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Unexpectedly, I laughed and gave him a small smile. “No, thank you. I’ll deal with her when I get home. I appreciate the offer though.”

Kieran laughed, too. “No problem. The offer stands. Just say the word.” He paused for a beat. “Hey, maybe I should put that on my business cards. Will communicate with your ex for a fee. Yours would be free, of course, as my first client.”

“Of course,” I said dryly. By then, I had pulled the car into the driveway and was putting it into park. The dark cloud I’d felt regarding Eva was starting to lighten. I turned to Kieran before he could get out of the car and placed my hand on his arm. “Hey. Thanks again. For everything. Helping Lena and the grocery store trip and whatever else. All of it.”

He smiled easily. “Anytime.”

Chapter Eleven

Kieran

“Here you go,” I said as I helped Lena into the car and tucked her knee scooter into the back seat. Her ankle was still killing her, but she had things to do—including a meeting at town hall for the planning committee she’d joined. I’d been signed on as unofficial chauffeur, considering I had an abundance of free time and deep enough gratitude for her hospitality that I’d do just about anything to make her life easier.

The baking had gone disastrously enough that Lena had canceled the rest of her orders for the next few days, despite the frankly stellar effort that Ellis and I had put in, if I said so myself. She was doing most of her work remotely, but the early evening committee meeting was scheduled to be in person just a couple of days after her accident.

“Thanks again,” she said as I eased into the driver’s seat.

I shrugged and waved away her thanks. “It’s nothing. Just as long as you don’t expect me to participate.”

Lena laughed quietly. “Absolutely no expectations. I just need you for the transportation.”

“Good.” I grinned at her as I drove, but I couldn’t stop the nagging feeling that I was walking into something I didn’t want to be a part of.

The town hall building wasn’t far away from Lena’s place and to my surprise, it was pretty close to the tattoo shop Ellis worked at, too. Sometimes I forgot that in smaller towns, everything was nearby everything else. I wondered idly if we’d have time to swing by the tattoo shop and say hi when we were done. Then I wondered why I’d even had that thought. It’s not like Ellis and I were friends. We were becoming friendly, but that was all.

Once we entered the town hall building, Lena slowly led the way to the conference room, taking her time to navigate the halls on her knee scooter. As we walked, I found myself looking around, absorbing everything. The building was great—old maybe, but it had a solid start and immediately I saw what the space could become, if the committee ever decided to spruce up the town hall building.

I shook my head. Stop it, I told myself. I’m only here to help Lena. Besides, I left for a reason.

I sighed quietly at myself as we entered the conference room. There were nearly a dozen people sitting or standing, chatting in small groups. I followed Lena in and several people greeted her. She gave them all a bright smile and said hello.

“Who’s this?” one older lady asked warily. She had short gray hair and piercing brown eyes.

Lena nodded at me. “This is my friend Kieran. He’s a friend of mine from college and he’s visiting for the holidays.”

“Hi,” I said, giving a small wave and feeling weirdly insecure.

A younger guy, probably in his late twenties, snapped twice and pointed at me. “I think I know you from somewhere.”

Internally, I cringed, desperately hoping he wasn’t recognizing me from the show. Outwardly, I shook my head and furrowed my brow. “I’m not sure. Did we go to school together, maybe?”

He tilted his head as he was thinking. “No, that’s not it.” A moment passed while I held my breath. “Oh, I know. It’s that TV show. Heartland Overhaul.”

My stomach sank and my face burned. I pressed my lips together in a tight line and nodded slowly. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

“You’re the designer, right?” He turned to Lena. “Please tell me he’s here to help. I love his work.”

“Sorry, Dale. He’s just here to give me a hand.” She gestured at her knee scooter. “He’s my driver.”

Dale shrugged and let out a quiet breath of disappointment. “Oh well. Maybe we can rope him in anyway.”

The idea made my stomach sour. I didn’t want to be roped in. I wanted to get away from my reputation as reality show designer altogether. “Not a chance,” I said, smiling like it was a joke.

“Hey, everyone,” someone from the front of the room said, a shorter woman who was maybe in her fifties. “Let’s go ahead and get started now that everyone’s here.”

Lena and I sat and she leaned over to me. “That’s Olivia. She’s the committee chairperson.”

I nodded silently and watched as Olivia called the meeting to order. She pulled up a slide show that was displayed on a TV mounted to the wall at the front of the conference room. I listened as Olivia talked about the progress they’d made—which was to say, not much. She clicked through the slide show, displaying pictures of the library as it was.