Nate nodded, still not looking at her, but stepped over the threshold.Ignoring the strong desire to get down to what exactly he wanted right then and there, Lottie hurried back into her bedroom and put on her outfit for the day.While she favored dresses, it was bitterly cold that day and Lottie wanted a little more warmth after feeling the chill of loneliness over the last four weeks, so she grabbed her favorite pair of black, side-zip trousers and red argyle sweater.After dressing, slipping her feet into a pair of saddle shoes, and doing another check in her antique standing mirror, Lottie made her way back out into the living room, not expecting to see Nate looking so at home where he sat on her blue couch.
It was strange, a clash of old and new.Nate looked as put together as he always did, his navy suit and matching tie making him look every bit the man in charge, but while his clothes made him look a little stuffy, his slightly fluffy brown hair and beard that was just a shade lighter softened the look, making him seem more approachable.If he’d been wearing a fedora, he would have looked perfect on the piece of mid-century modern piece of furniture, like Humphrey Bogart inCasablanca,though Nate looked so much finer than any actor in the movies Lottie had been watching all month long.
At the sound of her footsteps on the wood floor, Nate rose to his feet and turned to face her.His eyes seemed to get bluer as he looked at her, and the corners of his mouth twitched before he presented her with a box he must have been carrying without her notice.“I brought you something.”
Lottie eyed the package suspiciously.Was it filled with paper snakes or some other prank?She’d never been a big fan of those kinds of antics, at least not when they were perpetrated against her.“Why?I stayed away like you asked.”
Nate sighed and pulled the box back toward his chest.“I know you did.”He collapsed back onto the couch, looking incredibly tired and a little sad as he looked up at her.“But maybe I made a mistake by asking for that in the first place.”
Lottie sat on the chair adjacent to him, too afraid of what might happen if she sat closer.The pull between them was strong, but it was also explosive and she didn’t think she’d survive getting burned by him again.“You seemed pretty sure about it at the time.”His voice had held a finality that night that she had been unable to get out of her head in the days since she’d heard it.It haunted her at night and had kept Lottie from getting some much needed sleep.
Nate nodded.“I thought I was.I thought...well, I’ve thought a lot of things over the years, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been right about them.”He held the box out toward her again, wiggling it slightly.“Please open it?”
With shaky hands, Lottie took the shoebox sized package and lifted the lid.Staring back at her was a large assortment of saltwater taffy.It was a candy she had loved since she was little, tasting it for the first time when her parents had taken her to Seattle for the day and managed to make it almost the entire trip without fighting.It was a treat she didn’t indulge in often since she didn’t travel to the city much and shipped taffy was often rock hard.
Lottie looked from the box of sweets up to the man who’d brought them to her.“How did you know I liked taffy?”
Nate shrugged, his cheeks turning a faint shade of pink.The blush was a good look on him and one that was so unfamiliar to Lottie she tried to memorize it lest she never see it again.“You mentioned it once a while ago.”His eyes turned to the floor and if she wasn’t mistaken, he was embarrassed.
Lottie had had many conversations in her life, but none had revolved around her favorite treat in at least seven or eight years, she was sure of it.Bewildered by Nate’s remembrance of what was likely an offhanded comment, she reached in and grabbed a piece, feeling the confection give slightly as she squeezed the wax paper between her fingers.
“This is fresh.Where did you get it?”As far as Lottie knew, there were no taffy places around Applewood and if Nate had ordered it, he’d have paid a pretty penny for the overnight shipping.
His shoulder bobbed again.“There’s a shop near the sound that has a lot of flavors.Thought it would be a good place to go.”
Lottie’s mouth nearly dropped to the floor, but then she remembered hearing that Nate often went into the city for meetings with other government officials to talk shop, or to meet women.Suddenly the thought of eating a piece of taffy he’d procured while out on a booty call made her feel sick.“Did you have a meeting in the city?”
