Sweet Surprise (10 page)

He dropped his safety glasses down onto the bridge of his nose, then shifted his focus to the miter saw and the plank of MDF in his hands. He was hired help. And everyone with a brain knew the hired help didn’t mess with the boss.

Not, at least, if he planned to keep the promise he’d made to himself.

H
e’d called her
bela.

Slip of tongue or something more?

Fiona guessed it didn’t matter. Judging by the way the term of affection skittered across her skin and brought a greater sense of awareness of him, she had no choice but to assume the moment was entirely one-sided. Because, without a blink, he’d immediately immersed himself in the project at hand.

Which is exactly what she needed to do.

Focus.

Her time frame with getting the shop together was limited. Which also meant so was her time with Mike and noticing how nice his biceps or that hint of a tattoo looked when he sawed a piece of wood. Or hammered a nail. Or how the leather belt that hung low on his hips from the weight of the tools drew her eye to his well-worn Levi’s, the frayed edges of the seams around the zipper, and the way they hugged his thighs when he knelt to drill something.

The cabinets he’d built were beautiful. Just enough design to make them interesting but not too much to draw the eye away from the products for sale.

“Do you know anything about sanding floors?” she asked, finishing up the back wall with a last layer of paint.

He lifted the safety glasses to the top of his head. “You talking about these floors?”

She nodded.

“I’d advise against it. It’s expensive. And unless it’s done right, it’s messy.”

“Oh.”

“I think the way they look now adds character to your shop.”

She liked that he had an opinion that seemed carefully spoken. Unlike the Wilder brothers, who offered their advice or opinion whether you wanted it or not.

“Well, lookee here.” Jana Wilder and her big Texas hairdo came in through the back of the shop. Hanging from her arm was a wicker basket with a floral cover thrown over the top. “Y’all have really made some progress. Y’all make a good team.”

“I have a very short window to get things done,” Fiona explained, suddenly feeling like she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

“Guess it’s a good thing I called in my charity debt and got Mike to help you.”

Fiona looked at Mike, who took a sudden interest in the cabinet trim. “You didn’t tell her?”

“Haven’t had a chance,” he said, without looking up.

Fiona sighed and silently called him a chicken.

No doubt Jana was the head of a strong-willed bunch of sons because she was pretty iron-willed herself. When she got something in her head, Lord help anyone who tried to remove it. Fiona knew anything her former mother-in-law did was with good intent, and that didn’t always make it easy to throw a roadblock in her path.

So she softened the blow with a hug. “I really appreciate you offering your charity donation for Mike to help me move my boxes and furniture around, but I can’t accept that generosity. I want you to play that card for something you really need to have done around the ranch. Or maybe even the shop you and Charli are putting together. Surely, you have things that need to be built over there.”

“Not really. Pretty much everything we need to fill our place can be covered with the stockpile of antiques I have above the barn. If not, the boys can take care of it.”

“Oh.” Crap. “Well, I budgeted enough to hire a woodworker. Mike told me he has a construction business on the side, so I hired him to build the cabinets for the shop. He was supposed to tell you he’s working for me.”

“You
hired
him?”

Fiona nodded.

Jana shifted her gaze to Mike. “You’re
working
for her?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Interesting.” Jana flashed a smile that seemed just a little twisted. Like her wheels were spinning all crazy in her head.

“I really do appreciate your offer, Jana. I’m not trying to throw your generosity back in your face. Honestly.”

“Sugarplum, you’re such a smart girl.” Jana patted her cheek in a motherly way. “Looks like you’ve got everything all figured out.”

“Down to the smallest detail,” Fiona said proudly.

“We’ll see.” Jana’s gaze danced between Fiona and Mike. “I brought y’all some lunch.”

When Jana flipped back the floral cover over the basket to reveal several roast beef sandwiches and golden delicious apples, it somehow felt like a diversion.

“That’s enough for an army,” Fiona said. “Did you really think I’d eat all that by myself?”

