Page 23 of Falling for the Grumpy Stranger

I was quite obviously being dismissed.

“Uh, yes, thanks, and you’ve been a great help.” I blinked back tears not sure why I was so upset. He was right. I had enough for my first article. I kept my face down not wanting him to see my tears. I picked up the papers and pushed them into my backpack. “Thanks for lunch. I can see myself out.”

“Ella,” he said as I left the room.

“You should get some rest,” I called back to him. I threw on my coat, walked out the front door and hurried down the steps. I reached the top of the gravel path, and the hair suddenly stood up on the back of my neck. I glanced around. There was no one there, but it sure as heck felt as if someone had been watching me. My feet hit the gravel, and I took off as if I had jet engines on my boots.

Chapter Eighteen

ELLA

Ava reached the cottage at the same time as me, and I instantly went in for a much-needed hug. “What’s happened, El?” she asked as she squeezed her arms around me. “Let’s go inside. It’s cold out here.”

We held hands and walked inside. Ava walked right into the kitchen to put on the kettle. I carried my backpack to the sofa and let it slide off my shoulders, so I could do a proper plop on the couch. The smell of cinnamon filled the house as Ava took out two packets of cinnamon apple tea and dropped them into cups.

Her cheeks were pink from the cold. It made her eyes green like emeralds. She sat down next to me. “So, tell me. What has you so upset?”

“It’s nothing really.” I was feeling a little silly for making such a big deal about everything.

“That hug wasn’t nothing.” She sat up straighter. “Was it him? The man who bought the old house? Did he?—”

“No, Rhett didn’t do anything. It was me. You know how I can be overly nosy.”

“Inquisitive,” Ava added with her brilliant splash of a smile. “That’s what Nonna called it.”

“And sometimes she told me I was nosy. She was right. Rhett has this terrible burn scar on his left arm, and he’s made it clear that he doesn’t like to talk about it, but you know me—can’t keep my nosy nose out of other people’s business.”

“Sometimes wounds like that are so profound and personal and life-changing, people don’t like to think about them. In Ghana, I worked for this team manager named Kyle. Nice guy. He had a deep, Frankenstein-style scar across his forehead. I swear it looked as if he’d given himself brain surgery and then stitched it up all by himself with a needle and thread. The other team members who’d been on site for a few weeks before me immediately warned me not to ask about the scar.”

“Did you ever find out what happened?”

Ava shook her head. “Nope, there was all kinds of speculation, and if he’d told us what happened that would have stopped us from coming up with our own theories. It would have been much easier to ignore the scar, too, because whenever we were talking face-to-face it was hard not to stare at it, trying to figure out what’d happened.” She hopped up to pour the water for tea and returned a short time later with two fragrant, steaming cups. She placed them on the coffee table and sat back down. “That can’t be all. Did he get angry with you? Did it ruin your chances to get your story finished?”

“Actually, I’ve got all I need.” I patted the backpack. “All thanks to Rhett.”

“Why were you so upset?”

I took the tea and settled into the cushions. “Well—” I started. I knew I wouldn’t have to finish because Ava would figure it out. We Lovely sisters were mind readers when it came to each other’s innermost thoughts.

Ava sat forward fast enough that some of the hot tea splashed on her thumb. “You like him. You like the strange owner of creepy manor.”

“It certainly takes the shine off the crush when you refer to him as ‘the strange owner of creepy manor.’ But yes, guilty as charged. I realized it today at lunch. But that’s all right. You know how long my crushes last.”

Ava picked up her tea, turned to the side and bent her knees up on the cushion. “You do have the attention span of a six-week-old puppy when it comes to men.”

“Look who’s talking. I learned from the pro.”

“That’s true. Neither of us has a great track record. I envy Isla and Aria. They really have found their soulmates this time.”

“They have.”

The scent of cinnamon, the hot tea and the cozy chat with my sister was just what I needed. I was feeling much better and eager to get started on my article.

“Do you think you’ll go back to the house?” Ava asked. “Or was that it with the mysterious, scarred owner of Grimstone?”

The question produced an ache in my chest. Was that truly the last time I’d see Rhett other than passing in town occasionally with an awkward nod and hello? Maybe this crush wouldn’t be as easy to erase as I thought. “I need more information about the next owners of the house, but I suppose I can find some of that in the library. Margaret had no children, so she passed the house and family fortune on to a cousin. I’m sure I can find more about him because he was a man. The papers couldn’t be bothered to write about Margaret even though she had numerous accomplishments.”

“I suppose that’s not surprising. Especially back in the late Victorian period. You never answered—was that your last visit to Grimstone?”

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