Page 28 of The Fine Art of Faking It
High school crush hangover, she decided. Her body just hadn’t caught up with the reality her head and heart had embraced. Davis Gates wasnotthe one.
13
After an accidentally intimate late night with Davis, Eden was enjoying her solitude the following afternoon. She had just dug into a round of bill paying and order placing when she heard the tinkling of the front door bell. On the monitor, she watched as Eva Merrill hurried inside, bundled up in a heavy down jacket and thick wool cap.
A moment later, her desk phone rang. Vader rolled over onto her back under Eden’s desk and grumbled at the interruption to her nap.
“Eva’s here to see you,” Sunny chirped through the phone.
“Can you send her back?” Eden asked.
“Sure! Back where?”
“To my office. Where you called me,” she enunciated. Sometimes Eden regretted not setting up shop literally anywhere but Blue Moon.
“Oh, right! Duh! Eva, you can go on back to Eden’s office.”
Sunny hung up before Eden could ask her for the cup of tea that she was dying for. Moments later, Evangelina Merrill—Cardona now—strolled into the room shedding winter layers.
“I hear someone has some big news,” Eden said, staring pointedly at her friend’s hand. Eva’s eyes widened and her mouth opened into an O.
“How did you—Oh, right! The wedding!” Eva flopped down in the white upholstered chair in front of Eden’s desk. “I’m so sorry I didn’t invite you. It was a little… spontaneous.”
“What did you think I was talking about?” Eden pressed, suspicious now. Eva had a history of keeping secrets, and in Blue Moon, that was right up there with stiffing delivery drivers and littering.
“Nothing,” Eva said brightly.
Hmm.As a good reader of people and predictor of their needs, Eden was suspicious. She saved the spreadsheet she’d been editing. “Do you want some coffee?”
Eva rolled her eyes back. “I’d kill for some.”
“Perfect. I was just going to make some tea. Let’s go sit by the fire, and you can tell me all about the wedding,” Eden suggested.
“Oh, tea sounds nice, too,” Eva said frowning. “Less caffeine, right?”
“I can make you some tea instead,” Eden offered cautiously. Her friend looked like she was ready to burst into tears.
“That would be really, really nice,” Eva said, her voice shaky.
“Okaaaay. Tea it is.” Eden led the way to the fireplace in the library. “How about you hang out in here, and I’ll get it ready?”
Eva was already lost to the bookshelves. She was a romance novelist by trade, a lover of books, and Eden’s shelves were stocked with gems from all genres. “Entertain yourself,” Eden called over her shoulder.
She made a quick pit stop in her office and then put together a tea tray in the kitchen. When she returned to the library with Chewy on her heels, sniffing after the cookies, Eva was curled in one of the leather chairs by the fire, one of her own books in her lap.
“I can’t believe you have these,” Eva said, stroking the burly fireman on the cover.
“Blue Moon’s own,” Eden said, setting the tray down on the hassock between the chairs. “How’s the book coming?”
Eva beamed. “Great. Really great, thanks.” Eva had used Sheriff Sexy as inspiration for a romance novel and had been shocked when life had followed art, leading her to her own happily ever after.
“How do you like your tea?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never had any real tea before,” Eva said, peering at the small plate of cookies on the tray.
“How about I fix you a cup the way I like it, and you can get started on the cookies?” Eden suggested.
Eva didn’t need to be told twice. “Ohmygod,” she said through a mouthful of raspberry bowtie. “These are amazing. I feel like I haven’t eaten in days.”
