“Take him home with you, then. All the laundry he generates will change your mind quick!”
I giggled and licked at more of the topping. Feeling Eddie’s eyes, I looked up. One hand was wrapped around the paper coffee cup (his actually had a lid), and his body was gravitating over the tabletop, his sapphire eyes intent on me.
“What?” I said, my stomach feeling a little funny. He had a way of looking at a girl. A way no one else seemed to have.
“You have whipped cream on your nose,” he mused, reaching out to wipe it away.
“Thanks,” I whispered, still caught by his stare.
“Fresh, hot donuts,” Joline said, sliding a large glass plate on the table between us. “On the house.”
“Thanks, Jo,” Eddie said, not breaking the eye contact we had going on.
Her light laughter faded as she went back around the counter. We were blissfully alone for the first time since we’d met on the street. Jo and Jeremy were in the back, and the other customers had left.
When he didn’t say anything, continuing to eat up my face with his eyes, I cleared my throat and lifted the drink. “I’m excited to see your store.”
His mouth curved up on one side. “It’s not really mine. My dad owns it.”
“A family business?” I asked.
He nodded, withdrawing into his seat and running a hand through his loopy, unruly curls. “I’ll take over it completely someday.”
“Really? Do you know when?”
He sat forward again. Eddie’s intensity was something that caught me off guard sometimes. “When I can focus better.”
A few people walked by the large front window, stared in, and then their lips began moving.
“You weren’t kidding when you said everyone would be watching us.”
He shrugged. “Who cares?” His attention went to the donuts. “Mm, chocolate.” He picked up the frosted pastry and took a huge bite. When he pulled his hand away, frosting was smeared on his nose.
“Now you’re the messy one!” I laughed and leaned over to swipe it away.
The second I did, Eddie caught my hand, gently brought it down, and wrapped his lips around my thumb, sucking off the icing.
My belly flopped so much it made the room spin. The gentle roughness of his tongue against the pad of my thumb was delicious.
If he noticed my reaction (nearly melting out of my chair), he didn’t comment. Instead, he released my hand and went back to shoveling the chocolate into his mouth. “Drink your cocoa, Am.” He reminded me.
After I drank enough that the lid would fit on the cup and ate a donut covered in sprinkles, Eddie carried the plate into the back for Joline and then stuffed some cash in a tip jar on the counter.
The cool fall air danced around my bare legs when I stepped out the door he held open, and my newly cut hair floated out around me.
“I was thinking,” I said as we started down the sidewalk.
“Dangerous,” Eddie teased.
“I should probably get a job.”
“A job?” he echoed.
“Yeah, I can’t just let Maggie and you pay for everything. Besides, I’m sure I’ll have a ton of hospital bills coming soon.”
He was quiet as we walked. I looked up at him. The muscle in the side of his jaw worked, a small movement I was quite drawn to. It spoke of restrained strength. Maybe of frustration.
“You don’t like the idea,” I surmised.
“I’m just worried it will be too much, too soon.”
“It’s been almost a month since I woke up. How much longer is too soon?” I asked, feeling frustrated myself.
Eddie caught my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I’m just protective of you, Am. You have to understand that. If you think you’re ready for a job, then I’ll help you find one.”
“Really?”
He nodded.
As we approached the end of the street, Loch General became more prominent. It was the biggest building on the street, so large it took up the entire end. It sort of sat on the street like a king at the head of a table.
“The store is beautiful,” I said, gazing up at it as we approached. “It looks almost like a house.”
He nodded. “Yeah, it was built to look that way,” he explained. “The man who built it actually lived there when it first opened. My family was part of the group of people who founded this town.”
That was a lot of history. Very deep roots. It was fascinating to me because I didn’t have any at all.
“But as the years and decades went on, the store got bigger. Things were added on, and of course, no one lives in it.”
“Where do your parents live?” I asked, curious.
“One street behind the lake,” he said, gesturing behind the store. The lake was there in the distance, not too far away, but not so close that Main Street was on top of it.
“I’m not sure they like me,” I said, thinking of the times his parents would come and visit me at the hospital. They were always friendly, but they were also slightly reserved. It was just a feeling I got when they came that they were there more for Eddie than for me.
“They like you. They’re just helicopter parents,” he murmured.
“What’s a helicopter parent?” I wondered.
He laughed. “It means they’re all up in my business all the time.”
“Oh,” I murmured and drank more of the rich, warm drink.
He chuckled and tugged me along, across the street the stretched out in front of the general store. There was a big wooden sign on front with a Loch Ness image on it and the words Loch General Store.
He saw me gazing at it, then nudged me in the side. “That sign was my idea. It’s only a few years old.”
“I like it. He’s kind of like the mascot of the place,” I said, still looking at the creature.
“Exactly!”
There was a huge bin of large orange pumpkins on the sidewalk outside. I was drawn to their shiny skin, spicy color, and rough stems. “That’s a lot of pumpkins,” I said, running my hand over a couple, looking down into the heaping bin.
“It’s fall. People around here really get into this time of year.”
“Have you ever carved one?” I asked, glancing around.
“Of course.” He scoffed. “I’m a brilliant pumpkin carver.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Pick one,” he said, and my eyes snapped back to him. He laughed. “Go on. Pick one. We’ll carve it later.”
“Really?” I echoed.
He nodded.
I pointed to one sitting on the ground outside the bin. “That one.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “That’s the biggest one here!”
I felt myself grinning back at him. “I know.”
He made a bunch of sounds as if he might be dying as he lifted it up. “Open the door for me, baby.”
My stomach flipped with his words, but I rushed around him to pull open the door. He went in ahead of me, telling everyone to make way for “the great pumpkin.” People were chuckling, and I heard them talking to Eddie as he carried the pumpkin off somewhere.