“They adore you.”
“The feeling is mutual.” Her mom glanced toward Lauren. “Are we interrupting your work?”
Lauren shook her head. “I’ve had about enough work for the day. Just checking email and social media.”
“If you want to go to sleep—”
“No. It’s too early. If I went to sleep now, I’d wake up at two in the morning.”
Despite having worked all day, an odd restlessness took hold of her.
“You should go out and do something fun.”
“I’ve already left the girls with Papa Ed all day. I can’t just pass them off to you now.”
“Why not? You never take time for yourself.”
“There’s a bit too much on my plate for spur-of-the-moment girls’ nights. Besides, I barely know anyone here.”
Despite her protestations that she shouldn’t just up and leave the girls again after being gone all day, Lauren couldn’t concentrate on anything. Maybe it was that she felt confined in such a small space.
Or maybe her mom was right. Since her breakup with Phil and the discovery not long after that she was pregnant with not just one baby, but two, Lauren hadn’t taken any real “me” time. She told herself she couldn’t afford it, or it wasn’t right to leave the girls or expect her family to take care of them while she went off to do something that wasn’t work-related. And now she’d added opening a restaurant to the mix, as if she had an unending reserve of both time and energy.
“Why don’t you at least go take a walk?” her mom said. “It’s supposed to be a lovely, clear night, not too cold yet.”
This time Lauren didn’t argue against the idea. “I won’t be gone long.”
“No need to hurry back. These little stinkers and I will be right here discussing all the yummy things their mommy will bake for them when they have more teeth.”
The mention of teeth caused Lauren to remember Adam Hartley’s comment about her getting a share of the local dentist’s profits. A ball of warmth formed in her chest at the memory of how easy it had been to talk with him, even after the awkward moment with the other woman at the café.
“Lauren?”
“Huh?”
“You had this faraway smile on your face.” The unspoken question in her mom’s tone sent a jolt through Lauren.
“Just imagining how I’m going to convince the daughters of a baker that they can’t have dessert for the main course of every meal.”
After a couple minutes of loving on her babies, Lauren left the room for an evening stroll to clear her head and stretch her legs.
Though there was a slight chill in the air, she decided on a walk through town. She felt like meandering along Main Street, since it was quieter and less crowded than during the middle of the day.
As she checked out the window displays of the downtown shops, she made a mental note to do some Christmas shopping soon. It’d be much easier to keep her purchases secret if she shopped when her family was otherwise occupied, especially Violet. Her sister had a habit of trying to find and figure out what her presents were well before Christmas morning. The habit was so annoying that their mother had threatened to stop buying her presents on more than one occasion. Violet would swear she’d reform, but that only lasted about a day at most. Lauren thought Violet perhaps did it mostly to see everyone’s reaction.
She promised herself she’d check out the cute outfit displayed in the window at Yesterwear Boutique, see if A Good Yarn had the lavender-scented candles her mom liked and browse the shelves at the little bookstore. At some point, she’d introduce herself to Keri Teague, the resident baker of Blue Falls, and hope Keri didn’t see her as an adversary. But though the bakery still appeared to be open, Lauren didn’t feel up to it tonight.
As she eyed a lovely western-themed living room set in the window of a furniture store, the sound of music drew her attention. She followed it to what turned out to be the Blue Falls Music Hall. A man in cowboy attire opened the door for a woman, allowing the sound of a band playing to rush out into the early evening. She found herself walking toward the entrance. After all, if she was going to be a local business owner, she should support the other businesses in town. Maybe it would help pave the way into the fabric of the town, toward acceptance, considering she was an outsider.
She knew how small towns worked. While she had a recognizable name that could bring in additional tourists, some locals might see her as unfair competition. Her goal was to assure everyone she wanted to create a mutually beneficial relationship with the lifelong residents of Blue Falls. She’d only stay a few minutes then return to the inn.
The moment she stepped into the building, Blue Falls didn’t seem so small. That or the entire population of the town had crammed inside to drink, dance and listen to music. Picturing all these people streaming into her restaurant brought a smile to her face as she made her way toward the bar. Before she reached it, however, someone asked, “Is that smile for me?” before spinning her onto the dance floor.
For one horrifying moment, Lauren thought it was Phil who’d grabbed her. Even when she looked up into the face of Tim Wainwright, it still took several moments for her heart to start its descent back to its proper place in her chest from her throat.
“Glad to see you came out to enjoy the nightlife,” Tim said.
“Can’t say I expected to be accosted as a result.”
Tim’s eyebrows lifted. “Accosted? I merely meant to claim the first dance before a line formed.”
She rolled her eyes. “No need to butter me up. I’m not closer to making a decision about vendors than I was a few days ago.”
“Did I say anything about beef?”
She hesitated a moment as he spun her expertly between two couples to avoid a collision that could result in a pile of cowboy hats and boots. Even Tim was dressed in jeans, boots and Stetson tonight. If she wasn’t a born-and-bred Texan, she might actually buy that he was a real cowboy.
“No,” she finally said.
“I’m off the clock and just wanted to dance with a pretty woman.”
She doubted he was ever really off the clock, but what could one dance hurt? It wasn’t as if it was a date, or would lead to one.
“Just a bit of friendly advice—perhaps ask for the dance next time rather than assume.” Sure, she wanted to make friends here, but his action had rubbed her the wrong way.
He nodded. “Duly noted. I’m sorry.”
She simply offered a polite smile in return, not the “It’s okay” he possibly expected. Once upon a time she might have uttered it without thinking, but that was before the events of the past year and a half.
“So, how are you liking Blue Falls so far?” he asked.
Thankful to have a neutral topic to discuss, she said, “I really like it. The people are nice, and it has a great feel to the business district. Not to mention it’s pretty.”
“Glad to hear it.”
Lauren began to relax and even allowed Tim to lead her around the dance floor for a second song. Occasionally, she spotted someone she’d met over the course of the past few days. Thank goodness Verona Charles didn’t seem to be in attendance. She didn’t need the woman getting any ideas about her and Tim. If Tim or Verona headed down that path, Lauren was going to break out her stockpile of stories about