Page 12 of Our Now and Forever

Shaking her head, she dished eggs onto a plate. “Not always. I started as a consignment store. Locals brought in things they didn’t need or want anymore, I’d sell it, and we’d split the profit.” Sliding the loaded plate onto the counter, she gestured toward the fridge. “Butter for the toast is on the door.”

There was barely enough room to open the fridge with Snow standing at the stove, since the two appliances were directly across from each other, but Caleb managed to retrieve the butter as well as a knife from the proper drawer. “I’m surprised a town this small could cough up all that old stuff.”

“The town isn’t as small as you think,” she said, a tremor of irritation in her tone. “And some of that old stuff, as you call it, is valuable. I get customers from outside the county on a regular basis, and I earn enough to make a living.”

He’d wondered how she supported herself while they were apart. When he’d met her in Nashville, she was selling Western wear during the day, singing for tips four nights a week in local bars, and booking demo gigs whenever she could. The three jobs combined hadn’t been enough for her to live on her own without a roommate.

“Do you sing anywhere?” he asked. Though he hadn’t known she was a singer the night they met, the first time he heard her belting out “Delta Dawn” in a dive on Broadway, Caleb had been more than impressed.

The spatula hovered over the pan as Snow hesitated to answer. “No,” she finally said. One word that said a lot.

“Why not?” he asked. “You’re close enough to Nashville to record a demo now and then.”

“I don’t sing anymore, that’s all.” Snow loaded the remaining eggs onto her own plate. “Once we were married and you moved us to Baton Rouge, I thought I’d miss it, but I didn’t. Getting away made me realize that, though I enjoyed the act of singing, I didn’t like all the hoopla that went into trying to do it for a living.” Caleb didn’t like the way she said he’d moved her to Baton Rouge, as if she’d had no choice in the matter. “Besides,” Snow added, “running the store takes all my time.”

Slicing the buttered toast from corner to corner, Caleb set a piece on her plate and another on his own. “That’s a shame,” he said, reading in her body language that she didn’t want to talk about it.

They took their seats on the couch, as the apartment didn’t allow room for a table, and ate in silence for several minutes. Caleb hadn’t planned anything beyond finding his wife, and he definitely hadn’t considered playing house with her the morning after. She’d been right the night before, when she said they needed to really get to know each other. Maybe if he’d paid more attention when they’d first married, he would have recognized something had been bothering her before she left.

And if she loved this store so much, then he needed to become a part of it. Time for Operation: Getting to Know Each Other to begin.

“Tell me about the auction. Are we looking for specific items?”

Snow nearly choked on her eggs, taking several seconds to cough them out of her windpipe. “Did you say we?” she asked once she could speak.

“Yeah, we,” he said. “Did you plan to leave me here while you went to the auction?”

“If you’re worried that I’ll disappear again—”

“That’s not what I’m worried about. It’s clear I wasn’t enough to keep you in Baton Rouge, but I can see what this store means to you.” Lifting his coffee for a drink, he added, “I know you won’t leave it, even to get away from me.”

“I’m not sure how to respond to that.”

Caleb had hoped she’d refute the idea that he wasn’t enough, but he should have known better. “No need,” he said. “We have a month to get to know each other. We’ll start with me watching you work.” The words came out harsher than he’d intended.

“You make it sound like I’m applying for a job.”

“I’m the one who’s having to fight to stay on here.”

“A marriage isn’t a business exchange,” she snapped.

“It isn’t something that you quit without notice either.” This was not how he’d wanted the morning to go. Caleb set his plate on the coffee table and leaned his elbows on his knees. “I don’t know what you want from me, Snow, but I’m doing my best. Tell me how this is supposed to go and I’ll make it happen.”

Dabbing the corner of her mouth with a napkin, Snow kept her eyes on her plate. “I don’t know what to tell you. That’s the problem.”

Taking a deep breath, he leaned back on the couch and took a different approach. “Then let’s decide what we’re going to tell people.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, meeting his eye.

Caleb scratched the stubble on his chin. “How long have you been in this town?”

“Since June of last year.”

So she’d been here almost the entire time. Amazing.

“And in all that time, did you tell anyone that you were married?”

Snow dropped her gaze. “Lorelei figured it out yesterday, and you confirmed it when you referred to me as your wife. But no one else knows.”

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