nerves taking up residence in her stomach.
She knew damn well who it was, but she needed a minute to gather her wits about her.
Not once in the ten years that she had lived in that house had Nate ever come calling, not even when his brother moved into Willa’s room from their shared apartment.
Why would he be here now? After all this time and especially after telling her to stay away from him, it seemed completely out of character, but even knowing that couldn’t stop a bubble of hope from rising in her chest.
A deep throat clearing brought her eyes back up to the glass. “It’s Nathan. I, uh...” His voice trailed off Lottie waited for him to continue, but he said nothing else.
Rolling her eyes, Lottie leaned against the hard wood, letting the feel of it against her shoulder support her as her knees felt like a wobbly mess. “Why are you here, Nate? You told me to stay away, and I have.”
“I know I said that, but...” Nate trailed off again, seeming to not have words for the first time since she’d known him.
He’d always known exactly what to say in just about every situation.
In high school, he’d given rousing speeches to their schoolmates as Student Council President, written thought provoking editorials about the state of politics for their school paper, and come up with some pretty colorful rally cries for the baseball team.
For whatever reason, he seemed to have nothing now.
“Do I have to do this through the door?”
Lottie huffed and whipped it wide open, taking some satisfaction from the small yelp of surprise Nate let out when she did. “What do you want?”
“I, uh...” Nate licked his lips as his eyes tracked over her face before dipping lower and widening before averting away from her entirely. “Do you, uh, want to get dressed?” His voice cracked slightly at the end of his query, once again reminding her a little of how he was when they were younger.
Scoffing, Lottie looked down at her robe only to see that it had loosened up in her hurry to open the door and she was showing off at least half of her latest purchase from her favorite online lingerie shop.
“Oh, sorry.” She pulled the fabric closed to hide the red lace bra that came with a matching thong she was also wearing but that had mercifully stayed hidden.
Pushing away her heart preservation instincts, Lottie waved him inside.
“I’ll be right back. You can wait inside. ”
Nate nodded, still not looking at her, but stepped over the threshold.
Ignoring the strong desire to get down to what exactly he wanted right then and there, Lottie hurried back into her bedroom and put on her outfit for the day.
While she favored dresses, it was bitterly cold that day and Lottie wanted a little more warmth after feeling the chill of loneliness over the last four weeks, so she grabbed her favorite pair of black, side-zip trousers and red argyle sweater.
After dressing, slipping her feet into a pair of saddle shoes, and doing another check in her antique standing mirror, Lottie made her way back out into the living room, not expecting to see Nate looking so at home where he sat on her blue couch.
It was strange, a clash of old and new. Nate looked as put together as he always did, his navy suit and matching tie making him look every bit the man in charge, but while his clothes made him look a little stuffy, his slightly fluffy brown hair and beard that was just a shade lighter softened the look, making him seem more approachable.
If he’d been wearing a fedora, he would have looked perfect on the piece of mid-century modern piece of furniture, like Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, though Nate looked so much finer than any actor in the movies Lottie had been watching all month long.
At the sound of her footsteps on the wood floor, Nate rose to his feet and turned to face her. His eyes seemed to get bluer as he looked at her, and the corners of his mouth twitched before he presented her with a box he must have been carrying without her notice. “I brought you something.”
Lottie eyed the package suspiciously. Was it filled with paper snakes or some other prank? She’d never been a big fan of those kinds of antics, at least not when they were perpetrated against her. “Why? I stayed away like you asked.”
Nate sighed and pulled the box back toward his chest. “I know you did.” He collapsed back onto the couch, looking incredibly tired and a little sad as he looked up at her. “But maybe I made a mistake by asking for that in the first place.”
Lottie sat on the chair adjacent to him, too afraid of what might happen if she sat closer.
The pull between them was strong, but it was also explosive and she didn’t think she’d survive getting burned by him again.
“You seemed pretty sure about it at the time.” His voice had held a finality that night that she had been unable to get out of her head in the days since she’d heard it.
It haunted her at night and had kept Lottie from getting some much needed sleep.
Nate nodded. “I thought I was. I thought...well, I’ve thought a lot of things over the years, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been right about them.” He held the box out toward her again, wiggling it slightly. “Please open it?”
With shaky hands, Lottie took the shoebox sized package and lifted the lid.
Staring back at her was a large assortment of saltwater taffy.
It was a candy she had loved since she was little, tasting it for the first time when her parents had taken her to Seattle for the day and managed to make it almost the entire trip without fighting.
It was a treat she didn’t indulge in often since she didn’t travel to the city much and shipped taffy was often rock hard.
Lottie looked from the box of sweets up to the man who’d brought them to her. “How did you know I liked taffy?”