Christmas at Fireside Cabins - Jenny Hale Page 0,55
everyone. Even if it seemed impossible.
Sixteen
Lila’s eyes flew open with the abrupt awareness that the sun was streaming in through the cabin window, dulling the shine of the Christmas tree lights that had been on since yesterday. She was still in the living room—had she slept there all night again? She must have toppled over from her sitting position in the wee hours, because she found herself curled up with a blanket that had been on the arm of the sofa. Fishing around underneath it for her phone, her fingers located the device between the cushions, and retrieved it to check for a return text from Theo. He still hadn’t responded. She couldn’t help feeling a niggling sense of unease.
Lila stood up, put last night’s plate in the kitchen sink, and stepped into the shower, washing quickly. Then she got dressed, pulled her hair back into a ponytail, and threw on her boots and coat. Her worry mounting, her mind raced with questions. Had Theo been called with some kind of emergency?
Lila rushed over to Eleanor’s, bounding up the wobbly cinderblocks to knock on the door.
“Hello, dear,” Eleanor said. She was wearing an apron, her hands dusted with flour. “Won’t you come in?”
“I will, I promise, but I’m in a bit of a hurry,” Lila explained. “I wanted to see if you’d heard from Theo. Did he stop by or anything once he’d finished fixing the pipes last night?”
“No,” Eleanor replied, pursing her lips and shaking her head. “Why? Is everything all right?”
“He didn’t come back to the shop yesterday and I had to close up for him.”
“That’s odd. I’m sure he’s fine, though. Please don’t look so worried, dear. There’s no sense in getting upset until you have reason to be. I have to keep telling myself the same thing.”
Lila forced a smile and nodded.
“When you find him, I’ll have some banana nut bread coming out of the oven in about an hour. You two should stop in for a slice or two.”
“That sounds delicious,” she said. “I’ll keep you posted.”
Lila got into the car, using the keys Eleanor had loaned her, and tried to take the woman’s advice. The heat cranked to life, giving her a shiver after the icy air as she put the car in reverse and pulled down the long drive, making for the coffee shop.
She’d barely known Theo any time at all, yet he could send her emotions on a wild swing in a second. But in a strange way, she was sure that she got him. She wasn’t offended by his standoffish behavior, but rather challenged to figure him out. She was convinced that if he just let her in, everything would be okay.
Lila came to a stop and got out of the car just as Adele pulled on the locked door handle of the coffee shop. She put her hand to her forehead in salute and peered through the glass window.
“It’s closed,” she said, as Lila stepped up to the door. “Why would he be closed?”
Lila leaned around Adele to view the dark interior, the tables all empty, the clean cups on their towel on the back counter just as she’d left them last night. “I’m not sure,” she replied.
“So much for my mornin’ pick-me-up. I was just gettin’ used to comin’ out here,” Adele said, as she turned on her heel and retreated to her car. “Have a good day.”
“You too,” Lila called. Then she got back in Eleanor’s car and headed for Pinewood Farm, not knowing where else to go.
The whole way, she teetered between total panic that something had happened and irritation that he would just disappear without a word to her. There was something about him that she couldn’t put her finger on, something that just didn’t seem to fit. He was a barista in a nowhere town, but she thought about the books she’d caught sight of in his office last night, and then there was that cryptic letter she’d found in his files. He wouldn’t even tell her his last name…
Or had he?
A vague memory came through, but it was so fuzzy she couldn’t remember what he’d said to her, or if it had been the remnants of some dream…
Her mind whirling with it all, Lila pulled up at the farm and knocked on the farmhouse door.
Little Rex swung the door open. “Hey, Lila!” he said, stepping onto the porch and wrapping his arms around her. “It’s Lila, Mama,” he called into the house.