Page 11 of A Soft Kiss in Summer
Clay was a good kid.He’d arrived in Silver Falls the previous spring when her grandfather had ordered four mail-order grooms for her sister, Rose.He’d been the youngest of the men to show up, not much older than nineteen if she had to guess, and stayed behind when Rose married Graham Hart, and the way he always stared toward their house, she knew Daisy was the reason he hadn’t left.He was sweet on her baby sister and was too afraid to say so.
“Miss Violet.”He tipped his hat at her when she neared him, his smile growing as he glanced down the street toward their house.“I hope your family is doing well.”
“They are.And you?”
“I’m good.”He set his paintbrush down and scratched his eyebrow with his thumbnail.“I saw your grandfather a while ago down by the saloon and I passed Rose near the mercantile.I haven’t seen Daisy around much, though.I hope there isn’t anything wrong.”
Violet held back a grin.“No.She’s fine.She just stays in most of the time.”
He nodded.“Yeah, I kind of noticed that about her.”
“Well, she doesn’t like to be out much, as she can’t really hear what’s going on around her.If a runaway horse or wagon came racing through town, she’d never hear it in time to get out of the way.”
He nodded.“That makes sense.”He glanced back at their house before picking his paintbrush up again.“Well, I better get back to this.I still have to clean the stalls over at the livery yet today.”
“Oh, well, you have fun with that.”
He grinned.“I’m sure it’ll be a hoot.”
She said her goodbyes and left him at the boarding house, painting Mabel’s sign.Since deciding to stay in Silver Falls, Clay had sort of become the town handyman.If you needed anything done, he could do it, for a small price.
Gunter Reeves, over at the livery stable, let him stay in the tack room in exchange for mucking out the horse stalls.The boy ran himself ragged most days, but he’d told anyone who would listen that he’d planned on building him a house right here in town.And Violet knew, when he did, her little sister would be getting her a proper suitor whether she wanted one or not.
She hurried down the sidewalk to the store, glancing over at the jail as she passed it, disappointed she didn’t see Josiah.She still hadn’t spoken to him since the whole Edwin scene yesterday morning.Luckily, she hadn’t seen Edwin either.
As usual this time of the morning, there weren’t but a few people inside the mercantile and she offered them a warm greeting as she headed behind the counter and slipped her apron on.The bell above the door rang and looking up, she tried not to stare as Josiah walked inside, managing a smile instead that she hoped didn’t make her look like a lunatic.
He nodded his head to the ladies inside the store before making his way toward her.
When he reached the counter, she straightened her apron, pressing out any wrinkles.“Good morning, Josiah.”
Him saying, “Morning, Violet,” was all it took to make her heart start pounding and for her to remember the smiles he’d given their new neighbor not even thirty minutes earlier.
“So,” she said.“I saw you with the new seamstress next door.You two seemed to get along well.”
He laughed.“I’m sure she’d get along with anyone carrying in those heavy bolts of fabric.”He shifted his shoulders before laying a letter on the counter.“Can you put this in with the outgoing mail?”
Not only was Campbell’s Mercantile the place to buy most anything, it also doubled as the local post office.The letter Josiah laid down had scrawled handwriting across the front of it that was full of fancy loops and dips.She’d seen him sign his name on the ledger book enough to know it was his.
She picked it up and said, “Sure.”A glance down to see where the letter was going made her entire body freeze.The Grooms Gazette was written across the envelope and her heart thumped so hard it nearly took her breath.
Maybe his quick dismissal of the new neighbor was because he had other plans.Why else would Josiah be writing to a mail-order bride agency?
All those girlish dreams of him asking her to marry him had been all but forgotten over the last two years, but looking at that letter, they all came back in a rush.
Rose had convinced her Josiah didn’t want to marry anyone, and that’s why he’d never shown her any interest when he moved to town, but this letter proved otherwise.It wasn’t that he didn’t want to get married.He just hadn’t wanted to marry her.
She met his gaze and narrowed her eyes.“Looking for a bride?”
He leaned forward and lowered his voice.“I think that would be impossible, seeing as I already seem to have a fiancé.”
Her face heated as she looked at the ladies inside the store.No one knew of her little white lie and she wanted to keep it that way.
He tapped the letter she still held and said, “That’s just some personal business for someone I’m trying to find some answers for.Nothing more.”
“Oh.”She hoped the relief she felt wasn’t showing on her face as she tossed the letter in the mailbag.She glanced around the store to make sure there weren’t any customers within hearing distance and said, “For what it's worth, I really am sorry about yesterday, you know.I just panicked, and you were standing right there and I—”
“—You don’t have to explain, Violet.I know how rash people can be when they’re backed against a wall.Hopefully he’ll leave soon and everything will get sorted out on its own.”
