Now all she needed to do was get Miss Hattie and the crafty people in this town on board.
* * *
The kitchen wasempty when Rudy walked into the house on Wednesday afternoon. His stomach sank when he didn't find Eden in the kitchen.
Why am I disappointed?
He should be relieved Eden wasn't standing there wearing an apron that begged him to kiss her.
If she's not in the kitchen, does that mean she's in the bath again?
That thought caused tension to coil in his midsection.
Instead of heading to his room to change, he went downstairs in search of his mom. He found her in the downstairs family room with Debbie’s little ones.
"Where's Eden?" He tried to keep his voice casual.
"I'm not sure at this point." Mom's shoulders bounced.
"What do you mean?" Rudy asked.
She hadn't left already, had she? That should please him, but it didn't. Did she leave because of him? Had he made her feel unwelcome?
Mom shifted little William away from the entertainment center. "Last I saw her, she was headed to Hattie's."
"The store?" Rudy cocked his head. "What's she doing there?"
He'd had a hard time picturing Eden as the domestic type, but Eden and crafts? That just didn't compute.
Mom raised an eyebrow as she regarded him. "I guess you could say she went to apply for a job."
"She wants a job at the boutique?" Rudy shook his head. "I wasn't aware Miss Hattie was hiring."
Was the boutique even that busy? Why on earth would Eden want to work there? It seemed so beneath her. Beneath her skills anyway.
Mom chuckled. "Hattie wasn't hiring, but I have a feeling she'll have a hard time saying no to Eden."
"What are you talking about?"
"Why are you so concerned about her?" Mom gave him a sly grin.
"I'm not. I just...don't understand."
She waved him away. "I'm sure she'll tell us all about it during dinner."
Still bewildered, Rudy went upstairs and changed his clothes. He stepped into the bathroom to wash his hands and froze. It looked like a hurricane had swept through the room. Makeup and hair accessories lay strewn across the counter along with funny looking V-shaped and pointy curling iron things that looked like dangerous weapons.
It was bad enough that her bottles of pretty-smelling body wash and hair care products in the shower—yes, he'd given into temptation this morning and smelled them—practically crowded his out, but now she'd invaded the rest of the bathroom along with her coconut scent.
He propped his hands on his hips and pressed his lips together. Scott used to always call him a neat freak, to which Rudy responded by calling him a slob—which he wasn't. But even Scott hadn't been this messy.
How long do I have to put up with this woman in my bathroom? In my house? Stuck in my head?
As soon as the thought filled his mind, he regretted thinking it. He didn't know exactly what Eden was going through, but he figured it must be major to cause her to leave her father and her job the way she had. He still wasn't sure it wasn't some sort of tantrum, but was she desperate enough to need a job at Hattie's?
He doubted Eden liked this situation any more than he did, but he wouldn't make her feel unwelcome. When she chose to leave, it wouldn't be because he drove her away.
Bending, he opened the drawers and cabinets. Even though she had totally invaded his life, there was plenty of room in the bathroom for both of them. He just needed to condense and organize the odds and ends in the drawers and maybe throw a few things away, then there would be room for her stuff.
