Cole mirrored his betrothed’s expression for a moment, then spoke slowly, as if he couldn’t believe his own words. “I think Alan lied about what they needed to get done so I could sneak away to see you.”
I decided to test the limits of Powell’s charm. How much did it directly impact people’s emotions beyond their disappointment in Alan’s skills? Was the rest of the negativity just a side-effect, or purposeful? Remembering that my conversation with Widow Penniwell had worked because I let her draw her own conclusions, I didn’t push far. “That was nice of him.”
Cole nodded. “Alan’s always been a good friend.”
A moment after he spoke, Cole frowned as if wondering at his own words.
I debated saying anything else, but thought letting him wrestle with the fact that he considered Alan a good friend on his own might be better. I leaned down and grabbed the handle of my basket, then pushed it against Cole’s chest. “Since you got out of farm chores this afternoon, you’d better help Gemma finish collecting her lavender. Otherwise, she is going to feel guilty about letting you stay. I’ll leave you both to it.”
They tried to protest that I was welcome to stay, but not too hard. I smiled and insisted that they didn’t need me. Then I made my way back to the village, disappointed that it wasn’t later in the day, that my time to see Alan was still hours away. I wanted to let him know what Cole had said. I wanted to give him hope that maybe he could salvage his friendships, even without destroying the charm.
I wanted to see him and greet him the way Gemma had Cole.
Thirteen
Mina
???
I reached thestream well before I expected to see Alan. After supper, waiting became too much of an effort, so I slipped out of the Wrison home. Alan likely couldn’t get away so early, I knew. Still, it was a disappointment not to see him waiting for me when I walked down the rough steps to the bank of the stream.
I settled on the boulder and waited.
The sun sank lower, and I stood up. It was nearly the same time he had arrived the evening before. I looked upstream, but didn’t see anyone walking along the banks.
“Mina!”
I spun around before I processed that the voice calling my name wasn’t the one I wanted to hear. Hannah stood at the top of the steps, looking down at me.
“What are you doing sneaking around here?” she asked, giggling.
Keeping my posture relaxed took effort. “I’m not sneaking around. I enjoy listening to the sound of the water.” I raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing sneaking around?”
Her smile turned impish. “I’m not sneaking around, either. Yet.”
My smile smoothed out, becoming genuine. “And where will you be sneaking later?”
She came down the steps and gestured for me to lean closer.
“I’m meeting Phillip for a walk,” she whispered.
I looked at Hannah in surprise. Not because she was meeting a man for a walk in the moonlight, but because the man she was meeting was one of Kayla’s suitors. Then again, according to Kayla, every unmarried man in the village was one of her suitors. I tried to remember seeing Phillip interact with her and decided that perhaps I had misjudged his interest. Between Kayla’s confidence that every man was paying attention to her and Hannah’s habit of disappearing into the other woman’s shadow, it would be easy to miss if a man was actually courting Hannah.
“Is this your first walk with Phillip?” I asked, hoping Hannah hadn’t misinterpreted my surprise.
She bit her lip. “No. We’ve been meeting up for almost a week now. I think he might ask me to go with him to the Midsummer Festival.”
“That’s wonderful!” I studied her expression. “Unless you don’t want to go with him?”
Her eyes went wide. “I do. I really do. It’s just...”
In a flash, I understood. Hannah had teased me about sneaking around because she had wanted to have this conversation. Needed to have it. I took her hand and squeezed. “You are worried about how Kayla will react.”
She nodded.
“Are you afraid Kayla will be mad or make fun of you?”
“Both,” Hannah whispered. “She says horrible things about him, then turns around and brags that he is chasing after her. He isn’t, though. But if I go to the festival with him, she’ll say he had to settle for me because she said no.”
