Well, that wasn’t an option for him. He didn’t engage with strangers, especially not strange women. Especially not attractive strange women.
And yet, when he came to the corner of Piedmont Street and saw the light spilling out from multiple windows, he pulled over briefly. And when he rolled down the window and heard an unmistakably frustrated yell of, “Oh, drat, you stupid thing! Don’t you even think about—no!” he got out of the car and crossed the lawn.
The front door was open, presumably to let in the pleasant spring air. Through the screen door, he could hear clanging and muttering.
Turn back,he told himself.There’s still time. Go before your sandwich gets cold.
He craned his neck and saw legs sticking out from under the kitchen sink.
“Hello?” he called gently.
Thunk.“Ow!”
Oh no, had he startled her into striking her head? This was officially the point where Garrett beat a hasty retreat… or would that be too rude, even for him? His hesitation cost him. While he was deliberating, Eleanor came out from under the sink, looking flustered but otherwise unharmed.
“Oh,” she said. “Hello.”
He was caught.
“I, uh…” She trailed off, scrambling to her feet. She was wearing that kind of athletic wear that women seemed to use more for errands and such than for actually going to the gym, not that Garrett knew much about either women or gyms. His exercise mostly came from hauling stuff around his store.
Eleanor patted down her auburn hair, which didn’t really help the mess, but seemed to help her collect herself.
“Hi,” she said on a slow exhale. “You surprised me. You’re… the hardware store guy, right?”
“I am,” he said. “Garrett.”
She pointed to herself. “Eleanor.”
I know. It was on the tip of his tongue before he could stop himself. Showing up outside this woman’s door one random evening was one thing, making it sound like he’d been asking about her was something else entirely. He might be okay with his reputation as the town grump, but he didn’t want to cross straight over into villain territory, and freaking out the newcomer definitely fell into the latter territory.
“Hi,” he said, scrambling for something else to say. This had been acolossalmistake. He would remember this any time he ever decided to get curious again. “You’re, uh, having trouble with that sink?”
He jerked his chin at the offending appliance. Eleanor’s cheeks pinkened, and he decided not to notice that it was a good look on her… nor that the color of the flush exactly matched the color of her toenail polish, which healsodid not notice.
“It’s under control,” she said frostily.
This was it. This was his reason to leave.Okay, then, bye.That’s what he should say. If he was fast, his sandwich might even still be hot.
Instead, his traitorous mouth said, “The whole back of your shirt is wet. That sink is still leaking.”
Eleanor looked almost shocked as she glanced over her shoulder at the back of her sky blue top, as if she hadn’t even noticed the large wet spot, given all her other frustrations. He saw her shoulders slump.
“It can do more damage than good if you keep messing with it,” he cajoled, wondering why on earth he was doing this. “You don’t want to end up with two things broken instead of one, do you?”
Why was he doing this?
But he was doing it, and he did, in fact, feel a jolt of happiness when she said, “Ohfine.” The curmudgeon in him could even appreciate the ill temper with which she agreed. He started to open the screen door but froze when she held up a hand.
“Wait a minute,” she said. “What am I thinking? You’re a stranger. How did you even end up here?”
Despite himself, he chuckled. “You from the city?”
“Indianapolis… so, I guess so.”
“Well, we’re not the tiniest town around, but you’re going to learn that six thousand people… it’s not a lot. All of which is to say, I saw June Caldwell earlier and she mentioned you moving in here, which she learned after having dinner with you over at Diana Madsen’s place.”
Eleanor narrowed her eyes, but she was beginning to look convinced.
