Page 40 of This Moment

“Because I have. Opal, I haven’t been completely honest with you.”

“No!” she said with a sarcastic laugh.

I tried to smile. “I owned my own bakery.”

“I knew it!” Opal said, standing and nearly knocking the small table over. “I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. The way you decorated that Tigger cake and your baking skills, I knew you didn’t learn all that from your grandmother or from working at a bakery here and there!”

I raised my brows.

“No offense to your grandmother.”

“She would take offense.”

Opal chuckled.

“The hardest thing I ever had to do was sell it. But I had to, for reasons I don’t want to share. But the fear of being without my bakery is something I still feel to this day. You have no idea how thankful I was when I saw your help-wanted sign. I was only driving through Moose Village. I did not intend to stay, but I am glad I saw that sign.”

Reaching for my hands, Opal pulled me up and into a hug. “Oh, Cadie, my darling, so am I. So. Am. I.”

Kian

Opal had helped me convince Cadie that staying at my parents’ house was a much better idea than the inn or a blow-up mattress in the cabin for three weeks. I had given Cadie the address to the house last night before we left Opal’s, and I dropped her back off at the cabin. I followed her back into town and to the motel, ensuring she got into her room safely. Not that I was truly worried; Moose Village was a safe town, but you never knew. After living in New York City, I didn’t trust anyone.

“You’re going to wear out that part of the floor if you don’t stop pacing.”

Sally had entered the room without me hearing her. I wasn’t sure why I was so damn nervous. It wasn’t like Cadie and I would be roommates or anything. She was staying at my parents’ place for a few weeks while I was at the guest house, but it was no big deal. Of course, I didn’t know much about Cadie, but something told me she could be trusted. Yet, I knew she was trying to start a new life, and so was I. Was it a good idea to have her here?

“Once one person finds out she is here…the gossip mill will explode.”

Setting a cup of hot tea on the coffee table, Sally motioned for me to sit. “I think the gossip mill started the day you walked into Batter Up, and Ashtyn and Jayme saw you. I ran into Betty Lou yesterday, who informed me that you were seen with, and I quote, ‘That mysterious woman who works for Opal’ twice now.”

“Twice?” I asked, confused, taking a small sip of the tea.

Sally shrugged, but I knew she was holding back. Betty Lou was the town gossip, and in some strange way, she knew everything that happened with everyone. I wouldn’t be surprised if she knew we went into Lake Placid and what kind of furniture Cadie bought. And when it would be delivered.

“She said she thought it strange that Cadie was moving into your cabin now that you’re back from New York City.”

“Well, next time you see her, tell her I thought it was strange as well, considering I asked them not to rent out my cabin.”

Sally grinned and took a seat in a chair. “Why are you so nervous, Kian?”

“The very reason you’re talking about Betty Lou. I wasn’t thinking clearly when I offered for Cadie to stay here.”

Folding her hands in her lap, Sally tilted her head slightly and asked, “Are you wishing you hadn’t offered it?”

“Yes. No.” I ran a hand down my face as I stood and started to pace again. “I don’t know. I hate the idea of her living at the Moose Village Inn, but I hate the idea of her sleeping on a blow-up mattress in an empty cabin even more. It was a knee-jerk reaction. I didn’t care at the time how it would look to everyone else.”

“And now you do?”

I stopped and looked at her. “I guess. I came back to Moose Village to start over, begin a new life, and the lastthing I want is to be part of the gossip chain. I like Cadie, I don’t know her, but I trust her.”

“Why are you frowning?”

A million different things were running through my mind, and I felt like I couldn’t separate them all. “I don’t know her, but it feels like I’ve known her forever. How does that even make any sense, Sally?”

Standing, she smoothed out her dress. “Sometimes we have a sixth sense about people, Kian. So she hasn’t shared much about her past, and at first I was bothered by that. But, in truth she seems very kind-hearted, and Opal trusts her. That’s good enough for me.”

“Opal does trust her. Something changed between them last night.”

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