Her Perfect Mismatch (A Town Named Eden Book 2) (10 page)

Mitch checked his cell phone again. Still no response to his request for
more info, r u ok?

Man related trouble.

What the hell had she meant by that?

Had Andrew returned?

He looked up and nearly tripped over his own feet.

“Hi,” Elizabeth called out and gave him a small wave of her hand, “You brought the cavalry.”

“No laughing,” he threw over his shoulder at his brothers. Easing out a breath, he relaxed and sent his gaze on a swift survey of Elizabeth. She looked fine. Well, better than fine.

She gave him a megawatt smile and spread her arms out. “What do you think?”

He looked past her and focused on the car parked behind her. “What is it?”

“It’s my new car.”

“New?” Maybe way back in the 1960’s.

“The local mechanic’s closed for the day, and Glenda suggested it might be a good idea to check... things.”

Mitch heard Markus chuckle. “Shut up,” he said under his breath.

“Well, you’ve come to the right place. We’d be happy to have a look for you,” Matthew offered.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to drag all of you out.”

“It’s okay. This is our quiet time. Let’s have a look.”

“I’m sorry,” she mouthed.

Mitch shrugged and mouthed right back, “For what?”

Elizabeth gestured with her hand at the car.

“Guys, I think it might be better if I take it for a test drive. That way if anything is making a clanking noise, we’ll know what to look for.”

* * *

She was being a nuisance. And, clinging to Mitch... It would be better if she learned to stand on her own two feet and…

If Glenda could hear her, she’d say she was getting her wires crossed again. People around here liked to give a helping hand. Also, she had to own up to coming here for entirely selfish reasons. She’d wanted to see Mitch again. As if she hadn’t already spent enough time with him. Worrying, she turned toward him. “Maybe I could wait until Monday when the garage opens.”

“Better to be safe than sorry. It won’t take long. Mind if I drive?” Mitch asked her.

“Sure.” Turning to his brothers, she smiled. “Thanks guys.”

“Drive safely.”

“Ignore them,” Mitch said as he got in behind the wheel.

Elizabeth muffled a giggle. It took some doing for Mitch to adjust the seat and find room for his legs.

“I’m always happy to be a source of entertainment,” he said.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh at you. It’s not exactly built for a grown man. I suppose you guys think it’s a silly car.

“Not if it makes you happy.” He reached for her hand and held it for a minute. “Okay, let’s see what this baby can do.” He pulled out of the parking space, changed gears and sent the car on a backward and forward roll. “Well, it moves.” He shook his head. “And from this end it doesn’t look so yellow.”

“I’m thinking of having a smile painted on the front.”

“You want to attract more attention to yourself?”

“You can laugh all you want. This car represents the ultimate leap for me. It’s all mine.” She shrugged. “If my business takes off, I might consider an upgrade, but for the moment, I’m on a sort of free is best budget, or at least as close as I can get to it.”

“You’ll have to manage without power steering.”

“It’ll keep my arms nicely toned.”

When they cleared the town, he turned to her and smiled. “You look great in it.” After a couple of miles he came to a stop and sat back. “You’ll have to keep an eye on the radiator, make sure it doesn’t run low on water.” He patted the steering wheel. “You did well, Elizabeth.”

“Thank you.”

“You should drive it back. I want to see how you handle the steering.” He emerged from the driver’s side and strode around to open her door.

Elizabeth stepped out of the car and straight into his arms. She drew in a deep breath and releasing it, melted into his embrace. “This is becoming a habit with me.”

“What is?” he asked, his lips brushing against her neck.

“Me, throwing myself at you.”

“I’m a lucky man.”

“I have to admit this was the main reason for rushing to see you. I wanted to grab another moment with you.” So much had happened that day. She’d thought about having a quiet moment to catch up and collect herself, but she’d known she would only find comfort in his arms. So what if that made her needy.

“I’m glad you came. I’ve spent all afternoon thinking how I wouldn’t see you tonight.” He tipped her chin up.

“This is going to sound crazy, and it’s probably the last thing you want to hear, but… I was starting to miss you.” She buried her face against his chest.

“It must be contagious. I spent some time trying to figure out how I could smuggle you into my room.”

“I’m all ears.”

He laughed. “Calm down, it’s not going to happen. We’re grown ups and shouldn’t have to sneak around.”

“I could try to get out of tonight, but I’d rather not. I need to… I want to spend time with the girls. If not for them, I wouldn’t have this wonderful opportunity. I’ve been reading up about small cottage industries blossoming and expanding,” she laughed. “Listen to me, I’ve sold a few jars of jam and now I’m thinking of taking over the world.”

“So which one of them inspired you?”

“It was a group effort. I think Glenda was the first one to suggest making jam. She has an excellent setup right in her backyard.”

