Page 4 of Where the Roses Bloom (Gospels & Grimoires #1)

Willow

Willow Grove’s library smelled like old paper and lavender polish and dust warmed by sun through wavy glass. It had a little bell on the door that jingled like a charm, and Delilah had hung dried herbs above the windows—tied in tidy bundles with red thread.

It wasn’t big. Just two rooms and a reading nook with a loveseat that squeaked when you sat down too fast. But it was perfect .

I’d been in Willow Grove a week now. One night had turned into two, then three. By this time, Mabel had stopped asking if I was staying and already had honey biscuits ready to go every morning at the diner.

I didn’t know if I was staying forever…but I hadn’t left yet.

Which meant I’d need to figure some things out.

A job, for one. My savings weren’t nothing, but they weren’t much either—not after an ever-profitable career as a natural doula and herbalist and the slow, painful end of a life I thought I wanted.

A place to live, too. The motel was clean and quiet, but the walls were thin, and the water never got quite hot enough .

I glanced around the library like it might answer for me. It didn’t.

Just kept being exactly what it was—quiet, sunlit, too good to be mine.

I wandered back to the community bulletin board like it might have changed since the last time I stared at it. Same little cork squares…same hopeful thumbtacks. Same mix of sharpie flyers and torn notebook paper.

NEED SOMEONE TO WALK MILO (GOLDEN RETRIEVER, 90 LBS OF JOY AND TERROR)

Spanish Tutoring, Beginners Welcome, Call Maria

Gas Station Looking for Weekend Cashier

Nothing that screamed you were meant for this.

But then again…I hadn’t known I was meant for Willow Grove either. Not until the map rerouted me here like it knew something I didn’t.

I reached for the pen dangling from a string, started scrawling my name on the edge of the dogwalking sign?—

And then I heard it.

A thump. A soft curse. Something wooden shifting wrong.

“Goddamn it,” said a voice I didn’t realize I’d been listening for.

I turned to see Rhett crouched near a shelf, back to me—one boot braced, the other planted, a pencil behind his ear and a drill in his hand.

And for a second, I forgot how to breathe.

He looked good. Unfairly good. Like the kind of man who could split a log, build a porch, and wreck you in the back of his truck without breaking a sweat (not that I’d been thinking about that…

not at all). His shirt was clinging to his back, damp with effort.

There was a smudge of sawdust on his arm and a nick just below his elbow like he’d tried to make this place better and gotten bit for his trouble.

“Need a hand?” I asked, voice catching a little as it left my mouth.

He turned, startled…then smiled slow.

“Well hey there, stranger.”

My heart did something it absolutely should not have done for a man I hardly knew.

“You fix libraries now?” I teased.

“Only when someone guilts me into it.” He nodded toward the shelves. “These’ve been wobbly since before I could read. Delilah finally threatened to revoke my lending privileges if I didn’t show up.”

“I’d say that sounds extreme, but I’ve seen her hoarding the romance section.”

“She says it’s research,” he deadpanned. “For a series she’s writin’ about a sexy handyman who minds his business and don’t ask too many questions.”

I laughed…but didn’t know what to say, because he really was sexy and I had no idea what to do with that.

“So,” he said, setting the drill on the shelf behind him. “You still just passing through?”

“Actually…” I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, hoping he wouldn’t notice the way I was fidgeting. “I think I might stay—just for a little while.”

His gaze flickered. Not surprised. Just…brightened.

“Yeah?” he asked, like he didn’t want to sound too hopeful.

“Yeah,” I said. “Trying to find a job. A place to live. You know. Something resembling a life, at least for a little while. ”

He wiped his hands on the rag tucked into his back pocket and crossed his arms loosely in front of him.

His shirt clung to the line of his shoulder, and I had to look away before I did something stupid—like ask him to build me a cabinet I didn’t have a place for just so I could watch him swing a hammer.

“You find anything yet?”

I shook my head. “Nothing that doesn’t involve gas stations, childcare, or wrangling golden retrievers.”

Rhett chuckled, low and warm in his throat. “You ever met Milo?”

I narrowed my eyes. “No, why?”

“He’s a menace.” He smiled down at the scuffed floorboards, like he was remembering something. “Runs faster than Beau’s truck and knows how to open screen doors. Wouldn’t let you sleep more than four hours at a time, even if you begged.”

“So he’s a toddler in a dog suit.”

“Pretty much.”

“Okay, well, maybe not that one,” I said, and he laughed again.

There was a pause.

Comfortable, but charged.

Then he said, “I’ll ask around.”

I blinked. “What?”

He shrugged one shoulder. “You’re looking for work. I know a lot of folks who need help, and not everyone puts up signs. I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”

My chest tightened. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Didn’t say I had to,” he replied, eyes still fixed on mine. “Just said I would.”

There was something in his voice—something soft and stubborn, like he didn’t see this as a big deal. Like he’d already decided helping me wasn’t a burden, it was just…natural .

I wanted to say thank you, but the words caught in my throat.

Instead, I smiled. “Guess I owe you another biscuit.”

“You keep saying that like it’s a threat,” he said. “But I’ve seen you at Mabel’s. You take your biscuits seriously.”

“Only when they’re good.”

“I’ll try not to disappoint you, then.”

And there it was again—that thing in his voice. Not teasing, not cocky. Just plain and honest, like he really meant it.

Before I could say anything else, Delilah called from the front of the library: “If you two are done flirting over the Dewey Decimal system, I could use someone to carry this box.”

I flushed.

Rhett didn’t move. Just grinned like he’d won something.

“I’ll let you know if I get any leads,” he said again. Then he turned, grabbed the drill, and went back to work like he hadn’t just knocked all the air out of my lungs.

And somehow, I found myself smiling like maybe I had something to offer, after all.