“EDis for Emily Dickinson,” he said.
I narrowed my eyes. “Yeah. So?”
“You don’t own Rini Reads.”
“No. Well, not yet. My parents do now, but I’m not sure what’s happening when I get home.” I bit the insides of my cheeks to keep from saying more.
Davis rubbed a giant hand over his face and moved toward the front door. “I’ve got to go.”
My eyes landed on the refrigerator and my to-do list, trapped beneath a magnet. Was that what he’d been reading when I’d returned?
Journal
Read
Write poetry
Connect with myself
Bake
Garden
Embrace the solitude
Become my best Emily
Be happy
Give up on love
I let my head fall forward, silently cursing my life; then I rushed after him. “Where are you going?”
“Home.” He was already on the porch when I caught up.
Why did he keep walking away like that?
Why did I keep chasing him?
“Well, thank you,” I said. “I feel as if I should give you something for your help. I would’ve frozen tonight without it. Are you sure I can’t at least make you a cup of tea or coffee?” Maybe clear up how he knew my dad and why he seemed so irritated and baffled.
He turned, and I deflated as a realization came to mind.
“I actually don’t have coffee.” I hadn’t been to the market, but there was tea in the kitchen. “But there’s plenty of cold water,” I joked.
Davis lifted a hand, then climbed into the cab of his truck.
I stared as he performed a three-point turn and drove away.
Chapter Five
I woke to the sensation of warm morning sun on my cheek and smiled. I had nowhere to be, no one expecting me to do anything, and no cell service to interrupt my peace.
I was a character in a storybook. A woman of leisure.
I dressed in a short-sleeved peasant top and faded capri jeans, then wrapped a cardigan around my shoulders and carried a cup of tea and a book to the back patio. The brick pavers felt cool beneath my fuzzy socks, and I pulled my feet onto the chair with me. Dew clung to the grass, shielded by shade trees, and fog hovered over the distant fields like an apparition. Fall was shoving away the remnants of summer inch by inch, making nights colder and shortening the days. It was my favorite time of year.
I closed my eyes to absorb the precious moment.
