“Yes he is,” Stacy said quietly.
Soon the group walked from the gym together, leaving Natalie there all alone with her thoughts. Natalie realized that she’d learned more about this man in a few days’ time than most people learned about anyone in a lifetime. He was good and kind, with a heart the size of Texas. She’d have said the size of Montana, but that was too small.
If she wasn’t careful, this man would change her entire future, whether he was willing to or not. She needed to avoid him. She had a feeling that she was going to become too attached, that he was going to want to have a casual affair, and that she was going to give him her heart. That just couldn’t happen. So what came next?
She honestly didn’t know.
chapter 10
Why aren’t you ready?”
Natalie stood in her doorway looking at Maggie, Bethel, and Eileen, all wearing thick coats, thicker hats, scarves, and high boots.
“Ready for what?”
“The big party!” Bethel said, looking at her as if she’d lost her mind.
“Party?” Natalie vaguely remembered some of the other teachers speaking about it the day before at school, but it was Saturday, and after a long week, she was looking forward to curling up in bed and sinking into a good book.
Okay, if she was to admit her true feelings, she wasn’t exactly pumped about her big plans, but she was trying to avoid Hawk, and she knew if she went to the only café in town, she would most certainly run into him.
“Yes. Tonight we light the Christmas tree and then go to the fire hall for a party,” Eileen said with anticipation.
“Brrr. Invite us in and we’ll wait while you get dressed,” Maggie said, leaving Natalie no choice but to open her door wide for the three bundled-up women to enter her toasty little house.
“Don’t take too long. I don’t want to strip down just to put all these clothes back on,” Bethel said as she looked around. “You really need some decorations in here . . .”
“Oh, you leave her be, Bethel,” Maggie scolded her friend. “She’s only been here for about two weeks. Some people need more time than that to make their mark on a place.”
“Ha! When I moved into my home, it was all good to go in three days,” Bethel said.
Not used to such friendly people—heck, not used to visitors, period—Natalie couldn’t move. She just watched the three women make themselves comfortable looking around, or, more accurately, snooping into just about everything.
“Go on, girl. I’m getting warmer by the minute,” Eileen said when she turned to find Natalie still standing just on the inside of her front door.
Defeated, Natalie slunk to her bedroom and began pulling out clothes. It looked as if she was heading to a party. Her stomach churned because she knew there was no way that she wouldn’t run smack-dab into Hawk.
And the part that frightened her the most? That she wasn’t as upset about this as she should be. The man had run into her life with a steamroller—or at least with his gargantuan truck—and though she told herself she wanted to avoid him, in reality her heart rate spiked at even the sight of him. It was pathetic. It was wrong. It wasn’t the right time.
But it was much easier to know what she should do than to actually do it.
After changing clothes, she went to her bathroom and looked into the mirror. Between the way her blood was racing through her veins and the prospect of the cold she’d be enduring the next hour or so, she certainly didn’t need any blush. With a quick layer of mascara and some lip gloss, she figured she was as ready as the three women out there would allow her to get.
When she stepped back into the living room, she couldn’t help but smile. Maggie was absolutely grinning over a knitting project on the coffee table. And when Hawk’s mother looked up, her expression almost proud, Natalie felt a warmth in her chest she hadn’t felt since . . . She actually couldn’t remember.
“This is beautiful, Natalie. You have a real talent,” Maggie said before putting the knitting down and walking over to her. “I don’t know what it is about you, but I just want to bring you home and take care of you.”
The sincerity in her voice, the glimmer in her eyes—it was all too much. Natalie had to turn away before her own eyes followed suit.
“If you ever need someone to talk to,” Maggie said, “you know where I live. I feel as if there’s a lot inside of you that wants to be free.”
Sometimes the pain of always being alone was overwhelming, and now she had this woman before her who was asking for nothing but offering her the most precious gift of all—love.