Page 23 of Noel I Won’t
“It’s keeping Truman in line that’s the problem,” Lyle grumbled.
They all laughed together like old friends. A pang of envy sliced through my heart. I wasn’t jealous, exactly. More like wistful. I wished I could have formed those kinds of friendships when I lived here.
Hopper seemed totally comfortable with a queer couple, too. That was reassuring.
“You should come out with us next weekend,” Truman said. “We need to get you a man.”
“Or woman,” Lyle put in. “Not everyone is gay, hon. Some of us are bi or pan.”
“Yeah, whatever. Men are hotter, but you do you, boo.”
Wait. What now? Was Lyle saying that Hopper was… I cast a look his way, and was it me, or were his cheeks even redder than when he’d been outside?
“Hopper’s not straight?” I asked in shock. “What the hell?”
Hopper coughed. “Uh, well, yeah, I took a little longer to figure things out than you did.” He bit his bottom lip. “You haven’t been around in a while, so…”
“Ohhh.” Truman looked between us. “Isthisgoing to be a thing? Maybe you don’t need to come out with us.”
“What? No,” Hopper said. “There’s no thing.”
I laughed, my tone brittle. “Of course not.”
“Noel is just visiting. He can’t stay here forever.”
“No, I won’t,” I said quietly.
“He’s a chef,” Hopper continued. “He runs a restaurant in Chicago.”
“Wow,” Truman said, sounding suitably impressed. “That’s amazing.”
“Yeah.” I used to think it was amazing. It hadn’t gone so amazing, though. And now I was here, heart aching, because Hopper Kelly—who I didn’t evenlikevery much—wasn’t interested in hooking up with me.
True, I’d misjudged him initially. He didn’t appear to be taking advantage of my parents or worming himself into position to be handed their farm when they decided to retire. He was lonely, in need of a family, and a damn hard worker. I’d seen him take out a dozen families today, cutting down trees, weathering the cold, and doing it all with the smiles he never seemed to have for me.
My parents might have retired by now if not for him. Or lost the farm. They couldn’t afford to hire a full staff, and Hopper did the work of at least three men.
Still, as much as he tried to fill the gaps, he couldn’t do everything by himself. I had to help get the farm back to its former glory.
If Dad recovered enough to work again, I wanted the farm to be on track for a great season. And if he didn’t, well…I wanted my parents to be in the position to get a good price when they sold.
Either way, that was a tall enough order without trying to add Hopper to my plate.
It was good he wasn’t interested. For the best.
I had more important things to do than get hot and sweaty with my very own lumberjack fantasy.
CHAPTER 10
HOPPER
By the timeI made it inside for the night, it was well past dark, and I was half-frozen from tromping through the snow.
Maggie had brought me a thermos of chicken noodle soup around six, which did a decent job of thawing my insides, and now I was ready for a hot shower to do the rest.
I made sure Noel had closed up and locked the shop, then went straight up to the bathroom and turned on the shower.
He’d been a big help today, even though I’d had my doubts about him. Maggie couldn’t have worked such long hours—and without Noel there, I’d have needed to help her retrieve anything sold off the top shelves because we didn’t want her on the ladder.
