Secretly Smitten (16 page)

“Not him,” Zoe hissed. “I don’t mind him being alone. He
should
be alone. Clare, I’m trying to stay under the radar with this guy. If he finds out I don’t have the money to fix the wiring and open for business on Friday, I could get shut down, and you know I can’t afford that. Every penny is accounted for, and I only have so much time to make this work.”

Clare raised her brows. “I think you might protest too profusely, if you know what I mean.”

Zoe pursed her lips.

“You have to play by the same rules as everyone else with your business. Taxes aren’t convenient either, but we have to pay them. Besides, until William’s rental house is ready, he’s staying in one of Carson’s smaller cabins—the ones with no kitchenette. He doesn’t have any way to cook for himself. If I were you, I’d make friends with him until that junker of yours is fixed.”

“What are you two whispering about?” Grandma Rose asked. “Let’s eat. Dinner is getting cold.”

“Yes, Grandma.” Zoe whispered to Clare again, “Why didn’t you send him to Zak’s grill if he can’t cook for himself?”

Her mother smiled at her and pressed on her shoulder toward the dining room. “William, I’d like you to meet my youngest daughter. This is Zoe, our matchmaker.”

William stood and nodded his head in greeting since he couldn’t get around the table in the cozy dining room. “We met earlier.” He touched the scrape on his forehead absently.

Out of his suit, William Singer still looked just as much the city man. Zoe tried to find any flaw, but the truth was his flaws had to be within, because on the outside he was impeccable.

His face seemed to belong in Smitten, though. He sported a rugged five o’clock shadow, and his hair, if left to grow, would curl at the edges. She wondered if he’d left it to do just that when he’d been in Hawaii, and if the crisp haircut was for Smitten alone. She wondered if he’d stay in Smitten long enough for her to watch those curls grow, or if he’d continue to clip his hair as if he’d attended an all-boys school.

“Zoe,” her mom said, “I saved the seat next to William for you. I imagine you’ll want to grill him for your dating business.”

“Thanks, Mom.” She lifted the chairs away from the wall and made her way to the back of the dining room, where William sat trapped by the women of her family. “Aren’t you afraid you might not make it out of here alive?”

“I wasn’t until you came.”

He smiled, and again her stomach flipped. What was up with that?

“You’ll be happy to know I found an electrician to help me with the wiring,” she said—not adding that the electrician was ninety years of age and unable to walk without assistance. An electrician was an electrician.

“I knew you would. You seem like a capable woman with a strong arm.” His eyes twinkled, and her mother seemed to take note.

“Zoe, what did you do to our guest?”

“I didn’t do anything. Let’s eat, the chicken’s getting cold.” She pulled the bowl from her canvas bag. A Tupperware bowl of mandarin orange Jell-O. It appeared less than gelled after its trip across Smitten to deliver the rest of the dinners, and she watched William eye how much it jiggled.

What
kind
of
man
notices
that
Jell-O hasn’t set right?

“William,” her mother said from the other end of the table, where she could easily access the kitchen. “Would you mind leading us in prayer?”

He cleared his throat. “Of course.” He reached for her hand and their grandmother’s, then bowed his head. Zoe felt a bolt of energy surge through her arm at his touch and forced herself to focus on his prayer.

“Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for the warm welcome to Smitten, and for providing me with these welcoming, beautiful friends for dinner. Thank you for this food that has been provided and for the hands that prepared it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

“Amen,” the women said in unison.

Aunt Petunia stood and served their guest a few slices of chicken and mashed potatoes. She poured gravy over the plate, and Zoe rolled her eyes. “Auntie, I think he can serve himself.”

Petunia sat back down. “I’m terribly sorry.”

William chuckled. “Not a problem. For a moment I was back at my mother’s table, and I wanted to hold my palms up to show you I’d washed for dinner.”

“Did you?” Anna asked.

He held up his palms. “I did.”

Everyone around the table laughed, and Zoe thought how easily he charmed them. She wasn’t fooled by his smooth talk and velvet smile. With William Singer as city manager, Smitten would lose control of the way things had always been done. He brought change, and she worried that his kind of change would ruin what made Smitten, Smitten.

“So, Zoe.” William seemed so close to her in the cramped dining room that she couldn’t look directly at him when he spoke for fear it would prove too intimate. “What is it about matchmaking that intrigues you? Are you a hopeless romantic?”

The way he made her feel light-headed went against all she knew to be true about his kind, and she struggled to keep her dark impression of the stranger.

“Not really,” she said. “I just hate to see people alone. I’m so grateful I have my family, but I look around town and I see that it’s not that way for everyone. Sure, we all look out for one another here in Smitten, but we’re like the rest of the world. Life gets busy, and marriage takes effort.”

“So you’re focused primarily on marriage, then?”

“I suppose you think that’s simple, coming from the big city where everyone dates willy-nilly.”

He laughed. “I’ve been in Hilo, Hawaii, for the last two years. It’s not exactly a big city, but I suppose dating there was for the purpose of marriage.”

“Which you object to?”

“Zoe!” her mother chastised.

“No, it’s fine, Anna.” He looked at Zoe again, and she focused on the shifting Jell-O on her plate. “I don’t object to marriage by any means. It’s just that I specialize in shortterm projects for cities on the verge of big changes. It’s not a lifestyle that’s conducive to marriage.”

