Covered Bridge Charm (4 page)

Beneath the parking lot’s floodlights, Carly watched Adam’s muscles bunch as he easily hefted the pink beachcomber into the bed of his truck. He whipped out a packing blanket and shoved it beneath the front wheel and handlebars.

“Thanks for the lift. I’m exhausted. What’re you doing here, anyway?”

A touch at her elbow urged her into the cab, and his masculine rumble grazed her ear. “I could ask you the same question.”

“We’re both softies, aren’t we?”

With a grunt, he slammed her door. The cab heaved as he got behind the wheel.

“Why so irritable on your birthday? You’d think you were the one stuck for hours in an elevator.”

He started the truck and eased into traffic. “Sorry, it’s been a long day.”

She eyed him curiously, remembering she still needed to buy him a birthday gift and was at a complete loss for an idea and funds. In a forced cheery voice, she asked, “What do you want for your birthday?”

His masculine square jaw flinched. “Nothing. Tell me about your elevator ride.”

“Not until we finish this discussion.” She had no idea when she’d be able to corner him like this again. “I can’t show up at your party empty-handed.”

His head nearly swiveled off its stocky neck. “You’re coming?”

Hurt at his shocked tone, she forced her gaze to the window. Adam was God’s angel, sent to lend her a helping hand by her brother’s arrangements. She shouldn’t expect more from him. Obviously, friendship was stretching the perimeters of their relationship. She raised her chin against the personal onslaught of resentful attitudes which had seemingly struck every male in her congregation. Now Adam had caught it, too? Just because she hadn’t submitted to Dale’s plot to move to Timbuktu. Sure it had crushed him. Especially since their engagement had already been announced. But the breakup was just as hard on her.

He cleared his throat. “That sounded wrong. It’s just that I hoped they were planning something small—as in only family.” He gave her a sheepish grin that was irresistibly endearing and almost believable. He could be quite charming when he tried. But his brown eyes remained skittish. His gorgeous smile resembled Dale’s, but the two men were nothing alike. Still trying to read him, she muttered, “Sorry to disappoint, but I’m invited to your party. Your sister isn’t reading more into our relationship than there is, is she?”

He pulled onto Hawthorne Lane. “Nope. She knows we’re just friends.” In her driveway, he killed the truck’s ignition and draped a chiseled arm over the steering wheel. “Heard you had a meeting with Uncle Si.”

“Jah. I’m working on a plan to recruit volunteers. He’s taking it to the board. This is big. You know how bad we need volunteers.” She blinked dreamy eyes, surprised to catch his black brows in a judgmental V.

“Don’t do that.”

“What?”

“Judge me. Don’t act like you don’t care about the residents as much as I do. I meant it earlier when I said you were a softie.”

“I wasn’t. I was thinking about something else.”

“Like what?”

He shrugged. “It’s not important.”

As his gaze went to her mouth, she stirred uncomfortably.

“If you must know, I was stuck on your earlier question. What I wanted for my birthday. It got me thinking. You have a nice mouth. But it would be better suited to kissing than arguing and nagging with Si. Sometimes you talk so much I can’t even keep up with our blasted conversation.”

“Well that’s plain rude. You’re right. Birthdays don’t suit you.” She jerked the door handle. “Just get my bike.”

With a curt nod, he jumped out of the truck.

Normally, she went inside while he took care of her bike, but she had instantly regretted her harsh remarks. It wasn’t his fault she was having a rough day. She moved toward the tailgate to make amends. But on the way around the truck, a wild idea flew into her brain. It was crazy, but…

He unlatched the tailgate and easily hoisted down the bike. “You forget something?”

“Just curious. Were you thinking about kissing me in particular, or talking about all women in general?”

His dark, deep-set eyes lit with interest, but he quickly schooled his expression to one of mild curiosity. “Both, I guess. Guys usually wish women would talk less and
you know,
smile more.”

She hesitated, wavering between the practical and the indecent. With one easy stroke she could move some meager funds from the birthday column to the recruiting column. The clock was ticking, and she didn’t know what to buy Adam. A friendly kiss might finally remove Dale’s lingering ghost.

