“Then it’s teamwork,” Noah replied, glancing over with a little smile.
Heat flickered in Eli’s chest again, and he tried to tamp it down with sarcasm. “Don’t get sentimental. I’m only here for the free cocoa.”
“Lies,” Noah said. “You’re here for my winning personality.”
“And the manual labor,” Eli said.
“That too.”
Time slipped strangely in the workshop. One song on the radio blurred into the next, and their conversation drifted from favorite movies to best local diners to the pros and cons of small-town gossip.
“You ever miss being anonymous?” Eli asked, carefully filling in a line of shadow.
“Sometimes.” Noah smiled. “There are no secrets in Mapleford. Everyone knows everything. Or at least theythinkthey do.”
“Sounds exhausting.”
“It can be,” Noah admitted. “Especially when things… fall apart.”
Eli glanced up. “Like what?”
Noah’s brush paused, and for a moment, Eli thought he’d deflect. He half-expected a joke or a dodge. Instead, Noah lowered the brush and stared at the wood grain.
“Like when your boyfriend leaves you,” he said quietly. “And the whole town watches him drive away.”
The heater hummed. Snow whispered against the windows. The world shrank to the space around Noah’s words.
Eli set his brush down. “You don’t have to?—”
“It’s okay,” Noah said. “I mean, it’s not, but… it was a long time ago. So long that now it feels as if it was a different life.” He leaned back against the workbench, wiping his hands on a rag. “We were together forever.” He bit his lips. “Or maybe it justfeltlike forever. High school sweethearts. College. Then we came back here. Everyone called us the golden couple.” His mouth twisted. “I hated that phrase.”
“Too much pressure?” Eli asked, his voice soft.
“Exactly. At first it was nice, but then it felt as if I was playing a role. We both were.”
“What happened?” Eli asked.
Noah’s jaw tightened. “He wanted more. More city, more career, more… everything. He said I ‘thought too small,’” he air-quoted. “That being happy here meant I lacked ambition.”
Something sharp flared in Eli’s chest, a rush of indignation on Noah’s behalf. “That’s bullshit.”
“Yeah, I know. But at the time, it felt true. He left, took a job in Boston, and everyone pretended not to be shocked even though they absolutely were.”
“And you stayed.”
Noah sighed. “I stayed. I love this town. I love this work. I love making things with my hands instead of my email.” He stared at his paint-splattered fingers. “But after he left, every time I walked down Main Street it felt as though I could hearwhat people were thinking.There goes the one who got left behind.”
Eli’s chest ached.
“People are nosy,” Noah continued. “But they’re not cruel, not really. They pretended not to see. They gave me space. Still… it’s hard to feel like a whole person when everyone’s looking at you like your life is a story.”
“And now?”
“Now I coordinate their festivals and build their tables. I keep smiling and cracking jokes and making sure the lights all turn on at the right time.” He laughed, the sound low and unobtrusive. “I make things glow so no one notices what’s dim.”
Eli’s throat tightened. “That’s… a lot.”
“It’s fine,” Noah said quickly. “Okay, it’smostlyfine. It’s better now. It’s just—the holidays make it loud again.” He looked up, his eyes a little too bright. “And then I saw you in Home Depot, and I thought,wow, that guy looks like he’d be nice to hold hands with, and my brain said,you know what would be agreatidea?Lie.”
