Page 3 of Lovewell Lane

Scarlet sighed and grabbed the bottle of wine to open. “You worry me sometimes.”

“I keep you young,” I reasoned. “Now come help me plan out my new restaurant, I could use that beautiful brain to give me marketing ideas.”

2

Derek

A grunt fell from my lips as I dropped another bag of chicken feed onto the store shelf. I cringed at the involuntary noise and thought of my six-year-old daughter who, at every opportunity, made fun of my grunts and groans. I was forced to grow up quickly, so everyone around me made fun of how I was a grumpy old man, but lately, it felt like less of a joke.

The shop bell chimed throughout the empty store. My brother, Sam, was in my office ordering inventory, so I chose to ignore the announcement of a customer in hopes that he would deal with it. Sam had always been the outgoing brother, while I avoided speaking with people at all costs. It was for my benefit and theirs.

A head peeked around the shelf I was crouching next to. My height and size didn’t make for the best hiding abilities. Her face lit up with a smile as she approached me with little care for my personal space. My nose was immediately assaulted with her flowery perfume.

“Derek,” she greeted cheerfully, her voice two octaves higher than when I heard her speak to anyone else. Her shiny engagement ring flashed as she pushed hair behind her ear, only to pull it back out to frame her face seconds later. She reminded me of a parrot that couldn’t stop preening itself.

“Mrs. Nelson,” I grumbled while scratching my neck. I already hated where this was going. Anytime a married woman looked at me with those eyes, I did my best to stay far away.

“I have a major dilemma with my kitchen window. With all this rain lately, it won’t stop leaking. So I was wondering if you had any caulk that you could help me with.”

Her hand rested on my bicep, and she posed in a way that looked like it would hurt her back. I flinched at the touch. Even if she was single, I wouldn’t be interested, but there was nothing that turned me off faster than infidelity.

I cleared my throat and took a large step back. “It’s in the next aisle over.”

Quickly turning to busy myself with moving around the chicken feed that was already on the shelf, I pointedly stared at the wall until I heard her footsteps retreat.

The sound of the office door opening and closing made me let out a breath. A few seconds later, I heard Sam explaining caulk guns to the woman while making casual conversation.

I eavesdropped until their little chat was over. In the end, she didn’t buy anything. Typical. We lived in a small town, so a lot of people stopped in just to chat. There wasn’t much to do around here, and we were one of the only open places in town. But the women stopping by just to flirt with me or Sam were only wasting their time.

I was indefinitely single, and Sam already had his heart set on someone.

He called out to me mockingly, “You can come out now. She’s gone.”

I waited a few seconds longer to move. Nothing annoyed me more than letting my little brother feel like he was right about something.

“You should really be nicer to our customers, you know,” he chided once I was in view.

I rolled my eyes. Over the years, Sam accumulated every possible shortcut to piss me off. It was one of his favorite hobbies.

“She’s married. And you have to buy something to be considered a customer,” I argued gruffly.

Sam rolled his eyes. “She’s a stay-at-home mom, and she probably just wanted to interact with someone. Sometimes married people flirt, it’s harmless.”

I waited a few seconds for him to realize what he said. His eyes widened as he jerked his head up to look at my face. He fumbled over his words as he spoke, “Sorry, I just meant it wouldn’t kill you to have a conversation with people. We do run a farm and hardware store after all. Part of that is helping customers with questions.”

“I’ll work on it,” I placated with no intention of following through.

“I have to finish the order, the next person that comes in is all on you,” Sam decided with a smile while walking backward. His grin was laid-back as always.

I took off my gloves and dropped them on the counter. “Who put you in charge?”

“You did,” he reminded me. “You’re stocking, and I’m ordering.”

I let out a sigh and turned to go to our back room for more boxes to unpack. Mrs. Nelson’s interruption reminded me that I needed to restock the caulk.

“Be nice,” my brother said over his shoulder. “The next woman that walks through that door could be the love of your life. You never know.”

I choked out a laugh. In the back, I cut open boxes with my pocket knife and stacked them up tall to be as efficient as possible. The stack rested just higher than my chin, cutting off my line of sight, which caused me to plow right into something.

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