He toed the kickstand and faced her so close she could smell his piney scent. His eyes were two deep pools. “Carly? I know that look. What are you scheming?”

She studied him, taking in the thick black hair and masculine square jaw which now sported an evening shadow, and deemed it risky but practical. “Adam, would you settle for a birthday kiss?”

He couldn’t hide his shock. “Is this a trick question?” She tucked her full bottom lip between her teeth and smiled in that fetching way that deepened her dimples and made her likable. But he couldn’t let down his guard around her. “Now Carly, you’re either overtired or not thinking clearly.”

Miffed, she turned and blasted him with a parting shot. “Well just great. Last night I didn’t get a wink of sleep worrying about my recruitment plan. And tonight I’ll lay awake worrying about your dumb birthday present.”

Drat Si. It was his fault he’d stared at her lips and blurted out his thoughts. Now he was in a no-win situation. With no strings attached, he was for it. Only with women, there were always strings. And unlike his sisters, this fetching creature even wore them on her covering. “Wait a minute.”

Shoulders slumped, she turned rejected and pathetic. But that didn’t mean she was harmless. Not this woman who’d caused such a family stir. He knew first-hand from Dale how this curvy woman was anything but yielding. If there was kissing involved, he needed to set some boundries. “I don’t like being manipulated.”

Her eyes narrowed. She pushed his shirt. “Just go. But don’t complain if I buy you a pair of socks.”

He caught her hand. “Wait. I don’t want a gift. Your friendship’s enough.” Her pained gaze struck him. His rejection had hurt her. Softly, he said, “Just the same, I would like to claim that kiss.” He tipped her chin and whispered, “Tilt your head, Carly.”

“I know that.”

“Be quiet, please.”

He felt her quiver beneath his touch. It sent a jolt of unexpected pleasure through him. He was wrong. She was soft as she looked… to the touch. Entranced, he lost himself until he felt her hands lightly pushing against his chest. When he opened his eyes, he was thankful to see she wasn’t regretful. More like perplexed.

He gently tugged one of her curls, hoping the gesture would pass as thanks. He was a gentleman, after all. Then he set her aside and grabbed up the beachcomber.

When he returned from her backyard, however, he discovered she
still
hadn’t gone inside, but stood there, wearing a vulnerable expression. Had he really distracted
the
Carly Blosser? Sudden fear leapt through his heart. This independent woman always got what she went after. Surely, she wasn’t after…

She flashed her dimples. “So, happy birthday then.”

A smile tugged his lips. “Sure. By the way, you have a gigantic tear in your stocking.” With that, he hightailed it to the truck. In his rearview mirror, he saw a light go on inside the cottage. Happy Birthday. Merry Christmas, and every holiday all rolled into one.

When the pleasure faded, however, he realized that kiss would instigate something terrible. He could feel it in his bones. Sheer terror. Nappanee beckoned stronger than ever. Snatching his cell phone, he punched in speed dial.

“Hey, Jimmy. I’m worried about Carly.”

“Why? That crazy old dog didn’t attack her?”

“No, nothing like that.”
Unless he was the dog.
“She thinks Si gave her permission to recruit volunteers for the center. Only, he’s stalling until she forgets about it.”

“Fat chance she’ll forget. All right, I’ll talk to her.”

“Great. She’s coming to my party. Maybe you can give her a lift?” If she came on her brother’s arm, it might not cause such a stink with the family. He wondered if he should tell Jimmy about Nappanee. A guilty thought struck him. He’d kissed Carly, knowing full well he might be leaving. A more disturbing thought followed. Carly’s kiss was chaste-like. For some reason, that bothered him more than the fact she’d only kissed him to pinch a few pennies.

C
arly flipped on her living-room light and almost stepped on the soft creature dashing circles around her feet. Dropping her purse on an end table, she eased back the curtain enough to watch Adam’s taillights disappear around the corner. With a sigh, she sank into the sofa’s saggy spot and touched her finger to her lips, which were still warm from his kiss. “Oh Cocoa, what on earth was I thinking?”