Lottie was afraid to meet his gaze, but when he shifted closer to her, she couldn’t help herself.Raising her face, she was met with eyes that were drilling into hers, the look so intensely sincere that she felt her throat thicken.“No,” Nate said solemnly.Shaking his head, he tapped the box in her lap with his finger.“I had no other business there but this.”
Swallowing the lump of emotion, Lottie leaned a little his way, unable to stop herself from wanting to soak up some of his sandalwood cologne.The scent was one he’d worn starting their senior year of high school and she’d always loved the way it mixed with his own to create something uniquely Nate.“You drove four hours round trip just to get me taffy?”
Nate nodded.“I owed you an apology and I didn’t think a bouquet from down the street would suffice.”Taking the box and setting it on the coffee table, Nate reached back over and took her hands in his.“I’m so sorry, Charlotte.I’ve been a shit to you for a long time when you did nothing to deserve it.I shouldn’t have told you to stay away.I...I’ve missed you.A lot.”
Lottie sniffled, but tried to cover it with a cough.She could not quite believe what she was hearing.“You missed me?”There was no denying the skepticism in her voice.The words he’d uttered were ones she’d never expected to hear from him.I’ve hated you, I’ve been annoyed endlessly by you,andI’ve regretted ever knowing youwere all much easier to swallow from him than his longing for her presence.
Nate smiled tremulously.“A lot.More than I thought possible.”He huffed and squeezed her hand.“It’s been weird, not having you around.Actually, I was hoping that we could change that.You see, I kind of need your help with something.”
The heart that had started to buoy in her chest sank right back to the bottom of her stomach.“Oh.”Lottie should have been over the moon that the one person she had always wanted to help was actually asking her for it, but she had foolishly gotten her hopes up that Nate was finally coming over to admit that he had romantic feelings for her.“I don’t know, Nate.What if I annoy you again?”
Nate chuckled lightly.“I’m absolutely certain that you will, and that I’ll annoy you too, but I’m hoping that we can push through that like we used to and get my town revitalization project off the ground.”
Lottie nodded.It had been his biggest campaign promise and the one he’d yet to fulfill.She believed in it as much as he did, and while she had known he’d been going about it the wrong way for a long time, she still wasn’t sure that spending more time around the man who loved to hate her was a good idea.“I don’t know, Nate.”
“Will you call me Nathan?Hell, I’ll even take Mister Mayor, but no more Nate, please.”Lottie wasn’t sure why he was asking for that when it was what the whole town called him, and frankly, she was too scared to look too closely at the request for fear of getting those hopes up again.As she considered his proposal, Nate’s eyes widened a fraction.“What if I throw in some extra incentive?If you help me, I’ll give you that interview you’ve been after.”He looked at her and smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling in a way that had her stomach flip-flopping.“Come on, Charlotte.I’m your white whale.Aren’t you going to reel me in?”
Nate was her white whale in more ways than one.He was the impossible interview to get, but the even more impossible man to keep around.Still, maybe it would be better to have some of Nate than all of him, and at the very least, it would be a good way to see whether or not she could really stay in the same town with him and not go crazy.Lottie went to shake on the deal, not realizing that they were still holding hands.Oddly enough, she’d stopped feeling them as separate entities and more like one joined force, as if the moment they touched they melted into one another.It had always felt like that to her anytime they touched, but clearly the same was not true of Nate based on his prolonged irritation with her.
Pushing aside the hurt that thought caused, Lottie looked up at Nate and put on as wide a smile as she could muster.Nodding emphatically, she squeezed his hands.“Mister Mayor, you’ve got yourself a deal.”
Instead of shaking her hand like Lottie thought he would, Nate brought both of her hands up to his mouth and kissed the knuckles.“Thank you, Charlotte.”Her name sounded almost reverent as he spoke it, causing a flurry of very confused feelings to rush through her.“I mean it.”
Lottie nodded, a little shaken from his words of gratitude and his firm touch.“I believe you.”She wasn’t sure what else she might believe from him, but as she continued to stare into his oceanic eyes, she knew that shewantedto believe everything he ever had to say from now on.