“I wouldn’t think so.”

“Zoe, not everyone wants to stay planted in the place they were born. Some women would find that a great adventure,” Clare said.

“Would you find that a great adventure?” William asked her in a way that caused Zoe to question her own commitment to stability.

“We have each other,” Tess said. “I doubt it’s easy for a guy to be brought home to all these women, but when the right one comes along, he’ll put up with us.” Her cheeks pinked and she looked at her plate, no doubt remembering the way they’d all welcomed Ryan.

“The right man will.” William looked at Zoe with soft eyes, and she shifted in her chair.

“I—I should get home.”

“You just got here!” Tess said. “You didn’t eat a thing!”

“Zoe, you’re too antsy for your own good,” Violet said. “Finish your meal and make polite conversation with the good-looking man next to you. Maybe you’ll learn something.”

“I’m having my grand opening this weekend and I’ve got a ton to do. You don’t mind, do you?” She smiled toward William. “I have to take the bus home, and I want to get there before too long. Early morning with the electrician and all that.”

“Actually, I do mind,” her mother said. “I don’t like you taking the bus out to the lake so late at night.”

“Mom, it’s not even six o’clock.”

“Regardless, it’s nearly dark out there, so I’ve asked William to drive you home.”

“Of course you did.” Zoe slumped in her chair. She may have been the matchmaker, but she supposed she had to have learned it somewhere. He was near her age and gainfully employed, so why wouldn’t her mother think he was perfect for her?

CHAPTER FIVE

W
illiam waited as Zoe hugged her family good-bye. He grinned at the show of emotion. It was as if it was the last time she’d ever see them. She turned toward him and descended the stairs in slow motion, as if being pulled by a force she couldn’t control.

In contrast, his heart raced at her approach. It was like nothing he’d ever experienced before. It wasn’t some primal attraction. He wanted her good opinion desperately, and he’d felt that way from the start when he’d made a fool out of himself by walking into her ladder. If there was ever a time to make a good impression, that had been it. And he hadn’t.

In her worn blue jeans and faded shirt, Zoe evinced a luminous presence that captured his attention with every subtle movement. She was a rare breed who could sport pixie hair and tomboy clothes, and stream femininity in the process. One thing she didn’t hide was her feelings about him and all he represented to her precious town of Smitten. He was eager to prove himself her ally, but the harder he worked at it, the worse the situation became.

“Do we need to get your bike to the lake?”

“I keep it in town to deliver the dinners. Clare will toss it in the back of her truck and get it to me by morning.”

“Sounds like you’re used to this car of yours not working.”

“I simply haven’t readjusted my clock to fall yet. That’s all.”

He raised his hand to the women on the doorstep. “Thank you again, ladies. Dinner was wonderful.”

The women all smiled with warmth and waved him goodbye. He wondered how her family could see him in such a different light . . . and why none of their opinions mattered like hers did.

“Your family is incredible,” he said as she stepped beside him on the walkway. “I suppose you know that, but it was nice to feel welcomed by them.”

She smirked as if there was something more behind his comment. “They are pretty incredible.”

He pressed the button to unlock his car, then opened the passenger door for her. She peered at him curiously but climbed into the bucket seat and sat down. The streetlight shined upon the gold flecks in her hazel eyes, so he failed to notice that she’d grabbed the door to pull it closed for herself. She tugged it from his hands and slammed it. He waved again at her family to let them know everything was all right, though he wasn’t so confident himself.

He came around to the driver’s side and slid inside. “That’s the second door you’ve slammed in my face today. Is this something you’re going to make a habit of?”

She stared out the window.

“I just want to know so I can keep an eye on my fingers and limbs.”

She faced him, and he dropped his hand from the car keys after inserting them in the ignition.

“Do you care to tell me why you’ve taken such an immediate disliking to me? Your family doesn’t seem to think I’m so bad.”

“It’s nothing personal.”

“So what is it?”

She shrugged her delicate shoulders. “Does it really matter? You’ll get the town set to rights and be on your way. There are lots of lovely people here in Smitten. What I think about you hardly matters, and like I said, it’s not personal.”

“But it does matter to me. For what it’s worth, it feels personal.”

“Why?” Her eyebrows lifted.

“Because I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about you since I got to town. Even Carson told me if I needed anything at all and he wasn’t around, to call on you. He said you knew everyone in town and that you could take care of any problem as easily as he could.”

“I think Carson sold you a bill of goods. I may know everyone, but so does everyone else in Smitten. That’s what makes it Smitten. I’m not special here.”

The downturn in her voice concerned him, and he wished he knew what skeleton he’d rattled. He turned over the ignition. The only thing worse than trying to garner Zoe’s good opinion was her family’s prying eyes watching his epic failure.

“Carson meant I could contact you because the other cabins are all taken up by tourists. He wanted me to know there was someone who lived there year-round who could direct me if he was off on business.”

He’d had no idea Zoe would look the way she did; he’d imagined a female lumberjack. Yet as soon as Carson mentioned her name, he just had the feeling they were destined to meet. If he’d known she’d be downtown as he did his first walk-through, he would have practiced his entrance. He certainly wouldn’t have walked into a ladder. Nothing said “professional businessman sent to rescue the financial aspects of the town” like a Three Stooges impression.