Steve’s eyes widened when he saw the indecision on Eden’s face.
She looked at Penny. “How many people are waiting for a home they can rent?”
“We have about thirty people on our waitlist, but not everyone has arrived in Sapphire Bay. Some families are more organized than others and start looking for a rental before they arrive.”
Eden looked at Steve. “I can’t live here, not with people like Chloe and Oscar looking for somewhere to live. The Welcome Center is lovely, but it’s not a great place for Oscar. He’d love running around in the backyard and it’s so much closer to his school.”
Steve held her hand. “If you don’t take the cottage, you’ll have to stay with John and Shelley.”
“Not necessarily.” Eden turned to Shelley. “Can I ask if Chloe’s near the top of the list for the next available house to rent?”
Shelley opened a document on her iPad. “She’s near the top. What are you thinking?”
Eden sighed. “I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I thought I was taking someone else’s place. What if Chloe and Oscar moved into the cottage? I could ask John if I could take their room at The Welcome Center. Hopefully, I won’t be there for long.”
Steve admired what she wanted to do, but it might take her longer than she thought to find something else. “Are you sure? It’s difficult finding somewhere to live in Sapphire Bay.”
“It would be a short commute to work,” she said half-jokingly. “I hope I haven’t wasted your time, Penny. I reallywasexcited about seeing the cottage, but it doesn’t seem fair if I live here when others can’t.”
Penny sent Eden a genuine smile. “I completely understand. If another rental comes on the market, I’ll let you know. But before you do anything, let me talk to Chloe. If she’d like to move into the cottage with her son, I’ll tell John you’d like to take their place at the center. It should work, but you never know.”
Eden nodded and looked back at the cottage. “It really is a lovely home.”
Penny slipped her iPad back into her bag. “Don’t worry. There’ll be others.”
Steve lowered Rex to the ground. “And you’ll be able to get a good night’s sleep knowing you’ve helped someone else.”
Whether Eden slept quite so soundly after he told her about his sculptures was another story.
Chapter15
As they walked away from the cottage, Steve was worried. If he didn’t tell Eden about his sculptures and how popular they were, she’d find out from someone else. And that would be worse than keeping the information from her for this long.
Taking a deep breath, he tried to find the right words. “Eden, there’s something I need to tell you.”
She sighed. “I know what you’re going to say. You think I’m crazy not to rent the cottage. But Chloe and Oscar will appreciate it more than me.”
“That’s not what I was going to say,” Steve told her. “But letting Chloe rent the cottage was a kind thing to do. I just hope she wants to live there.”
Eden tightened her grip on his hand. “Almost everyone in Sapphire Bay wants to live there. Shelley said the official opening ceremony of the cottages was really popular. People were lining up to see inside the cottages.” She looked at him and frowned. “If you weren’t going to tell me I’m crazy, what did you want to say?”
Steve stopped under an old oak tree and looked into her eyes. “I haven’t told you the whole truth about my sculptures.”
“In what way?”
He looked at the trust shining in her eyes. “Sculpting is my career, not something I do as a hobby. My agent does a good job of finding customers who want to buy my work.”
“That must make it a lot easier. I don’t know much about art,” Eden confessed. “But your sculptures are amazing.”
Steve nodded, feeling a little vulnerable. “They sell for a lot of money.”
“That’s wonderful,” she told him. “It must cost a lot to get the steel sent to your workshop. And some of your tools look quite specialized.”
“They are,” Steve said cautiously. “I’ve always enjoyed sculpting. I started with clay, then moved to wood and metal. I’ve been collecting the tools in my workshop for years.”
“I’ll know what to buy you for Christmas, then,” Eden teased.
Steve held her hands. “I’ve exhibited and sold sculptures to clients around the world. I don’t usually attend the openings of the exhibitions or make any public appearances.”
