Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
Hazel zipped up her jacket as she strolled along the sidewalks of Rosewood Beach. It was a beautiful autumn morning, sunny with a light wind, but the temperature had dropped significantly, and she knew that her days of being able to walk comfortably to work in the morning were limited.
But I’ll enjoy it while it lasts, she thought cheerfully. And when it gets too cold for me to walk to work, that’ll mean snow and perfect cookie-baking weather.
Hazel loved all seasons of the year, but she loved the colder months best of all.
She loved the scents and sights of autumn, and she loved curling up under a cozy blanket in front of the fire during the wintertime.
Her head was soon filled with plans for the upcoming seasons.
She and Samantha would have to schedule their annual visit to a pumpkin patch, and then she would make them homemade pumpkin milkshakes and pumpkin pie.
She and her family would go apple picking and bake pies, cakes, and tarts at Vivian’s house, and Jacob would have everyone over to his place for a fall bonfire.
Except maybe this year, it’ll be at our house, she thought eagerly. Maybe by then he and I will be living together. I can’t wait—I want to spend every day with him, and merge all of our traditions together.
She had done her best to stop worrying about Jacob’s unusual behavior after her conversation with Dean, but every once in a while she still found herself staring into space as she thought with concern of the way he’d hurriedly shut his laptop or suggested she didn’t make any new changes to her home.
She bit her lip, wishing that he would tell her what was on his mind.
She did her best to convince herself it wasn’t anything for her to worry about, but she did feel sure that there was something he’d been thinking about.
Something new that hadn’t been on his mind before.
To distract herself, she thought about what kind of day she was going to have at work that afternoon.
She worked as a receptionist at the doctor’s office, and her job was sometimes hectic, but generally relaxed and pleasant.
She often had the time to sit and read at her desk, and she thought eagerly of the cozy mystery that was waiting in one of the drawers for her.
She remembered that there was still leftover birthday cake in the refrigerator and grinned.
The day before had been the birthday of one of the nurses, and Hazel had brought in a big chocolate sheet cake decorated in blue frosting that was blackberry-flavored.
She turned a corner onto a quiet, residential street. There were a few old houses on it, and she liked to look at them and imagine what they’d been like in decades past. Most of the houses were still well-kept and inhabited, but a few were empty and had fallen into disrepair.
The wind made the tree branches over her head rustle whimsically as she made her way along the quiet street.
All of the children who lived on that block were in school, so the only sound came from someone playing jazz music on a piano in one of the houses, and the faint swishing sound of an elderly man pruning his hedges with a pair of shears.
She was just passing one of the houses on the block that had been empty for a couple of months when she saw the front door open.
She stopped in surprise, since the last she’d heard, the house had been foreclosed on and nobody had bought it yet.
She was even more surprised when she saw that the person coming out of the house was Jacob.
He froze when he noticed her. “Hazel!”
“Hey, sweetheart.” She waved at him sweetly, but internally she felt concerned by his reaction. He was acting the same way he’d acted in his office—almost as if he didn’t really want her to be there. “What are you doing here?”
He hurried down the front path toward her and gave her a hug. “I should be asking you that. What are you doing over here?”
She couldn’t help noticing that he seemed to be evading her question. “I’m walking to work. I take this route sometimes because I love how cute this street is.”
She noticed that his eyes lit up when she remarked on how cute the street was. “Of course,” he said, smiling. “I should have realized how close this was to the doctor’s office.”
She cocked her head to one side. “So why are you out here? Isn’t this house foreclosed?”
Jacob glanced behind him, saying, “Umm,” as if he was trying to delay answering the question. “I’m looking to make some repairs in it. It’s still in good shape even though it’s been empty.”
“But—” She frowned in confusion. “Who asked you to make repairs? If the house doesn’t belong to anyone—or did someone buy it?”
“Uh, no, it hasn’t been sold.” Jacob stammered a bit as he answered. “But this house needs to be fixed up at some point, so I was asked to assess what needs to be done to it.”
“Oh.” She smiled. That made a great deal of sense. If it hadn’t been for the odd way he was behaving, she wouldn’t have given the matter another thought. “And it looks pretty good?”
“Yeah, I’d say so. Some things need to be repaired, but they’re the kind of things that would have needed fixing even if people still lived in there. There’s a plumbing issue with the upstairs bathroom sink, and there’s a crack in one of the windows downstairs, but that’s pretty much it.”
“Oh, good.” She smiled. “Are you done here then?”
“Yeah.” He turned around and gave the house an almost wistful smile. “For now… yeah, for now I’m done here.”
“Okay.” The wheels of her mind were turning. The answer he’d given her was a perfectly reasonable explanation, but she still felt a bit suspicious about his behavior. Why had he been acting strangely flustered again?
For a moment, she considered coming right out and asking him about it, but then she decided that she was reading too much into things and she should give it a rest.
“I’ll see you later,” she said, wrapping her arms around him and giving him a kiss. “For dinner?”
“I wouldn’t miss it.” He gave her another peck on the lips, grinning like nothing in the world was wrong.
Dean was right, she thought. I’m making this into a big deal when it isn’t anything at all. Right?
“Bye. Have a good day today.”
“You too, sweetheart! It was so nice to bump into you. Have an amazing day at work.”
They smiled and waved to each other as they went their separate ways on the sidewalk.
Hazel continued to stroll toward the doctor’s office, but now, instead of the beautiful day, her thoughts were on Jacob and his odd behavior.
Try as she might to think about something else, the encounter stayed on her mind for the rest of the day.