Page 14 of Welcome Home to Ivy Falls (Ivy Falls #3)

I inched open my eyes to find his solid blue gaze.

Whenever the attacks happened I tried to find a quiet corner, a place to hide.

It was embarrassing that my mind raged so out of control, but there wasn’t a sliver of judgment in his eyes.

All I saw was the attention of a man who wanted to ensure I was okay.

That I understood he was here to help not hurt me.

‘I’m sor—’

‘Don’t say it,’ he offered quietly. ‘You were caught off guard by what happened to Mrs Vanderpool. Worried about her. Your reaction is normal.’

I took a thick gulp. ‘Wow. That’s new. Most people freak out when this happens to me.’

‘The brain is a complicated organ. How it reacts to stress is different for everyone.’ He pushed up his glasses and gave me a hesitant smile.

‘I didn’t know you worked at the café. If I did, I would have stayed away.

You stated your wishes very clearly in the clinic the other day, and I’d never ignore them. ’

The sincerity in his voice loosened all the complicated knots in my stomach.

He stared at me with such a naked honesty that I had to take a quick gulp.

Get my thoughts straight. ‘No. It’s all right.

Because of you, Mrs V is going to get checked out.

Get the treatment she needs. I’m grateful you were at the café. ’

‘I’m glad I was there too.’

That sweet smile returned and I inched away from him, too tempted to brush back the dark hair hanging across his forehead.

‘Can I ask you a question about Mrs Vanderpool? It’ll help calm my racing mind.’

He rubbed at the scruff on his jaw. ‘There’s not much I can say.’

‘Can you at least tell me if she’s going to be okay? The whole town is going to want to know. If I get out in front of this, you won’t get bombarded by every single person in Ivy Falls.’

‘Huh. You’re doing me favors now?’ The tease in his voice made heat rush to my cheeks.

‘This is not a favor,’ I sputtered. ‘It’s more like a keeping-you-from-getting-accosted-on-the-street-by-half-the-town situation.’

He relaxed against the bench, giving me the same even-tempered look he’d used with Dex.

How did he do it? Act so calm? Take everything in stride? My personality was more chaotic, like hitting a patch of ice in your car on a January morning and careening across the highway with no way to stop it.

‘If I offer up some non-confidential intel, what do I get in return?’ He actually wiggled his eyebrows like he knew I needed to laugh. To let go of the piercing ache that crowded my chest.

‘You get peace, because I don’t think you understand how intrusive people can be in this town when they’re worried.

One time Barb and Susan closed the café for two days.

No one could get a hold of them. They had a damn town meeting about it.

For over an hour, people spewed all sorts of theories about where they were.

If they were closing for good. Did we need to alert the sheriff?

When the ladies roared back into town on their motorcycles the next day, they were shocked by people’s attention.

Turns out the two of them just wanted a short getaway together. ’

He chewed on his lower lip, like he was trying not to smirk at the ridiculousness of this town. ‘I would just explain to people what she said. That she needs more tests.’

‘That’s it?’

His casual shrug said I wasn’t getting another word.

‘I should be getting back to work. Barb and Susan can’t take care of the breakfast rush on their own.’

I glanced down at the bench, recalling the way his voice had encouraged me to feel its weight beneath me. How his soothing words wrested me from the dark tentacles of my PTSD that enjoyed dragging me down into a deep, dark hole.

‘Thank you for helping me.’ I moved to stand and he followed.

‘Try not to worry about Mrs Vanderpool. They’ll take good care of her at the hospital.’

‘Yeah, right, don’t worry. Try telling that to my overactive brain.’

‘She’ll be all right, Bird.’

The warmth of his voice sent a streak of lightning down my back.

‘Did you just call me Bird?’

‘Yes, you have that tattoo.’ He pointed to my wrist. ‘And isn’t a piper a kind of bird?’

I rolled my eyes. ‘Do you mean a sandpiper?’

His bashful grin was too much.

