CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“A
RE
YOU
SURE
you don’t mind running to the grocery store for me, too?” Sue asked Friday.
Eliza shrugged into her coat. “Not at all. It’s right on my way after I pick up the new lamps.”
“I told you, Jim can do all of that for you. I’m not sure you should be carrying those big boxes to the car. I know you say you feel fine now but I still worry about you.”
The other woman’s concern warmed her heart. After several days of working closely with Sue, Eliza had come to consider her a dear friend.
“I’m perfectly fine, I promise.” She still had a lingering twinge in her wrist and shoulder but even that was fading. “I have to go to the pharmacy, anyway, for Maddie and to be honest, I’m looking forward to finally seeing a little more of Haven Point.”
The past week had been so busy, she hadn’t even had a chance to leave the ranch. It was hard to have cabin fever in a vast twelve-thousand-square-foot lodge complete with all the amenities of a small resort but a change of scenery would certainly be welcome.
“You said you needed cream of tartar?” she asked.
“That’s right. How can I make snickerdoodles without cream of tartar?”
“Excellent question. I’ll be happy to pick some up for you. How much do you need?”
“Better get me at least four of the biggest spice containers they have. Aidan has always loved my snickerdoodles and he assures me his family will, too.”
“Because you make the best snickerdoodles in the whole wide world,” Maddie declared from her elbow.
Sue smiled down at her, rubbing her head. The two of them had become fast friends, too, these last few days. Sue clearly adored Eliza’s daughter and treated her like a beloved granddaughter. Her quiet, darling husband did the same.
In their many conversations over the past few days, Eliza had learned that Sue and Jim had found each other late in life, too late to start a family. Sue had confessed that being with Maddie made her ache for the children and grandchildren she never had.
“Wait until you try my cut-out sugar cookies, darlin’,” she said now to Maddie. “I promise, you’ll be in cookie heaven.”
Maddie giggled. “There’s no such thing!”
“You say that because you haven’t tried my cookies yet.”
Eliza smiled. “Okay, cream of tartar. Anything else?”
“Let me check.”
Sue pulled down the notebook she used to organize menus and shopping lists for the party. “I think that should be everything. Aidan is supposed to be bringing some of the specialty items I can’t find locally.”
“And he’s coming home tonight?” she asked, trying for a casual tone even as her pulse hitched up a notch.
“Tonight or tomorrow. When he called this morning, he still didn’t know when his meetings would be done.”
Against her will, Eliza’s gaze shifted to the sofa in the kitchen sitting area, where they had shared that stunning kiss.
Try as she might, she couldn’t seem to shake the memory. She had started to avoid sitting down on that particular sofa because she could swear the clean, deliciously masculine scent of him still drifted in the air.
After six days she should be over this ridiculous and completely embarrassing crush she had developed—especially since she hadn’t even
seen
the man since that kiss.
The day after their early-morning conversation and embrace, he had made himself scarce, spending his time either outside helping Jim clear away the fresh snow or holed up in his office on phone calls. She knew, because every time she walked past his office toward the other rooms she was working on in that area of the house, the muted murmur of his voice through the closed door seemed to shiver through her as if he had trailed a finger down her spine.
The next morning, Tuesday, she found out after breakfast that he was gone, ostensibly to handle urgent, last-minute negotiations for a company Caine Tech wanted to acquire.
She was grateful he was gone, she told herself. Without his presence, some of the fine-edged tension under her skin seemed to dissipate and she could really go to work making his house into a warm and welcoming haven.
“Looks like we’re running low on baking powder,” Sue finally said. “Why don’t you pick up more of that and maybe some of that local artisanal cheese they carry in front of the store?”
“Got it. Cream of tartar, baking powder and cheese. Okay, find your coat, Mads.”
“Why don’t you leave the little one here?” Sue suggested. “I can sure use a little help decorating the sugar cookies.”
Maddie’s eyes widened. “Oh, can I, Mama? I want to decorate sugar cookies! You know I love putting on the sprinkles.”
