Page 32 of Trusting Fate (Hope Falls: Brewed Awakenings 2)

Audrey must have filled her in.

Grace: Sorry. I was going to text you. Can you do dinner at six tonight at Sue Ann’s?

Ava: Absolutely. Do Viv and Aud know you’re here?

Okay so maybe Audrey hadn’t told her.

Grace: Yes. Nonna told Viv and Josh told Audrey.

Ava: Oh… Asher told me.

That was how things happened in this town. You couldn’t sneeze without someone hearing about it.

Another message appeared.

Ava: He said that your car broke down and a tree fell blocking the road and you had to spend the night in the freezing cold. Are you okay?

Grace: Yeah, I’m fine.

She was better than fine. Last night had been amazing. She wished that she’d been snowed in for several days, not just one night. She had enough junk food to last the two of them for at least forty-eight hours. And there was so much more she wanted to know about him. After the research she’d done this morning, she’d barely scratched the surface of who Easton Bishop was.

Ava: Okay good. Can’t wait to see you tonight.

Grace ‘liked’ the message and then set her phone down again while she finished getting ready. As she straightened the top layer of her hair, she started wondering if Easton would prefer her hair with its natural curls or if he would prefer it straightened.

No.She shook her head and almost hit the heated device to her cheek. That would have been unpleasant.

Grace sighed in frustration. Never in her life had she worried about what a man would think about her appearance, good or bad. She wasn’t going to let herself go down that insecurity rabbit hole. She could wear her hair however she wanted to wear it.

After they’d had their intimate time last night, they’d stayed up talking for hours. Easton had told her about some of the work that he’d done for charities and that he was working on a book, but he’d drastically undersold himself. That was something she wasn’t used to.

The people she’d been surrounded by on a daily basis were all pretty self-involved. If they did a good deed, it was basically front page news.

But not Easton. He’d made it seem like he’d worked for organizations like the Peace Corp doing manual labor. The truth was, he’d been the architect for several irrigation systems and installed clean water to impoverished communities in third world countries. He mentioned that he’d been in the Marines, but what he didn’t say was that he’d left his service with a Medal of Honor for bravery in the face of danger. Or that half of his unit attributed him with having saved their lives. He’d talked about wanting to write a book, but he’d failed to mention that he’d signed a book deal with Random House.

Technically, everything she’d learned about Easton was positive. There was not one red flag, which never happened when Grace did deep dives into people. And that was the problem. When things looked too good to be true, it was usually because they were. So now there were warning bells going off, even though there was nothing that should technically be sounding the alarm.

Her phone buzzed again, and this time it was the five-minute warning she’d set for herself. She needed to hustle.

Before she got dressed, she started to put lotion on her legs and felt prickles. When she was showering, she’d been so distracted daydreaming about Easton, she hadn’t even shaved her legs.

Shit.

Oh well. It’s not like anyone would be feeling her legs today.

She pulled on a pair of jeans, a turtleneck sweater, and her ankle high heeled boots. Were they the most practical to wear for walking in the snow? No. But they were the only closed toe shoes she had that weren’t canvas.

Living in Hope Falls was going to require a new wardrobe. She hadn’t really spent any time in the winter here and the weather conditions were a lot different than Los Angeles winters.

She grabbed her purse and when she walked out of the bathroom, she saw the door was closed to the room opposite hers down the hall. She didn’t want to disturb the other guest, so she’d just say hi when she got back.

Grace had never stayed at a bed and breakfast before. From what she’d heard it was a more personal service than if you were staying at a hotel, and so far she’d found that to be true.

When Shelby had checked her in and shown Grace her room, she’d asked what time Grace wanted breakfast served. Apparently, the other guest that was staying had declined breakfast, so it was up to Grace when she wanted to eat.

She told Shelby that she didn’t really eat breakfast, so she would also be declining. Shelby smiled widely and said that they were making her job too easy.

Staying here definitely felt more like being home. The front sitting room had a large stone fireplace that Grace couldn’t wait to sit in front of and drink hot cocoa or maybe brandy. There was a state-of-the-art kitchen that the guests were welcome to use. It had three bedrooms and two baths. Upstairs there were two bedrooms that shared a hall bath and downstairs there was a bedroom with an en suite, but it was under construction at the moment. Apparently since the B&B had been booked out by a long-term guest, they were using that time to make some much needed improvements. That meant Grace and the long-term guest would be sharing a bathroom, which was apparently common place in the bed and breakfast world.

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