had been loved back, but he understood loneliness. He’d lived it.
When she didn’t say anything, he cocked his head. “I feel like you’re getting ready to pass judgment on me.”
She pasted on a light smile. “No judgment. I’m just surprised local girls weren’t crawling all over Cairndow in pursuit.”
Surprise lightened his face even though he gave no hint of a smile. “First you go and ask me out to dinner, then you insinuate I might not be a total Barney. Be careful or I might think you like me a wee bit.”
Apparently, spontaneous combustion was really a thing. Anna only wished she hadn’t verified the phenomenon in front of Iain. She needed a fan. And more deodorant. “What? I was just trying to be nice and offer some Southern hospitality. I don’t like you. Geez. That’s crazy insane. It’s bonkers. Why would you say that? Why would you even think it?”
His face shuttered like a gale force wind blew through the barn. “I was merely … Never mind. I have work to do.” He turned on his heel and stalked away.
What babbling nonsense had come out of her mouth? Iain was serious and tough, but he had feelings that could be hurt. Worst of all, she’d lied. Unable to make her feet move in his direction, she stood there and went down in flames.
* * *
Did a bigger idiot exist? Based on Iain’s current levels of embarrassment, he assumed not. Why had he tried to flirt with Anna? There wasn’t anything between them beyond the forced connection of the festival. His hopeful, desperate imagination had played a horrible joke on him. Of course, she didn’t like him like that.
Next time he saw her, he’d pretend the conversation hadn’t taken place, and in the meantime, he really did have work to do. Making his way back to the tartan truck, he only looked over his shoulder once to see her walking to the main house to talk to Holt’s da.
He had every confidence she possessed the charm to finagle whatever she needed from Mr. Pierson and pointed the truck back toward Highland, where he had an appointment with a rotted door.
He parked in the back of All Things Bright and Beautiful and knocked on the door, performing a visual assessment of the rot. When there was no answer, he let himself in, dodged around the piles of inventory yet to go out on the floor, and found Loretta sitting behind the counter tending a customer. “You go ahead and get started, Iain. I can’t thank you enough for being so prompt.”
Smiling, he nodded to Loretta. The store was crammed full of crafts and knickknacks, mostly Scottish themed. It was his nightmare of a store, but several people browsed the overcrowded shelves.
Iain didn’t dillydally, but got straight to work prying out the rotten wood from the frame and commenced his measurements. He was methodical to avoid mistakes. His da had been frugal, and whether through heredity or example, Iain was the same. Whatever scraps of wood Iain had left over went toward new projects or toward his whittlings.
His whittlings were sometimes whimsical creatures from his imagination or from books. Sometimes they were instruments like utensils or picture frames that were both useful and decorative. For him, they were better than meditation or yoga or whatever people used these days to relax. The small projects had kept him sane during deployments. Maybe that’s why he’d been so keyed up lately. He hadn’t had time to whittle. His rising frustration had nothing to do with a red-haired lass who tormented his dreams.
The bell over the front door rang often enough that Iain had stopped paying it any mind, but as soon as he heard the familiar, honeyed voice of Anna, he stilled, the measurement he’d tasked himself to remember forgotten.
On soft feet, he made his way to the curtain partitioning the storage area from the store and peeked around the side. The two women faced off, their profiles to Iain.
Anna’s smile was friendly, but tension resided in the set of her jaw. “I’m here to collect your deposit for the festival.”
Loretta’s smile was more genuine in that it was the mere baring of her teeth, yet her voice was sweet enough to give him a toothache. “I’m not quite ready to pay. Given that this is your first year involved in the planning, maybe you don’t understand that Rose has always allowed local businesses extra time.”
“What I understand is that I have deposits to