Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
“You must be Kate.”
Kate looked up from her booth in Rosie’s Diner, where she was waiting to meet Cole. “Yes.” Judging by the man’s slight paunch and receding hairline, she guessed him to be in his mid-forties.
He extended his hand. “I’m Morty Benson, the mayor of Deer Creek Falls.”
She shook his hand, and he placed his other hand on top of hers. Feeling uncomfortable, she said, “Nice to meet you, Mayor Benson,” and slipped her hand from his grasp.
“Welcome to our town. Please let me know if you need anything.” He pulled a card from the inside pocket of his suit jacket and handed it to her.
She looked at the card and back at the mayor. “Thank you. I will.”
Cole arrived, greeting the other patrons and zigzagging toward her with a smile on his face. His cute dimple made her smile back, though he had nothing on Nick.
“How are you, Mayor?” Cole said and slid into the booth across from Kate.
“Cole. I was just getting to know our newest resident.” Mayor Benson tapped the table. “I’ll leave you two. Call me anytime, Kate.”
Cole lowered his voice. “Tell me he didn’t ask you out.”
“He didn’t.” Kate leaned forward. “Should I be worried?”
“Nah. Sometimes he can be overly friendly.”
“Good to know.” She straightened and reached for the half-and-half.
“Thanks for agreeing to meet for breakfast. I needed to get out from behind the front desk and wanted to avoid being interrupted at the lodge,” Cole said.
“I totally get it. And I don’t mind at all—ever since you mentioned meeting at Rosie’s, I haven’t been able to get the veggie omelet out of my mind.”
Rosie came over with a coffeepot and cup in hand. “Good morning, Cole.” She set the mug in front of him and filled it, leaving room for cream and sugar. She topped off Kate’s and set the insulated pot between them.
“Morning, Rosie. You look lovely today,” Cole said.
“Oh, you.” Rosie winked at him. “What can I get the two of you?”
After Rosie left with their orders, Cole leaned toward Kate. “I’m glad you called. Nick told me about the pews at the church. You’re thinking of having them made into booths?”
Kate set her mug down and sat up straight.
“Maybe.” She took a deep breath. “I’ll be totally honest with you.
I ordered new booths but had to cancel the order because of recent developments—I need to cut my construction costs.
I have little wiggle room in my budget. I know we don’t know each other well, and you have no reason to trust me, but I hoped you and I could work out a payment plan.
” She twisted her paper napkin. “If you could construct the booths from the old pews, I could make payments after I open. I hate to ask . . .”
Smoothing the napkin back out, she waited for him to say something. His brows furrowed as if he was deep in thought. He sat back and toyed with his coffee cup. She had hoped he’d take her up on the proposal, but now she wasn’t so sure. She hated asking others for help.
“I have a better idea,” he said, leaning forward again. “How about we barter? It will be an even trade. I’ll haul the pews to my shop and construct the booths. The pews I don’t use, I’ll keep. You’ve more than paid for the booths by not taking money for the baking you’ve done at the lodge.”
Kate was stunned and finally found her voice. “I don’t want to take advantage of you or your craftsmanship.”
He sipped his coffee. “You mean the way I’ve been taking advantage of your generosity and craftsmanship with the desserts you’ve been making?”
“Touché.”
Their breakfasts arrived, and they dug in. Kate enjoyed conversing with Cole. He was funny and knowledgeable and had great ideas. His face lit with excitement as he explained the design ideas he had for the booths and how he wanted to get started right away.
“Let’s head over to the church so I can take a few pictures,” he said.
“Okay. That sounds great. Thank you.” As she put her coat on, she noticed Nick having breakfast with a pretty strawberry blonde and a little boy. Her heart skipped a beat as she watched the interaction. Nick laughed at something the boy said and placed a hand around the back of the woman’s chair.
Cole paid Rosie, turned to Kate, and nodded toward Nick. “Let’s go say hi.”
The woman saw them approach and smiled, showing off her perfectly straight white teeth. “Hey, Cole.”
