“I don’t know. At least until after Summerfest.”
Keely looked at him, her eyes a bit sad. A wistful looked crossed her face, and she turned and stared out into the night. “It must be so nice to be able to go away. Travel. See the world.”
He didn’t know how to answer that. Because it was nice. He loved the freedom to go where he wanted. Choose which assignment to take next. He’d wiped the dust of Comfort Crossing from his shoes when he’d left after high school, burying his failures. He was embarrassed how few times he’d actually come back to visit Natalie and the boys. Besides them, he really had no reason to return.
Except right then when he looked into those honey-brown eyes of Keely’s and got lost in them. He could definitely think of a reason to visit more often. Before he knew what he was doing, before he could stop himself with all the reasons he shouldn’t, he leaned down and kissed her. He reached a hand behind her head and cradled it, pulling her closer against his lips, deepening the kiss. Her hand reached around and rested on the back of his neck, warm, accepting, holding him close.
She sighed.
Then she quickly pulled away. “I… I mean… I’m sorry.”
“Sorry you kissed me, or sorry you stopped?” He ran his knuckles gently along her jaw line.
She reached her hands up and shoved her hair away from her face. “I don’t know what I mean.”
He leaned down and kissed her again. Her breath came out in small wisps and she once again wrapped her arm around his neck. He stood up, pulling her with him and wrapped both his arms firmly around her small waist, pulling her close.
When he finally let her go, she clung to the sleeves of his shirt, looking lost.
“I should have done that years ago. Darn. Who knew?” There were definitely sparks there. He knew she felt them, too.
“I guess you should take me home now.” Her voice was low and shook slightly with each word.
He paused and looked at her, afraid he’d scared her off.
She tossed him a weak smile. “It’s getting late and I still have bookwork to finish before I go to sleep.”
He had no idea if he’d done the wrong thing. If he’d frightened her off. If she maybe thought he was nuts. He was nuts.
He looked at her, unable to read her. Unsure. “Okay. Home it is.” He took her hand in his and led the way down the sidewalk in the park and out onto the cheerfully lit Main Street.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Natalie went into Bella’s Vintage Shop, eager to see some of the pieces Bella had talked about for the cafe. Keely had turned over the picking out of new furniture for the cafe to Natalie and she didn’t take this responsibility lightly. She was glad to be able to help out Keely. Once they got an estimate of cost, they’d make the final decisions.
Bella led the way towards a room in the back of the shop. “This is the hutch I was thinking you could use for a server, menu holder, extra silverware rolls, etc. You could even put some extra salt and pepper shakers or whatever up in that top cabinet. If we finish the server part here, you could set pitchers of water or tea here.”
“That looks fabulous. It’s in pretty good shape, too. I bet Hunt would sand it down for us, and I could refinish it. Shouldn’t take much time.”
“Okay, I’ll write down the price.” Bella added it to a page in her notebook. “We’ll look at things, make a decision, then add things up and see what we come up with. I showed Keely a photo of the counter I found and she liked it, so I had it delivered here. If she doesn’t want it, I’m sure I can sell it quickly. I have it in my store room. Come on back.”
Natalie followed Bella through two more rooms in the old Victorian house Bella had converted into her shop. She kept getting sidetracked by the beautiful antiques and displays Bella had set up in the different areas of the rooms.
Bella’s laugh filtered back into the room where Natalie was looking at a gate-legged table. “You coming? It’s hard to walk by some of these pretty pieces, isn’t it?”
“I’ll say.” Natalie hurried to catch up with Bella. “I can’t imagine being surrounded by this every day. Setting up your displays. Going on trips to find new pieces. What a dream job.”
“I do pinch myself sometimes. It’s a lot of work, but I love it. I love the hunt for a nice antique at a good price. I love to refinish the pieces if they need it. When I moved my shop to this location, I finally had a room where I could spread out and refinish some of the pieces.” Bella pushed open a door and flipped on a light.
Natalie looked around the room like a kid in a candy store. An old wardrobe was open and in the process of being painted a lovely teal color. Some old dresser drawers had spindle legs put under them to make tables and Bella had painted them in cheerful shades of green. “My goodness, Bella. You are so talented and clever. Look at these pieces.”