Cadence grinned. This painting wouldn’t be getting hung on the walls of the gallery.
No, she already had theperfectbuyer for this particular painting, someone who needed a statement piece just like this one to complete her home.
Much to his chagrin, Garrett found that he was still thinking about Eleanor as he ate lunch the next day at the Main Street Diner. And she wasn’t on his mind just because he’d well and truly put his foot in it when he’d made that little comment about getting her husband to do her handiwork. Heck, he knew the comment would have been a little out of line even if she had been married. Goodness knew that if his fifteen-year-old niece, or her mother, Garrett’s older sister, had overheard it, they’d be giving him an earful about old-fashioned attitudes and capable women.
Yup, he had pretty much been a jerk. But that wasn’t why he was still thinking about her.
No, of all the foolish things, he was dwelling onsympathy. He knew that the success or failure of a relationship wasn’t about “deserving” things. He hadn’t deserved it when Maria had ditched him shortly before their wedding. Things just didn’t work out sometimes.
But Eleanor…
Well, Garrett was anti-relationships, but he wasn’t ignorant, and he had eyes in his head. Eleanor was a beautiful woman. That husband of hers, or ex-husband, whatever, must have been a fool to let her go. Especially since she wasn’t just a prettyface either. Starting over the way she was doing, tackling a big renovation project when it was absolutely clear that she didn’t have experience on that front? That was brave too. Resilient. It was impressive.
It wasnot, however, he reminded himself as he ate a French fry with a little more vigor than was strictly necessary, his business to be impressed by her. He didn’t get involved in other people’s lives, and he saw no reason to start now.
Seeking a distraction from the way his traitorous mind wanted to focus on Eleanor’s flushed cheeks, he looked around the diner. His eyes landed on Tyler Meadows, Cadence Meadows’… husband? Ex-husband? Garrett wasn’t actually certain about the status of that relationship, although he knew the couple had split recently. It was hard to avoid that kind of gossip in a town this size. Especially when the old timers loved to come into the hardware store for a gossip.
Either way, Tyler looked like a guy who had recently seen his life get upended around his ears. Garrett knew that look all too well.
“Tyler, hey. How’s it going?”
Tyler worked as an electrician, which made him one of the residents of Magnolia Shore that Garrett knew well. While Tyler mostly got his equipment wholesale, as Garrett did, the younger man would sometimes pop into Nut and Bolts when he needed odds and ends quickly. Since Tyler, in his mid-thirties, was three or four decades younger than most of the rest of Garrett’s clientele, the two men had struck up a natural rapport.
Plus, Tyler never probed into Garrett’s business. Garrett liked that.
Tyler looked almost startled to be addressed. “Garrett, hey,” he said. There were dark circles under his eyes that looked like they’d been there for a while.
Although Garrett and Tyler had an easy relationship, Garrett knew that he and the other man were very dissimilar. While Garrett stuck to his own business, Tyler was the kind of guy who was always keeping an ear out… not so that he could gossip or stick his nose in, but so that he could help. He ran, for example, a weekly beach clean-up, one that had started as just Tyler, some latex gloves, and a trash bag, and now had at least a dozen regular or semi-regular participants and those dedicated grabber things so that the older volunteers didn’t have to bend down so much.
Normally, Tyler had the attitude to match. He was cheerful, warm, kind. In fact, Garrett would have said, until this very moment, that it was his least favorite thing about Tyler.
But now, seeing the man look worn down and weary, Garrett found that it didn’t fit him at all.
And so Garrett broke his cardinal rule andgot involved.
“How you been?” he asked. “Want to join me?” He jerked his chin at the spare chair on his table.
“I’m waiting for takeout, but I’ll sit while I’m waiting,” Tyler said, smiling faintly. It looked like it took a lot of effort to put the expression on his face. “I’m picking up Izzy from school and we’re going to do a beach picnic afternoon. She’s back with Cadence tonight, but Cadence is working, so I’m getting some time with the kiddo before we shuffle back and forth.”
He sounded exhausted just talking about it. Garrett didn’t know Cadence as well as he knew Tyler, but he’d seen her around too, and she’d had that same look about her, as if the world itself felt heavier these days.
This was, Garrett told himself, a perfectly timed reminder about why he shouldn’t be thinking about anybody’s pink toenails or the annoyed little pout on her face when he’d told her to hire a professional handyman. He didn’t even know her last name, for goodness’ sake! And he shouldn’twantto learnit either. Tyler and Cadence, who had always seemed so happy together, were a perfect example, one he would do well to keep in mind.
Relationships ended. And when they ended, everything in your life fell apart with them.
Why would he sign himself up for that pain again? He’d have to be nuts.
Garrett, keenly reminded of his faux pas from yesterday, cleared his throat and paused before speaking.
“Beach picnic sounds fun, though,” he said.
Tyler’s shoulders got a little lighter. “Yeah,” he said. “I hope Isabelle isn’t upset that we’re going without her mom… we used to do it all together, but I guess things change…”
He trailed off, like he’d half-forgotten the conversation he was having.
Garrett might be known for being a touch grumpy, but he wasn’t heartless. He felt for the family. They were going through something tough right now. And though he did not, as a general rule, likepeople, kids were an exception. Isabelle Meadows was funny, smart, and she knew about wire gauge sizes, which was, as far as Garrett was concerned, three great qualities in any child.
“Well, tell Izzy I say hi,” Garrett said as they called out Tyler’s name from behind the counter.
