Page 61 of The Pumpkin Spice Romance
“Not in any of it,” Scarlett cried out, flailing an arm at the beautiful room and hating the frenzy in her voice.
“And yet, you’re here.”
Noah’s steady, matter-of-fact tone nearly derailed the hysteria nipping at Scarlett’s heels.
His lifting a hand to her face and cupping her cheek while his thumb wiped away a stray tear, finished the job. All the destructive thoughts whirling in her head disappeared.
“What?” she asked, clambering to resurface.
“This is foreign to you, completely new and out of your norm, right?”
Scarlett eyed him with suspicion, and he didn’t wait for her to answer.
“But you’re here all the same,” he continued. “For some reason, you were working in that camera shop when M’Kenzee and Maree walked in. You were developing your own photos at that particular moment of that specific day. And M’Kenzee — who, by your own admission, is an exceptional photographer and judge of talent — saw something profound in your work. Some force of nature urged M’Kenzee to mentor you, to bring you under her wing, which meant moving to Green Hills. Something prompted Maree to offer you this apartment to live in while you’re here. And I just happened to need some help and expertise setting up a pumpkin patch and photography attraction that will bring joy to many people at the exact time you arrived in town.
“Call it coincidence if you must, but don’t you think that after all those random flashes of time aligned, you’resupposedto be here?” He finished his speech with quite the mic drop.
“Like, my stars aligned? Or fate stepped in?” She weighed the theories out loud.
“Something along those lines,” Noah said with a half shrug. “We can debate that later. Regardless of what brought you to this moment, maybe it’s okay to simplybe presentnow that you’re here. Beingherecan be enough — if you let it.”
Scarlett remained rooted to that single spot in the living room.
Noah took her suitcase and train case to the bedroom.
He set her camera bags on the desk.
Then he turned the light on in the kitchen. He retrieved the kettle from the stove, filled it with water, and lit the burner before setting it back in place.
“When that whistles, use the jar of cocoa and the bag of marshmallows next to the mug I set out and fix yourself a cup of hot chocolate. I’ll be back with dinner in a few hours. Until then, sit on that fancy couch, nap on the pillow-laden bed, or take a bubble bath in the clawfoot tub. I don’t care what you do, as long as you’re here when I return.”
“Clawfoot tub, you say?”
“Have at it,” Noah said, running the back of his fingers down her cheek and pausing to hold her chin while he looked in her eyes, as though demanding confirmation she wouldn’t run.
Scarlett exhaled the breath she’d been holding and nodded.
“I’ll be here.”
As promised —so like Noah, as she’d already come to expect — he knocked on the door a few hours later, handed her a brown bag from a place called the Three-Toed Turtle, and went back down the stairs to his truck.
The aroma of cheeseburgers and French fries wafted from the bag, causing her stomach to rumble.
By the time Noah had hauled six large tubs into the tight living room, Scarlett was starving.
While they ate, Noah explained that in the tubs were a sampling of the quilts, blankets, throws, pillows, and fabrics available in the church’s storage building. Over strawberry milkshakes, they devised a plan for the next day.
When Scarlett walked Noah out, he once again told her to trust him, that everything was going to be great. She watched him drive away with a sliver of hope pushing its way into her heart. After Scarlet slid under a quilt and rested her head on a lavender-scented pillowcase, she whisperedthank youto the stars, the fates, and the universe. . .to whatever forces had taken her to Green Hills.
And brought her to Noah.
6
Every moment of light and dark is a miracle.
Walt Whitman
Tuesday, September 29, 2026
