Chapter 29
— chapter twenty-nine
It was raining and Fanny was stuck behind what had to be the longest train in the state of Ohio when her cousin Heidi called.
Ever since Fanny, in a moment of weakness, had confided that she had a bit of a crush on their richest private client, that seemed to be all Heidi wanted to talk about. Fanny hoped she could steer the conversation toward something better.
“So, what are you doing now?” Heidi asked.
“Beyond sitting at a train crossing in the rain?”
“Obviously.”
“What do you think I’m doing? I’m heading home after working eight hours.” Actually, it was more like nine.
“I’m so jealous. I’m home, but I have to put address labels on something like a hundred catalogs. It’s taking forever.”
Heidi was a receptionist at a small company in Medina. As the train continued, moving slow as molasses, Fanny pictured her cousin lounging on the couch, watching television while putting stickers on catalogs. “At least it’s not hard.”
“I guess. I wish it was exciting, though. You’re so lucky. You get to do all kinds of fun things in your job.”
“Yeah, fielding calls and organizing paperwork for Nelson is loads of fun.”
“You know that’s not what I meant. I mean—you get to see Haaank,” she said in a singsong voice, followed by a giggle. “He’s so hot, Fanny.”
He was, but no way did she want her cousin thinking that. “Don’t talk about Mr. Arias that way.”
“Oh, so it’s Mr. Arias now? Before, it was Hank.”
“Heidi, stop. Sure, he’s, um, gorgeous, but he’s an important client.
That’s all he is to me.” Which wasn’t true, since she kind of lived for his every-so-often texts.
Feeling even more self-conscious, she added, “And don’t make my visits to his house into anything weird.
All I do when I’m there is discuss orders and designs with him. ”
“Uh-huh. What’s he like? Is he a jerk?”
“No. He’s nice.”
“Sooo . . . this Mr. Arias is good-looking, super-suave, and has a ginormous bank account, but you don’t feel anything for him at all.”
It would be so easy to lie, but she couldn’t. “I didn’t say that.” Sure, she sounded weak, but whatever. When would this stupid train ever end?
“Come on, Fan,” Heidi said in a soft voice. “It’s okay to admit it. The guy’s a catch.”
“Okay, fine. He is that.”
“At last! You admit it.”
“Heidi!”
“Sorry, I couldn’t help but tease you. I mean, it’s not like you could ever have a chance with him or anything.”
“He isn’t married, Heidi. He’s a widower,” she added before she could remind herself to leave it alone.
“I didn’t know he was a widower. That’s sad. Well, I hope he finds happiness with someone one day. Someone suitable.”
“Suitable?”
“Yeah. No offense, but we both know a man like that isn’t going to go out with you.”
“What’s wrong with me?”
“Beyond the fact that you’re a lot younger than him and a personal assistant to the guy in charge of building his fancy house?
A friendly small-town girl? The truth is that you two probably don’t have anything in common.
” She chuckled. “I mean, a date for him probably means fancy restaurants or expensive concerts or something. A date for you and me is going to an actual restaurant for pizza instead of getting it delivered.”
“Hey. Heidi, I can’t believe you’re saying all this.”
“Wait, you’re not upset with me, are you? Fanny, come on. You know I love you, but some things just don’t go together. Like peanut butter and mayonnaise, parkas and Hawaii . . . and you and Hank Arias.”
As she continued to stare at the slow-moving train, Fanny felt tears form in her eyes.
The sad thing was that she knew Heidi truly wasn’t trying to make her upset.
She really had thought that Hank was Fanny’s fun secret crush.
A bit of excitement in an otherwise boring job.
But the truth was that he’d become something more to her than that.
He’d become her friend, and he’d made her feel attractive and like she was worth something.
Maybe even worth his time.
“I think I finally see the end of this train. I need to go.”
“Okay.” After a pause, Heidi said, “Hey, are we okay? I feel like I hurt your feelings.”
“We’re fine.”
“Are you sure? Fanny, you know I think you’re pretty. And I’m as small-town as you are! I wasn’t trying to put you down.”
Fanny wasn’t so sure about that, but she was able to admit that Heidi hadn’t been wrong in her description of her.
She might tell Nelson that she wanted to be called Frances and try to come across as sophisticated and smart, but that wasn’t really what she was.
She really was just a small-town girl blessed with good hair and a decent figure who worked for her cousin.
It was nothing to be embarrassed about, but it sure wasn’t anything to attract a man who could probably have his pick of any woman in the state.