“Well, y’all know me. I do everything on a grand scale.” Jana started pulling sandwiches out of the wicker basket. “Gets me in trouble once in a while, but it’s usually worth it.”

An understatement if ever there was one.

“Come on over here, Mike. I’ve got roast beef with cheddar or Swiss. Take your pick.”

Mike set down his tape measure and grabbed a sandwich with Swiss.

Fiona was amazed as he bit into the thick slices of wheat bread. “You just ate.”

“He’s a growing boy, sugarplum.”

He grinned. “Yeah.”

If he grew any more, those muscles would explode. Not that Fiona minded those muscles one little bit.

“Brought you a big ol’ pitcher of sweet tea too,” Jana announced on her way out the door. “Y’all make good use of your time.”

Mike watched Jana and her big hair disappear out the door. “She always talk in code?”

“Afraid so.” Fiona chuckled. “It’s a family trait. If you get them all in a room together, it’s sometimes hard to decipher the conversation. I think it’s a Texas thing.” She plucked a sandwich with cheddar off the top of the display case and peeled back the plastic wrap. She took a bite and let the tangy flavor of spicy mustard roll over her tongue.

One dark brow lifted. “So you’re not a local?”

“Nope. I’m a transplant from the East Coast.”

He chewed thoughtfully. “Then how did you manage to get all the way to Texas?”

She tried to give him a “do we really have to go there” look. But interest sparked his dark eyes, so apparently they did. “In all honesty, I wanted to get as far away from my parents as possible.”

“Uh-oh.”

“They’re divorced, and I got tired of being a pawn in their game of ‘screw me, screw you.’ I moved in with my Gma G for my last couple of years in high school and throughout college. When I earned my degree, she gifted me with a three-month course at a pastry school in France. That’s where I met Sabrina. When my grandmother passed away, there was nothing holding me on the East Coast. So I made the big leap.”

“I’m sorry about your grandmother. I know how special they are.”

“Thank you. And yes, she was very special.” Fiona smiled at the memory of her grandmother’s sweet face and warm heart. “So how’d
you
get to Texas?”

“Army. I was stationed at Fort Sam Houston. Decided I liked it in Texas and stayed after my contract was up.”

“Were you ever deployed to the Middle East?”

“Several times.” He took another bite of sandwich. “Gives you a real appreciation for the simple things in life.”

“Like?”

“Long hot showers. Good air quality. Movies without the smart-asses you’re sitting with making up the dialogue.”

“I don’t know.” She laughed. “Jackson and his brothers do the same thing. They love to have big get-togethers, which usually includes barbecued brisket, beer, and B-movies. One time, during
Attack of the Crab Monsters,
Jana and I had to get up and leave the room because the boys’ ad-libs got so bad.”

“I’ll have to remember that if I ever get an invite for movie night.”

“Actually, you’d probably want to go. It’s pretty hysterical. For a guy.”

“The Wilders are a pretty special family.”

“Yeah. They are.”

“Which probably made your divorce from Jackson even more difficult.”

“I got lucky.” She shrugged. “I know that with most divorces, the family completely divides. Takes sides. Not so in our case.”

“Believe me, you are
very
fortunate.”

The shadow of emotion that crossed his face told Fiona there had to be a very big story and a whole lot of heartache behind Mike Halsey’s words.

She couldn’t help but wonder if she’d ever get the chance to hear it. But when he wadded up his sandwich wrapper, tossed it in the trash, and—without a peep—went back to his work, she got the message loud and clear.

Case closed.

Chapter 6

F
iona knew it was strange to miss Mike. He’d only been around for a couple of days. It wasn’t like they were friends or anything. She’d just enjoyed their conversations. She’d enjoyed watching him work.

Okay, truth.

She’d also enjoyed looking at him.

She might have instituted a “take it slow” policy where men were concerned, but she’d yet to tell herself she couldn’t look. Looking was free. And harmless. Like admiring a brilliant diamond ring or a flashy sports car, looking was an expression of sheer appreciation for a man who deserved to be . . . appreciated.