She smiled. “That
does
sound like fun. You always have been an extrasprinkles girl, haven’t you?”
“Can we make some angels with silver wings?” Maddie suggested to Sue.
“I do think I might have a cookie cutter in the shape of an angel. We’ll see what we can do.”
Though Eliza was torn about leaving her daughter, she didn’t feel like she could deprive her of this fun. “Thank you,” she said to Sue. “I know you have plenty to do without babysitting, too.”
“Are you kidding? I’m not babysitting her, she’s helping me. Anyway, I love the company. Take all the time you need. There are a few nice shops in town you should check out while you’re there, especially if you need anything else on your Christmas list.”
Christmas. It always seemed like such an abstract concept until it started getting this close. The holiday was just around the corner, only five more days—this was Friday and Aidan’s family would be arriving the following Tuesday, the day before Christmas Eve.
She still had so much to do but as she walked through the house on her way to the garage, she couldn’t help admiring what she had accomplished so far.
She was far from an interior decorator but she did know the little touches that warmed up a room and made a guest feel welcome. A beautiful home wasn’t necessarily a gracious one and she wanted his family to remember how comfortable they felt at Snow Angel Cove.
To that end, she had made sure every bedroom had extra blankets, house slippers and fuzzy socks in various sizes, water carafes for the bedside tables, little baskets full of designer toiletries she had ordered rush delivery from the same supplier she had used at the hotel. She had carefully selected books and magazines for each room according to what she knew about his family and had worked late into the night making basic instruction manuals that explained in simple terms how to work the electronics, the wi-fi passwords and the gas fireplaces.
To make each room more festive, she and Maddie had spent a wonderful afternoon cutting boughs and glossy red winterberries from the abundant forested areas around the house and then arranging them on mantels and in containers on side tables. They had used extra to make wreaths to hang on some of the doors. Each room also contained a small four-foot Christmas tree, decorated with the individual guests in mind.
Would he like the little touches or would he think she had overstepped?
She supposed she would find out when he returned. If he had been here, she could have asked his opinion and at least had a little direction.
Sue
had approved of everything she had done, so Eliza had to hope she was on the right track.
If he hated everything, she could strip the house back to the cool, impersonal shell it had been four days ago.
A few moments later, she was pulling her SUV out of the garage and driving toward the town of Haven Point, some two miles away, feeling strange to be without Maddie.
The setting was spectacularly beautiful, with those commanding snow-covered mountains rising almost directly up from the other side of the brilliant blue lake.
With all this splendor to distract the eye, she didn’t know how people kept from driving off the road. Somehow she managed to make it to Haven Point without incident and drove down the appealing main street that curved around the lake.
She felt a pang as she passed the burned-out remains of the inn. How was Megan doing? she wondered. And what was she planning to do with the inn? She made a mental note to check in with her before she left Lake Haven.
She could have made a good life here with Maddie. Maybe they would have attended that charming little church on the lakeshore, with its Gothic stained glass windows and honey-gold brick. Maddie might have gone to the elementary school that rested on a hill overlooking the town and the lake. Eliza might have been on a first-name basis with the old-timers she saw talking to each other with elbows propped on the hood of a pickup truck in front of the feed store.
Maybe here she could have found the sense of belonging she and Maddie both needed.
In a perfect world, she would have been able to find another job here but she had scoured the online classified section of the community’s weekly newspaper and had come up with nothing but a few part-time, minimum wage retail jobs and a live-in companion to an elderly woman that specified Absolutely No Children, with several exclamation points.
She would figure something out. She had a couple of promising leads back in Boise already from some email inquiries she had sent out.
It only took a moment to pick up the two extra bedside lamps she had ordered for one of the guest suites that somehow didn’t have any, then she drove back to the small commercial center of Haven Point.
From what she could tell, McKenzie Shaw’s shop would be her best option for a few last-minute Christmas gifts.
She parked down the street and walked toward Point Made Flowers and Gifts, which was housed in a historic-looking redbrick building.
