Just then my sister Lucy appeared in the doorway, hair pulled back hurriedly, cheeks pink from the cold. She was smiling without realizing it.
“I have to head into town. Dex offered to help with getting materials to fix the solarium out back,” she explained, grabbing a cinnamon bun.
I noticed the way Lucy tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, the way her voice softened when she said his name. New things rearranged people quietly, I had learned. Love did that, even at the beginning, shifting priorities before you noticed the floor had moved beneath your feet.
Dex and Lucy were falling in love. Anyone could see it and they were slowly accepting it. Part of me envied them, part of me was sad because I knew my closest sister was growing away from me.
Unbidden, the thought of Braxton came to mind. I knew if I let myself, my heart could easily get caught up in him.
I shoved the thought away. I knew better than to let my heart get broken again. It had taken too much to pick up the pieces.
Chapter Two: Raspberry Pastries
Braxton
I had worked in quieter places than the Snowdrop Inn, but rarely in ones that felt quite this unfinished.
My laptop was open on the long table near the front windows, blueprints spread beside it in a way that would have made my office assistant wince. Cold slipped in around the frames when the wind shifted, just enough to remind me I wasn't in a sleek downtown building with sealed glass and climate control. Somewhere overhead, someone was moving furniture. Somewhere behind me, Jane was washing dishes in the kitchen, the sound oddly reassuring, while Meri hummed off key to Christmas carols as she passed by.
The inn felt like a work in progress in the most literal sense.
Trim was still unfinished in the hallway. Holiday decorations were liberally strewn across the place, part of the cheeriness of the Bennet family. I found myself liking that far more than I expected.
I adjusted my glasses and glanced at my screen, forcing my attention back to the project Dex and I were midstream on. I could work from anywhere, technically. My job required focus, not location. Still, I hadn’t planned on staying in Maple Ridge this long.
That part was new.
I knew exactly why I was still here, even if I didn’t say it out loud.
Jane.
I had seen her balancing that tray like it was both fragile and precious, her attention fixed on keeping everything upright rather than on the people in front of her. The handle had looked like it was one second away from snapping, and my body had reacted before my brain caught up.
I had jumpedup and takenit from her hands.
The look on her face when she realized the weight was gone had done something permanent to me. Jane had been completely surprised, as though she didn’t expect help. Then her sweet blush and stammering answer when I introduced myself.
She wasn't unaffected by me and I was certainly affected by her.
It wasn’t just that she was beautiful, though she certainly was. It was the way she moved, careful and competent at the same time and the way she seemed surprised that anyone noticed her effort. The way she flushed, not with flirtation but with embarrassment, as though attention was something she rarely was given.
Her raspberry pastries were divine. Anything she cooked or baked was better than most five star restaurants I had been to.
All of that combined made her the most attractive woman I had ever met. Jane was someone I wanted to know. Someone who mattered to me. I probably had the biggest crush on her and that part scared me a little.
I had always been open, friendly, and quick to offer help. It was part of my personality. My mother used to joke that I came out of the womb smiling at the nurses. Somewhere along the way, that had turned into a liability.
I had been told I was too much more times thanI cared to count. Too eager. Too available. Too kind in a world that treated kindness like a negotiating position.
It had put me in some tight spots where I was taken advantage of more than I liked to admit. I relied on my family and my best friend Dex, to be honest with me and guide me from making such mistakes again.
I learned to dial my better nature back.
Or I tried to. However, my father and my sister Carly still complained that sometimes I was just too nice for my own good.
With Jane, I was now careful in a way that surprised me. I noticed the way she flinched, almost imperceptibly, when rooms got crowded. The way she seemed to brace herself before asking for anything, as though expecting the request to be denied. She wasn't like the women I had dated before.
Those women had been confident and polished. They were comfortable in rooms full of money and expectations. They knew exactly what they wanted and assumed I would be happy to provide it. Dinners had been negotiations disguised as flirtation. Compliments came with a cost I was always expected to absorb.