For the most part he’d finished her cabinets so there was no logical reason for him to come back. She’d taken an inventory, and the only excuse she could invent to have him walk back through her door was to have him paint the cabinets. Clearly a simple task she could handle on her own.

Even so, she gave the notion careful thought and came up empty. The hodgepodge of ideas that popped in her head reeked of desperation.

She refused to appear desperate.

Or needy.

He had a busy life. Probably other clients lined up for construction jobs. So she had to let him move on. Whether she really wanted him to or not.

In an attempt to refocus, she’d started to mark off projects on her list. Next up . . . the hunt for several bistro sets in case anyone wanted to eat their cupcakes right there in the shop. As she’d learned in the latest business course she’d taken online, creating an inviting place to sit encouraged an interest in buying more product. If someone came in for a solo cupcake, maybe, if they looked at the display case long enough, they’d be inspired to take a half dozen home for the rest of the family.

To find the bistro sets she had in mind she’d first thought of asking Jana if she could explore the treasure trove she had stored above the barn. But she quickly nixed the idea because Jana and Charli were getting close to opening their antique and design shop in the big old Victorian house on the way into town. They might need the inventory on hand to put into their own store.

Fiona looked at her watch. Looked at the cabinets that needed to be painted. And made a decision. She needed a little break from the shop. A little fun. She’d been working hard, not to mention narrowly missing a major crisis with the car accident just a little over a week ago. So she moved the search for bistro sets to the top of her list. Then she called Sabrina to come join her. They had all afternoon to hit up the secondhand stores in nearby towns, and plenty of time for big-girl talk.

During that time, she was determined not to let Mike enter her mind even once.

“S
o, have you heard from the hunk?”

Fiona briefly took her eyes off the winding road—a dangerous act with all the deer in the area that tended to play a game of chicken when they saw an oncoming car—to look at Sabrina, who had to be one of the most stunning women she’d ever known. Why she hadn’t become a Victoria’s Secret model instead of a pastry chef didn’t make sense.

Except Sabrina didn’t see herself that way. She was fun, exuberant, and often silly, as she’d prove when she got down on the floor to play with Izzy. She was even a bit old-fashioned. Though no one would expect that about her if they judged her solely on her appearance.

Unfortunately Sabrina was often also dateless.

For some reason, men were either intimidated by her supermodel looks or they feared other men would be flirting with her all the time. So they admired her from afar. It would take a very confident man to step up and grab the prize that was Sabrina. But it would be a lucky man who did.

Fiona also knew her friend’s taste in men and knew exactly which
hunk
she currently referred to. Fiona just wasn’t willing to own up to it without some type of playful torture.

“Come on, Foof, I’ve been related to some of the most gorgeous men in the country. So exactly which
hunk
in particular are you talking about?”

“Are you serious?” Sabrina’s mouth dropped open. “I’m talking about the one who was peeling off your very fashionable hospital gown with his dreamy brown eyes.”

Fiona laughed as she pulled into the parking lot of Finder’s Keepers, one of her favorite secondhand stores. “You have such an overactive imagination.”

“I know what I saw.” Sabrina unlatched her seat belt. “And that man looked at you like you were a sweet, cream-filled dessert.”

As they got out of the car and walked into the store, Fiona took control of the conversation. Because the last thing she wanted to do was allow herself to believe that Mike thought about her in that way.

“Besides the fact that I think you’re wrong,” she said, “you know I can’t go there even if he did look at me that way.”

“There’s no
if.
And why the hell not?”

They headed toward the back of the store, where the furniture was displayed. “You know my rules. No more flings. No more one-night stands. No more letting my wild side put on roller skates and head straight downhill. I’ve worked too hard to build up my respectability. I’m a mother now. I have to set a good example.”