Chimes rang out like jingle bells as she pushed the door open. She was immediately greeted by a welcoming warmth and the cozy smell of cinnamon and apples, scents that conjured up home and hearth and old-fashioned Christmases.
Oh, this looked like just her kind of place, packed to the brim with clever little hard-to-find items. Oddly, the store appeared to be empty—except for a ginger-colored dog who rose to greet her.
The dog—a standard poodle wearing a bandana printed with gleaming green-and-gold Christmas ornaments—walked gracefully over to her, planted its haunches a few feet away and held up a hand just like a department store greeter.
“Hello. Are you in charge today?” she asked the dog, who seemed to give her an uncanny sort of grin.
Okay, strange. Where was McKenzie?
“Hello?” she called.
A moment later, a door in the back of the store popped open and McKenzie peeked her head around the frame. “Oh. I thought I heard the bell. Hi, Eliza! Great to see you! Welcome to Point Made.”
“Thanks. I’m in love with your shop.”
“Oh, thanks! I’m pretty crazy about it, too.”
“I finally found a minute to get away from Snow Angel Cove for a bit and take care of a little of my Christmas shopping.”
“This is the place for it. No Maddie today?”
Eliza shook her head. “I left her making sugar cookies with Sue.”
“Lucky girl. A sugar cookie would be
fabulous
right about now.”
“I’ll have her save you a few and we’ll drop them off next time we come to town.”
“That sounds like an excellent plan.” McKenzie gestured to the big poodle. “I see you’ve met Rika. Short for Paprika.”
“Yes. She was very polite and greeted me with a handshake.”
“She runs the place with an iron paw, don’t let all that charm fool you.”
Rika grinned at her owner then plopped down in a multicolored patch of sunlight coming through a display of stained glass sun catchers in the window.
Feminine laughter spilled out from the open doorway and what sounded like a good-natured argument. The mayor glanced back at the room and then at Eliza. “I’m so glad you stopped by today! What luck. You’re just in time for lunch!”
“I am?”
“Yes. Take off your coat and come grab a bowl of soup. Some of us in town get together regularly for a potluck lunch. It’s sort of an informal service club where we work on projects like crocheting afghans for the children’s hospital in Boise or sending care packages to members of the armed forces from the area. We call ourselves the Haven Helping Hands. I know, really lame name. I wanted to call it the Pointer Sisters but I was vetoed. Apparently that’s already taken.”
“I like the Pointer Sisters. The musical group and the name, for what it’s worth.”
The incoming mayor beamed. “Thank you! I knew I liked you for a reason. Come on back. We’ve got tons of soup.”
For just a moment, Eliza was torn. She should probably hurry to finish her shopping and return to Maddie. She also wasn’t sure she
wanted
to meet more people and find more reasons to love Haven Point when she couldn’t make her home here, after all.
On the other hand, Maddie was in excellent hands with Sue and it had been so very long since Eliza had socialized with other women outside of work. It also seemed rude to refuse after McKenzie and her sister had been nothing but kind to her.
“I can only stay a moment.”
McKenzie beamed and led the way to a workroom that looked at least as large as the display area of Point Made gifts. Boxes were stacked around the edges of the room. At a long table in the middle, about a dozen women of various ages—from barely twentysomethings to a couple of women who looked to be in their sixties or early seventies—were eating and chatting.
Megan Hamilton was one of the first to spot her. “Eliza! Hi! I am so glad to see you. How are feeling after your accident?”
She smiled at the woman she had wanted for an employer. “I’m doing well. Thank you.”
“I’ve been worrying about you and Maddie. I was so glad when Kenz told me you found work and are staying in the area through the holidays—even if the job is with Aidan Caine.”
At the name, the entire room full of chattering women fell as silent as if Megan had just belched the alphabet.
All eyes fell on her and Eliza squirmed, not sure what to say.
“You work for Aidan Caine?” a plump, well-dressed woman with dark hair and warm brown eyes asked.