But . . .
What if she hadn’t mistaken the look of interest in his eyes? What if he really did like her and didn’t see her as “just” anything?
As the train finally passed and a car behind her beeped its horn, she realized she didn’t want to go straight home.
It wasn’t all that late either.
So, instead of heading straight at the next stoplight, she turned left. Hank’s house was only ten minutes away.
She had a perfect reason to stop by too.
Nelson had agreed to give Big John and his team of workers overtime pay now that the shipment of mahogany had arrived. Checking in on everyone was as good an excuse as any.
As she parked at Hank’s, Fanny stewed some more. She thought about Heidi’s words, and then she thought about Nelson’s ex-girlfriend Emme.
Nelson and Emme had dated for almost a year just after Nelson took over the reins of Alliance from their dads. Fanny had still been in high school, but even she remembered how stressed out he’d been. The older generations had taken a step back but were watching Nelson’s every move.
So were most of the workers—including Big John.
That wasn’t to say that no one thought Nelson was going to do a good job.
They did. But he needed to prove himself.
Some weeks, everyone joked that he should buy a cot and put it in his office because it seemed like he lived there.
Well, everyone but Emme. She complained to anyone who would listen that Nelson was ignoring her.
When she made the mistake of talking badly about him at a family barbecue, more than one person had told her she was out of line.
As far as most everyone in the family had been concerned, Nelson and Emme couldn’t break up fast enough.
No one had come right out and told him that, though.
Instead, they watched and waited and hoped Nelson’s infatuation with Emme would run its course.
Everyone thought that was the kindest thing to do for Nelson.
Only later did they all realize that he’d been so confused.
He’d stayed with Emme longer than he should have because he believed that everyone thought they were good together.
After they broke up and the truth came out about just how much everyone disliked her, Nelson mentioned that he wished someone had told him how they really felt about the relationship.
Fanny bit her lip. Maybe that was why Heidi had decided to share her feelings?
Shaking her head, she put her phone and tablet in her tote bag, opened her umbrella, and hurried to the front door.
Only to find Hank Arias standing on his front porch, leaning against the door and watching her with those blue eyes of his. He was wearing old, faded jeans, work boots, and a snug gray T-shirt that advertised some surf shop.
“Hey,” she said. “What are you doing out here?”
“Currently, I’m wondering if everything is okay with you.”
“I’m all right.” Now that she was under the porch, she shook out her umbrella and closed it. “Boy, it sure is raining.”
“It is at that. Cats and dogs.”
“Yeah. It’s a little better out here in Wooster, though.”
“When I saw you drive up, I was going to help you out of your car, but you looked like you were upset about something. I decided to stand here for a second or two, just to watch you.”
He was leaning a little bit closer. She could smell his cologne now. That woodsy, dark, addictive scent that wreaked havoc on her senses.
She needed to get herself together. “That sounds kind of rude, Hank.”
“Yeah, maybe. But I’ve got a good reason. I was starting to get a little worried about you.”
Hank was using that tone of voice again. The one that sounded like it was halfway between teasing and truth. She never knew how to respond to it.
So she opted for being safe. “I’m sorry I kept you waiting. I thought I’d just check on the progress.”
Confusion, accompanied by a little bit of something else, flashed in his expression before he cleared his throat. “Don’t apologize to me, Fan. There’s nothing for you to apologize for.”
She nodded because she realized that she’d been on the verge of apologizing yet again. Work. She needed to concentrate on work.
“Listen, if I was frowning, it was because I was thinking about another conversation I had a few minutes before I got here. It’s nothing to concern you.”
And . . . she was pretty proud of herself for keeping a straight face. Because that chat she’d had with Heidi had everything to do with Hank.
“Who were you talking to?”
“No one you need to worry about.”
“I didn’t think you were dating anyone. Are you?”
“I’m not.” Desperate to get done with the conversation, she blurted, “Right now. I meant to say that I’m not dating anyone right now.”
“Gotcha.” Now he was the one smirking.
And honestly, she couldn’t really blame him because even to her ears she sounded like she couldn’t string two sentences together. “Hank, it’s getting late. I’m going to go ahead and see how everything looks.”
Hank gave her a once-over, then he started walking to the house. “No problem. I’ll be happy to do a walk-through with you.”
“That’s . . .” Awful. Annoying. “Great.”
Hank knocked twice and yelled “Incoming!” as he cracked open the door.
“Incoming?” she asked.