"What do you mean he sees me and it's scary?"
"You're used to idiots who don't know how to handle a woman with any ounce of care or intention. This tall hunk of fang finds you in every room. He sees you. And I've watched you. You either hide from his Tom Selleck dark-eyed attention or your hackles rise and you go toe-to-toe."
"Ohmygod he does look like young Tom Selleck," Eloise exclaimed.
"Who is that?" Bess asked as she put a mug in front of Jen, who inhaled sharply.
"Pain. I feel pain that you do not know who that is."Bess rolled her eyes. "He gives me a Heathcliff who got therapy vibe."
Tess and Jen hummed thoughtfully.
"He does not scare me," Tilly argued with a scoff.
Jen shifted her shoulders. "Ok, give us a reason then. A good one."
"Tess made an excellent point. Needles. I'm terrified of them." At Jen's dubious look, she pointed with raised eyebrows, "You had to hold my hand the last time I got a flu shot."
Jen nodded. "That's true. I did. But I'm willing to bet he has control of his needle teeth by now. You're scared because you're used to settling for minimum attention from guys who barely made it past puberty, like Ronnie, and Theo Landry is no idiot, high-fiving puberty. The manseesyou."
"Well, I do not know what to do with that," she conceded. "And I need a distraction from all of this," she announced, looking at her friends.
Tess waved as she left to help a customer, and Eloise pushed up off the bartop throwing a white rag over her shoulder. "I say we have a cozy movie and cookie night tonight."
"I could use a cozy movie cookie night."
"Can I come?" Bess leaned over the counter, her light pink beanie stark against her long, wavy black hair.
"Of course," Eloise replied.
"Cool. Can Tess come?"
"You and Tess have become close," Tilly observed. "I'm glad. She needed a friend like you."
Bess shrugged the compliment off her pink short-sleeved flannel shirt casually. "I was kind of an ass to her at first."
"I can attest to that," Eloise agreed.
"Thanks," she said flatly with an eye roll at Eloise, who gave her a shrug back.
"Can't tonight. Have a date with Isla," Jen said, her lack of enthusiasm noted.
"Bring her," Eloise offered.
She waved the offer off. "She's not really a women friend kind of person."
Bess's scowl was prominent when she told Jen that was lame, and Jen shrugged. Tilly happened to agree with Bess but held it in.
"Okay, I need to go over to the inn.""Oh, kind of like your first day, right?" Eloise asked with excitement.
"Yeah. No idea what I'm doing. Like, this is kind of crazy, right?"
"No. No one knows what they're doing when they start something until they learn it."
The women looked at Bess.
"That was incredibly astute," Eloise said with praise.
"And true," Jen added.
