“I bought coffee from home. It’s a recipe that traveled from Eagle Mountain to us and now we can’t live without it.”
A curious smile curves her full pink lips. “Must be good then. How about we go get set up in the apartment and partake in this caffeine elixir of yours before we get started?”
“Sounds good to me,” I say, stepping back as she closes the front door and stops in front of me on the porch. She tilts her head and looks me over. “You seem different today. It’s a good different, but just… different. Refreshed?”
“Had a good sleep. Fed the duck. Checked on the calves and now I’m here, ready to paint the day away with you.”
That gets me a bright and wide grin. “I like that I’m included in the good. But wait… you fed a duck?”
“Long story.”
“Well, lucky for me, we’ve got all day for you to tell me about it. And don’t talk to me about sleep,” she says as a yawn escapes as we start walking toward the garage stairs. “Dad gave me some books the other day and I can’t stop readin’ them.”
My heart punches against my ribs and I miss the first step, quickly righting myself with the railing. “Oh yeah?” I say, my voice sounding a little higher pitched than normal.
She shoots me a puzzled look. “Yeah. They’re very addictive.”
“You always did like to read,” I reply, thinking back to all the times when we’d just hang out in the backyard treehouse. Charlie would have her nose in a book, and I’d pretend to read comics, watching her when she wasn’t looking.
She beams as we reach the top of the stairs. “Perks of havin’ a dad who owns a bookstore.”
Chuckling, I open the door and usher her inside. “So, these books Greg gave you. What are they about?”
She turns to face me, and I find the draw to her is stronger than it has ever felt before. “They’re part of a big romance series,” Charlie says, her eyes searching mine. “The first one is about an author who gets stranded in a snowstorm on a mountain and gets saved by a man who turns out to be her missin’ muse. There’s also a bit of mystic fate at play too with them bein’ brought together by a matchmakin’ mountain spirit.”
“Hmm?” I don’t trust myself to say anything because I know exactly the book she’s talking about and the author who wrote it, Aster Hollingsworth.
Aster is the Moose Mountain Seer, and all of her books are based on the mountain’s call. She tells the true stories of soulmates that have been brought together by the spirit.
As I’m thinking this, Charlie tells me how she’s read eight of the books so far and is hooked. “The next series is about a sustainable homestead and the foundin’ brothers who live there. I can’t wait to get to them. Then there’s cowboys after that too.”
“So, it’s safe to say you’re enjoyin’ them?”
She giggles. “Oh yeah. I love readin’ after a long day at the hospital because it helps me switch off and just let it all go, you know?”
I nod. “Sounds like they’ve been keepin’ you up at night because you can’t put them down.”
“That’s exactly what they are,” she replies. “They’re stories of hope and redemption. Of followin’ your heart and findin’ that one person you were always meant to be with.” Her eyes soften but her gaze as it bores into mine is intense. “Isn’t that what everyone wants?”
“Yep.”And I’m looking at mine right now.
13
CHARLIE
After spending the morning painting primer on all of the apartment walls and falling in love with Austin’s cowboy brew coffee, we decide to take a break for a late lunch in the house.
I warm up two plates of Ma’s lasagne from last night’s dinner, and we move from the kitchen to the breakfast nook, Austin taking a chair and me sliding along the window seat that looks out over the backyard. We’ve both got a beer in front of us because painting’s harder than I expected and I figured we deserve one.
“Tell me about your travels," Austin says before spooning a mouthful of food into his mouth. I find my eyes drifting down to his big strong arms and the way his forearm flexes when he moves.
I don't know why, but something weird happens when I'm near Austin now. It's like I have a new heightened awareness of him. Don't get me wrong, I've always thought he was the most handsome boy–and now man–I've ever seen, but the way I’m affected by him now is new. Not at all unwelcomed, but it's likenothing I've felt before. There’s this invisible pull between us, and it’s taking everything in me to resist it.
Austin clears his throat, and my gaze jumps up to meet his now amused one. His lips twitch. “Sorry, travels?”
“Yeah. You said you were in Spain?”
"It's one of my favorite places in the whole world. That and Portugal. I loved it. I visited other countries in Europe when I was there, but Spain has my heart almost as much as Spring Haven does."
