“Cavin, I am so sorry.I talked to Keaton about what happened at church, but I asked him to let me handle it on my own.I never thought he would show up at your house and hit you.”
Cavin looked at Noel like she was crazy.“Everyone in Beaufort knows that you were mad at me and thinks that I was leading both you and Georgia on; and your brother told me last Saturday before I showed up at the candy shop, that I better not hurt you.So, it did not come as a surprise when he showed up on my doorstep and punched me in the face.”
“I will talk to him,” Noel guaranteed.“All three of us can talk if you like.”
“Okay,” Cavin agreed.
“You said dogs, is there someone else?”Noel checked.
“Rainey knocked on my front door about an hour after Keaton punched me,” Cavin proclaimed.
“Why?”Noel asked hesitantly although relieved to know that Cavin didn’t have two black eyes.
“At first I thought Keaton showed up for more, but I turned the porch light on and hollered, ‘I am calling the police’ through the door, and then Rainey responded, ‘I am the police.’When I verified who was on the other side, he took one look at my eye and said he came to ask me to leave you alone and leave Beaufort, but then he said that Keaton must have found me first.”
“Do you think Rainey planned on hitting you, too?”Noel asked, but before letting Cavin answer, she went on to tell him about her phone conversation with Chelsea and Rainey.“I promise I told him not to get involved.”
“Rainey seemed calm.I do not think he came for a fight.However, you have some pretty intimidating people on your side.”
“They know what I’ve been through, Cavin, and they don’t want to see me get hurt.”
“I understand.”
“I will talk to Rainey as well.He’s a good guy.Keaton is, too, he’s just battling a lot of demons right now.”
“Thanks, and if you will talk to them sooner rather than later, it might save me another black eye,” Cavin requested.“How about that job?”he added.
“Have you ever made candy?”Noel teased but only half-heartedly.
Cavin chuckled.“Only for fun.”
“Mrs.Madelyn says she needs to cut back her hours, so while we look for something else more lucrative for you, you could help me out.I know I can’t pay you a fraction of what you make, but it might be fun, and I can introduce you to a lot of people in town,” she offered.“Wait, you are a social butterfly; you already know nearly everyone,” Noel laughed.
Cavin raised his eyebrows.“I am not sure if any of them like me anymore.”
“If they see you working at the candy shop with me, they will,” Noel reckoned.“And see us celebrating all the Beaufort Christmas traditions together, and walking the streets holding hands, and kissing,” she added, kissing him another time.
“You really want to be seen in public with me after I seemingly humiliated you at church?”
Noel kissed him tenderly and then pulled back.“I’ve kissed you numerous times now in the busiest stretch of the waterfront district; I think everyone is going to know that we are an item.”
“As long as you do not tell them we are business partners,” Cavin teased.
Noel shrugged her shoulders.“Perhaps we will be both.”
“Have you not heard the saying, ‘don’t mix business with pleasure?’”Cavin asked, grinning.
“When your business is your passion, it’s always a pleasure,” Noel proclaimed.
“Then maybe you will help me find my passion.”
“Maybe you have already found it, and you just don’t realize it yet,” Noel suggested.
26
If Cavin Dawson and Noel Puckett weren’t already in love, they fell deeply in love one interaction at a time as Christmastime drifted along in Beaufort, North Carolina, much like the seas that surrounded the magical place.The Monday morning when Cavin decided to stay, Noel drove him to Keaton’s shop where the three of them discussed the situation that happened on Sunday.
It took some convincing, but Keaton eventually gave Cavin his blessing to stay in town and even apologized for the black eye.Fueled by Keaton’s willingness to believe him and trust Noel, Cavin offered to pay Keaton for fixing his tires which he had been meaning to do all week, and he apologized for all the accusations.
