Page 4 of Sweet Cinnamon and the Mountain Man
“Funny girl,” I mutter under my breath. Candace has always been a bit of a troublemaker which is probably why she gets along so well with Agatha. They both like to stir things up.
I don’t have time for this though. I’m already sweating bullets and it’s not even sixty degrees out. It’s early. I don’t usually come into town at seven in the morning but I need to get my stuff set up. I brought as much as I could because I assumed I’d have the same amount of space. But the booths are at least two feet smaller.
I eye the space up next to me and groan under my breath. I really do need that spot. I hope that I can sweet-talk the vendor into giving it to me. Or letting me buy it. Maybe even split it with me. Just a little extra space and I’ll be able to fit at least most of my chairs and tables in here.
“Hey, Cinnamon! How are you doing?”
Groaning, I close my eyes and sigh. “I don’t need this yet,” I mutter under my breath.
When I open my eyes, she’s standing right in front of me, her pale cheeks pink and her perfect lips hanging open on a gasp.
“There is no way!”
Before I can say a thing, she turns around and stomps off. “Good! I have enough to do without arguing with her again.”
But my thoughts won’t stop whirling around in my head and they like how she looked. Her long russet hair was pulled back into a messy up-do and she was wearing a little bit of makeup. She looked smart in her jeans and dress shirt.
She looked like the girl next door and that’s a tempting thing for a man who’s been alone for a long time like me.
“I’m telling you there has to be a mistake! There’s no way that I ended up right next to him, Candace! If my granny put you up to this, I swear I’m gonna put that old lady in a home! She’s obviously lost her mind.”
“Why on earth would Agatha care who you’re next to, Cinnamon? I input everything into a computer program. That’s how you ended up next to Reginald. There’s no great conspiracy here.” Candace looks down at her clipboard and then smirks at both of us. “I had a feeling this was going to be a problem but I thought y’all could at least make it five minutes without starting a fight.”
“We’re not fighting,” I growl, scowling at the pair of them.
“Yeah. What he said.” Cinnamon hooked a thumb at me. Her pretty nose is scrunched up like she smells something bad as she agrees with me.
“The spots are set. So you’re just gonna have to pull your big-people pants on and act like adults.” She stomps off but I swear there’s a little smile on her face when she turns away.
I fear there’s been some machinations here and almost assuredly Agatha had something to do with it.
I’m so close to saying the heck with it and just setting my stuff up and letting her settle in next to me with her booth. It would be worth it to spend a little time with her. To be so close that I could hear her soft murmurs all day and watch her smiling at everybody around us.
But that way lies madness.
“I think I’ve got something that would help us both.” I run my sweaty hand up and down my thigh. The noise around me is building and my whole head is already buzzing with anxiety. But I need this…
Her head doesn’t even turn. She just puts a small box down on her table and starts pulling easels with boards on them. “Ummm. I don’t know what you want, Reginald. I’m really busy right now.”
“I want that space and I’m willing to pay for it.”
She turns to me and there’s something burning in her whiskey eyes that feels like it’s about to fire me up until I’m ash at her feet.
“There’s no way that I’m leaving this spot, Reginald Hawks. So you might as well save your breath.”
“I can’t do that. I really need the extra booth for my products. I’ll gladly give you the money you put out for it.”
She just glares at me and then turns away, her hands clenching at her sides.
“Go to heck, Mr. Hawks.”
If I have to sit here all weekend beside her that’s exactly where I’m gonna be.
Cinnamon
There’s always beensomething about Reginald Hawks that irritates the heck out of me but right now I’m boiling.
How dare he think he can con me out of my booth? I’ve got just as much right to be here as him.