‘Okay, weirdo. I’m gonna go now.’ I tried to look perturbed but my traitorous mouth was fighting a smile.

I started in the direction of the café and he was next to me in a few seconds.

‘Considering you’re good friends with Mrs Vanderpool, can you encourage her to slow down? While I was taking her blood pressure, she rattled off all the committees and groups she’s involved in and it’s a lot.’

‘Slow down?’ I laughed. ‘That’s like telling her to stop meddling in other people’s business. She’d rather gnaw off her right arm than agree to change anything about her life.’

He nodded, his toned arms swinging evenly at his side.

His running shorts showed off the firm muscles in his legs.

I hated to admit that I liked the way he purposefully positioned himself on the outside of me as if I needed protection from the street.

How he didn’t feel the need to ask me how I was feeling again.

He rubbed nervously at his jaw before he said, ‘Is there any way we could agree to be friends? I like that café and would prefer not to be banned because you work there.’

That raw honesty in his voice returned and it shook me to my core. I was so used to men’s bullshit. The way they delivered slick lines as if it was second nature to them. But this guy, he was so genuine. That was rare. I had absolutely no clue how to react to him.

‘If it’s too much, I get it,’ he said soothingly. ‘I guess I don’t need the Sugar Rush.’

I glanced in his direction and there was a far-off look in his eye I’d seen many times before.

‘You had one of the glazed donuts, didn’t you?’

His brows bunched together. ‘How did you know?’

‘People only get that desperate look of want when they’ve had one of Susan’s donuts.’

He chuckled. ‘Yeah, I have to admit that damn thing practically melted on my tongue.’

The way he said tongue in that deep Southern drawl set off heat in several parts of my body.

A few kids raced past us on their scooters, calling ‘Hi, Miss Piper’ as they zoomed by.

‘You’re a favorite around here,’ he said.

‘They’re kids from the theater.’

‘You mentioned that the other day. The bookstore, the café and the theater. Three jobs?’

‘The theater is a volunteer position.’

‘Still, that’s a lot of work.’ He slowed his strides to stay beside me. ‘What made you want to do that? It looks like you’re already pretty busy.’

‘There you go again,’ I said.

‘Go again?’

‘Assuming things about me you don’t know.’

He scrubbed a hand over his mouth. ‘Right. You don’t owe me an explanation.’

The contrite tone to his voice had me saying, ‘I lived in New York a while back. Made an attempt to be an actress.’

‘That’s fascinating. I’ve never met an actress before.’

‘Don’t get too excited. I was never cast in anything.’

We walked past the Dairy Dip and the P&P. Tessa’s colorful array of summertime cookbooks was the perfect display for the front window.

‘To put yourself out there, face rejection, that takes guts.’

I was caught off guard by his response. Usually when I told people I was an actress, I could see them mentally rolling their eyes.

‘Is that what you studied in college?’ he asked.

‘No, I only went for a year before I dropped out.’

I waited for the uncomfortable pause. The weighted look of pity and disappointment when I spoke about not completing a degree, but like before, his stare remained firmly on me, his lips twitching like he was eager to ask more questions.

Ahead of us, a crowd formed a line outside Sugar Rush.

‘I meant what I said before. It’d be great if we could be friends. I’m only going to be here a short time, so we can at least be cordial.’

‘You don’t have to stay away from the café or the bookstore,’ I said. ‘You have just as much right to be there as anyone else, but don’t expect any more than a “hello” from me.’

‘What about a slight wave too? Would that be acceptable?’ he joked.

Even when I was pushing him away, this guy was nice. How was that possible? Most of my life when a man I was dating was met with any kind of rejection, or pushback, he became either defensive or angry. Sometimes both.

The line doubled in size as more tourists filled the square. ‘Barb and Susan need me inside. I’ll see you around, Dr Foster.’

That megawatt grin lit up his face. ‘See ya, Bird.’

He took off in the direction of the fountain, giving me an all-too-good view of his backside.

Friends? Yeah, that was not going to be easy.