“Hi, Rachel.”
Nick looked up after tickling the little boy. “Hey, you guys.”
“Hi.” Not knowing what else to say, Kate swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. If she could escape, she would. Nick seemed happy, and she wondered what kind of relationship these three shared.
“Kate, this is Rachel and her son, Levi,” Nick said. “Rachel, this is Kate Davis, the owner of the highly anticipated coffee shop, Sacred Grounds.”
Kate reminded herself not to be jealous and plastered a smile on her face. “Nice to meet you, Rachel.”
“I’m really looking forward to your coffee shop opening,” Rachel said.
“You’re not the only one,” Kate said with a chuckle. “I hope I can meet everyone’s expectations.”
Lily came to the table with plates of food, interrupting their conversation.
“We’ll let you all eat,” Cole said. They exchanged quick goodbyes, and he and Kate headed out.
When they reached the sidewalk, a brisk wind blew Kate’s hair into her face. She tugged her jacket zipper higher.
Cole slipped on his gloves. “Did you walk over?”
Kate’s teeth chattered. She didn’t know if it was the cold or the unexpected encounter. “I did.”
Cole pointed to his truck. “I drove here. Hop in.”
* * *
Pete and his crew were framing walls when Kate and Cole walked through the front doors. An old boombox out of the ’90s sat on a sawhorse, playing classic rock.
“I just love the smell of fresh-cut lumber,” Kate said.
“Then you’d love my shop. Most of the time, I don’t smell it anymore.”
“That’s a shame.” Kate removed her coat and placed it on one of the church pews.
Pete walked over with a tall, skinny teenage boy. “Kate, I want to introduce you to Tommy. He’s part of our crew. He’ll be on Christmas break, so you’ll see him around more in the next few weeks.”
Kate stepped forward and shook Tommy’s proffered hand. “Nice to meet you, Tommy.”
“You too, ma’am. I think it’s great you’re opening a coffee shop.”
“Please, call me Kate. You’re not the only one I’ve heard that from.” She laughed. She took in the space around her and said, “If you had anything to do with the living quarters, I’m impressed.”
Tommy nodded and flipped his hair out of his eyes. “Thanks. I’ve learned a lot from Pete and Alexis.”
Pete tucked a hammer into his tool belt. “You guys here to discuss booths?”
“Yep. I’ll get the pews out of your way over the weekend,” Cole said. “I came to look at the space and see how many booths I need to make.”
Tommy excused himself and went back to connecting walls together with a power nailer. Kate jumped at the loud shot that rang through the open expanse of the building.
The three of them moved around the space and discussed booth placement.
Kate’s mind drifted to the scene at the diner. Nick looked happy. He told her he was single, but she wasn’t so sure about the happy-family scenario going on at the diner. It didn’t look like he’d been caught in a lie. Did it really matter? They were only friends.
“I agree,” Pete said.
Kate snapped her attention back to the conversation and tried to follow along.
“When do you need them by?” Cole asked Pete.
“We should be ready for them by mid-February.”
“No problem. I’ll have them ready.”
Pete hooked a thumb in Tommy’s direction. “I better get back to work.”
Cole removed his phone from his back pocket and took pictures of the space. He captured images of the church pews from all angles, even crawled under one. “Okay. This is all I needed.” He dusted himself off. “I’ll draw up some ideas. Can you stop by my shop in a few days?”
“Yes. I’d love to,” Kate said.
He tucked his phone into his back pocket. “Listen, Kate, I know you like Nick—”
“What? I don’t like Nick. I mean, I like Nick, but I don’t like like Nick.”
Cole smirked.
“You know what I mean,” Kate said.
Cole spread out his hands in a gesture of surrender.
“Just so you know, Rachel and Levi have become like family to my brother. But as far as I know, there’s nothing going on between them.
Romantically, that is.” He placed a hand on her shoulder.
“See you tomorrow. Get some rest. Santa Days will take a lot of energy.”