“It’s not like you don’t know what birth control is.” Sabrina stopped to check out a whimsical ceramic teapot. “And it’s not like you’d be taking Izzy in the bedroom with you. Or that you’d even
do it
when she’s in the same house.”

“I know that.”

“So what you’re saying is that because you’re a mom, you don’t deserve to have a little fun?”

“I have fun.”

“
Chica.
” Sabrina’s dark brows pulled together over her cat eyes, and she thrust her fists onto her hips. “Sitting at home on a Friday night, making microwave popcorn and watching a Dora the Explorer marathon is
not
fun.”

“Izzy doesn’t like Dora. She’s currently into Merida from
Brave.
”

“Good, then maybe she can teach her mommy a thing or two about going for what she wants.”

“Ooh, look at these.” Fiona headed toward two cast-iron bistro sets. If she couldn’t control the conversation, she’d change the subject.

“They don’t match.” Sabrina ran her hand over the back of the Victorian-like scrollwork.

“They don’t need to.” Fiona’s diversionary tactic worked, and she almost sighed with relief. “I’ll paint them in a way that they’ll fit in with the shop design, and no one will notice. They’re perfect.” She lifted the price tags. “And totally affordable.”

When she turned toward Sabrina, her friend was standing there with her arms folded, her toe tapping.

“What?”

“You need to get laid. You are way too uptight.”

“I’m not uptight. I just need to find a salesperson.”

“You need to find a man.”

“Found one. Didn’t work. Moving on.” Fiona tore the tags from the bistro sets and headed toward the front counter, with Sabrina close on the heels of her pink Adidas.

“Are you going to punish yourself for the rest of your life because your marriage didn’t work?”

“No.” Fiona stopped between the row of secondhand jeans and satin prom dresses. “Because Izzy is the best thing that ever happened to me. Who knows how I would have ended up if I hadn’t gotten pregnant?”

“I didn’t say anything about Izzy. I said your marriage.”

“Look, Foof.” Her stomach curled into a knot. “We’ve already discussed this ad nauseam, and I really don’t want to rehash it.”

“Why?”

“Because it makes me feel like a failure all over again.”

“What?” Sabrina’s brows shot up her forehead. “Why?”

Fiona pushed out the heavy sigh that clogged her chest. “Because I had the perfect man. And as hard as we tried, we couldn’t make it work. I couldn’t make him love me.”

“Fiona!” Sabrina grabbed her in a hug. “He loves you.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I know that everything in life happens for a reason. And I know that while you and Jackson might not have been made to last forever, you
were
meant to cross paths.”

“I believe that too. Which is why I’m now moving on,” Fiona said, extracting herself from Sabrina’s overzealous embrace. “And using the lessons I’ve learned to never repeat my mistakes.”

“Such as?”

“The kind that tell you to keep your head on your shoulders and your pants on your hips. That immediate gratification is not always healthy or smart. And hopping into bed with a superhot guy who may or may not have forever on his mind tops that list.”

“
Chica,
you are no longer the girl who lost her way for a few years and delved into things that weren’t good for her. You should be proud that you left that life behind.”

“I am.”

“Then let the rest go. Accept that you might have a few chinks but that it’s okay to enjoy life. It’s okay to fulfill a woman’s needs. To find a man and maybe even fall in love.” Sabrina flashed a cheeky grin. “Take it slow, and maybe look for one who’s not quite so perfect.”

“I never said Jackson was perfect.”

“No man is. Which is exactly my point. Flaws can be very attractive, you know. And sometimes, they can even be very rewarding.”

What Sabrina said made sense. And maybe that was the whole problem.

Fiona smiled at the salesclerk and pushed the price tags across the counter.

Maybe she was expecting the perfect man to miraculously show up and spontaneously fall in love with her. Maybe she’d set the bar too high for herself and her mystery man. Maybe what she really needed was to do like Sabrina said, take things slow and look for a man who shared a commonality.

And maybe it really was okay not to be so hard on herself for all the stupid things she’d done in her past.