Page 24 of Silver Linings

“Hey,” he said, and she turned, expression one of immediate surprise.

“Ben?”

It was clear from her equally startled tone that she couldn’t quite figure out why he was there. After all, he wasn’t traveling with a pet and therefore had no need of most of what she sold in her store.

“Hi, Sidney,” he said, glad he sounded casual enough. “I found a reference to those flowers online. They’re called ‘fairy bells.’”

“They are?” she responded, still looking slightly befuddled, as if she wasn’t sure why he’d felt the need to come here in person to tell her that, especially since they were going to see each other early tomorrow morning anyway.

“Right,” he said. “I’m not completely certain of the source, but since it’s the only thing I was able to find that’s at all relevant, I figured I should roll with it.”

She nodded but didn’t seem too inclined to say anything. From what he could tell, they were alone in the shop, which meant he’d better gather the nerve to ask her to dinner now before they were interrupted by a customer trying to grab one last bag of dog food before the store closed for the day.

“Anyway,” he went on, “do you have any plans for dinner?”

“Dinner?” she said blankly.

“You know, that meal you eat in the evening?”

Now she finally cracked a smile. “I know what dinner is.”

“Well, I was wondering if you’d like to have it with me. Tonight,” he added, just in case she thought he was asking about some sort of vague eventuality.

Was that a hint of alarm in her expression?

“There’s a town meeting tonight,” she said. “Northwest Pacific Lumber wants to do some clear-cutting in the forest here, and a bunch of the townspeople want to be there to contest their plans.”

Maybe that was why Victor Maplehurst was in town. Sure, he’d told Ben that he was here on vacation, but maybe he was mixing business with pleasure.

Although it didn’t sound as if there would be anything too terribly pleasurable about facing down a group of angry citizens who wanted their pristine forests left untouched.

Ben knew whose side he was on when it came to that particular conflict. The land here was beautiful, and no one should be messing with it, especially not a bunch of greedy lumber industry CEOs.

“I can come with you,” he offered, and Sidney blinked again.

“To the meeting? But you don’t even live here.”

“I care about damage to the Amazon rainforest, and I don’t live there, either.”

Now an actual smile touched her lips. Not for the first time, Ben thought of how beautiful she really was, with that luminous skin and those big gray eyes and those delicate features. Beneath a certain outer softness, though, he knew she was tough as steel.

“Fair enough,” she said. “The meeting’s at seven-thirty, though, so it’ll have to be an early dinner.”

“That’s fine,” he replied. “How about I pick you up at your place at six o’clock?”

Suddenly, she looked wary, even though her mouth was still curved in a half-smile. “There’s not much need to drive in Silver Hollow. We can just meet at the restaurant.”

Maybe that was true. He didn’t know where she lived — he might have Googled her, but he certainly wasn’t going to do anything as stalker-y as look up her address — and yet he could already tell that most of the town was pretty walkable unless you lived on the very outskirts.

“The Sundown Grille?” he asked, naming the only restaurant he’d spied on his walks that he hadn’t visited yet…and the only one that seemed to be Silver Hollow’s version of fine dining.

“Sure,” she said. “Six o’clock.”

Ben wasn’t sure what he would do to kill the hour or so between now and then, but he figured he’d go back to his room at the B&B and check his email. He was waiting to hear whether he’d been accepted to speak at a conference in Scottsdale next month, and since the speaking fee was fifteen hundred bucks plus accommodations and dining, he wanted to jump on that as soon as he could.

“See you then,” he said, and she offered him another smile.

“See you then,” she echoed.

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