Resting her forehead in her palm, she tried to reason with her anxious heart. “It meant nothing.” To him, anyway. Sure, Adam was always her brother’s
good-looking
friend. The dark brooding fellow who attracted female attention. Every brother has one, right? But she’d never been interested in him until he started instructing the retirement center’s woodworking shop, and he’d earned her admiration with his compassion for the elderly. So different from his gregarious, ambitious cousin. But Jimmy was mostly responsible for her budding friendship with Adam.

When her brother had taken his trucking job, hauling Oregon fruits to the Midwest and picking up loads there that often kept him away from home for days at a time, he’d enlisted Adam to keep an eye on her. At first it embarrassed her to have Adam taking Jimmy’s place, keeping her woodpile stacked, hauling her bike around, and fixing her garbage disposal. But she’d grown accustomed to it—a lopsided friendship to be sure. And she’d never entertained thoughts that he was actually interested in her as a woman. Wasn’t that what he’d hinted at tonight? It came as a surprise, then, that his free birthday kiss could stir up something which long lay dormant. She should have known free was too good to be true.

His kiss came with a cost. A sad longing settled over her. She was playing with fire, and she’d surely get burned if she wasn’t careful how she handled this situation in the days to come.

Thump! Thump!

Uh, oh.
“Cocoa, no-no,” she warned.

Again,
Thump! Thump!

Two thumps too many, too late. The chocolate-and-white rabbit lunged at her legs and started digging furiously on her stockings. “Careful, sweet. I know you need attention. You’re lonely, too.” She reached and gently disengaged its claws from the ragged mess on her calf. Lowering herself to the floor and leaning her back against the couch, she rubbed Cocoa’s head until the offended rabbit settled down and became a fat, furry puddle. Adam’s snide remark leapt to mind,
“By the way, you’ve got a gigantic tear in your stocking.”

Laughter bubbled up. Following that, she remembered Martha’s fingernail getting caught in her stocking and the older woman’s stern reprimand about buying stockings on sale. Bits of the irrational conversation that had taken place inside the elevator soon had her laughing hysterically. It felt good to release the tension from the whole elevator episode. It must have affected her more than she’d realized. That’s probably why the kiss didn’t turn out to be the joke she’d intended.

“Oh Cocoa, what a day.” The bunny was doing its tooth purr. His gentle tooth grinding was a sign of rabbit bliss. She rubbed beside his long, lopped ear. The plump bunny was a unicorn lop with one ear up and one down. It was what had attracted her to her mixed-breed pet. He was a rescue bunny and had always been on the nippy side when he didn’t get his way.

“Okay, lazy. Let’s get us some dinner.” There was fresh hay and a raisin treat for Cocoa and leftover spaghetti calling her name. She loved her tiny cottage, even if she was the youngest resident on the street. It met her needs. The kitchen was at one end, providing a window over the sink, which looked out at her flower bed. The one Jimmy unenthusiastically helped to create. From the window, she could watch her neighbor Imogene uncoil her gray hose and water her colorful zinnias. On hot days, she watered Carly’s garden, too. Sometimes she even refilled Carly’s hummingbird feeder.

There was another window by a square table big enough for her pressed flower crafts and an adjoining living room with a ratty, green-and-white-striped sofa and matching armchair. The large bamboo plant was a gift from her aunt. While she couldn’t sew, Carly was great with any green living thing. Well, practically any living thing. Except men.

Next came a hall and bathroom. Her bedroom was at the back of the cottage. The yellow quilt that graced her bed was her mother’s. She liked to think she slept inside her mother’s hug. A mother long gone, yet the quilt bridged heaven and earth. Long ago, it had helped her decide that sunny yellow was her favorite color. Mostly dressing in dark plain materials, she enjoyed her cheery room. She went with a more Conservative Mennonite traditional look in the kitchen. Same as the living room, bright green and white.