“That’s handy.”

“You’ve no idea. I’ve been getting my rhubarb from the property backing onto hers. The place is sitting empty, but I thought I saw a car drive away the other day. Maybe it was a caretaker checking in on the place. So I left a note and some samples as a thank you. No matter what the girls say, I still feel like a petty thief. And I’m starting to look over my shoulder. What if the owner finds out?”

“He might demand… compensation.”

“I suppose I could offer to buy the rhubarb at market value. Is that the right term?”

“I’d be careful how you phrase your proposal. He might want to take advantage of you. And let me tell you, that’s not a pleasant feeling.”

She frowned. He had to be referring to The Flea... Felicia. Eddie had mentioned something about her using Mitch to get her boyfriend to propose. “I’m not using you, Mitch. At least, I don’t think I am. Last night—”

“I was there and I’m pretty sure if you hadn’t made the first move, I would’ve found a way to...” he chuckled, “Entice you into my arms. Although, it might have taken me a bit more time. I don’t know if you noticed or not, but for a while there, I could barely string a sentence together. Last night, you put me out of my misery, and now listen to me.”

She’d done that to him? “I thought you were trying to avoid me.”

“Avoid you?” He nibbled the edge of her lip. Then he kissed her deeply. When he drew back, he sighed. “I hate to say it, but we need to take it easy. It’s a small town and it looks like you’re here to stay. We don’t want to ruin a possible friendship—” He dug his fingers through his hair. “That came out wrong.”

“That’s okay. We should be honest. In fact, I need you to be honest with me. I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t keep it casual.” She tilted her head and smiled. “Well, not sporadic casual... but more on a regular basis casual...”

He laughed. “Yeah, we can do that.”

Chapter Ten

“The girls’ night out will give me a pause to collect myself,” Elizabeth said as she pulled into Eddie’s driveway. She didn’t want to admit how jittery she’d been feeling—like a kid with a new toy, wanting to play with it day and night. If it had been up to her, she would have chained herself to Mitch.

“Welcome,” Eddie said waving at her from the front veranda.

“I brought wine and chocolates.”

“You didn’t have to, but thank you. We can never have enough of them. Come in.”

Elizabeth spent the first half hour talking herself out of making up an excuse to leave so she could rush off to see Mitch. Pulling her thoughts away from the obsessive swirl wasn’t easy, especially when they kept nudging her with snapshot reminders of Mitch’s smiling eyes, and the way his lips stretched into an easy smile, the feel of his hands on her...

Thinking about him only fed her growing need to connect with him, to drop her guard and experience more of everything, please. She couldn’t even try to be sensible about it.

Jolting herself out of her dreamy thoughts, she said, “You must be looking forward to Theo returning from his trip.”

“I’m beyond excited, so I’m thinking of encouraging him to take another trip.”

“Are you already losing the magic spark?” Joyce asked.

Eddie shook her head. “There’s a lot to be said for anticipation. It’s like pressing the refresh button on the computer. I told him he needed to have a night out a week with the boys. It’ll be our time out from each other. There’s nothing wrong with mini vacations to make the heart grow fonder.”

Agreeing, Elizabeth decided to settle down to enjoy the evening with the girls thinking she’d be that much happier when she finally saw Mitch again.

Joyce didn’t agree. “You’re keeping Theo on a loose leash. In your place, I would’ve tied the knot by now.”

“Theo’s making huge concessions for me, leaving behind his sophisticated metropolitan lifestyle to live in Eden. These last few months have been about making sure this is what he wants.”

“Good point, and if he hasn’t fled by now, he never will.” Joyce laughed. “I can’t believe he’s agreed to have Wilbur hanging over the bar in your new restaurant. That man loves you.”

Eddie shrugged. “It’ll always remind him I’m different. If he’d wanted prim and proper, he should have looked elsewhere.”

Joyce raised her glass in a salute. “I wondered when your impish, won’t take any bull streak would rear its head.”

“Theo’s putting up with a lot.” She cleared her throat. “I kept the best till last. I’m almost ashamed of my behavior, but I couldn’t resist. Theo’s never heard a koala before.”

Elizabeth waited for the laughter to die down before admitting, “I’m missing the joke.”

“Koala’s are small and cuddly but at night you could easily mistake their roar for a full size grizzly bear. They sound ferocious. So here we were, our first night together in Claire’s house, out here surrounded by acres of wilderness. It was the middle of the night when Theo nudged me awake and told me not to worry. He had everything under control but he wasn’t quite sure what he’d do, but he’d figure something out. All said in his snooty tone, of course. I played the damsel in distress for as long as I could. I should have waited to see if he was going to ambush it with his bare hands or ask me if I’d brought along my grandmother’s double barrel shotgun.”

“He’s a keeper. Does he have any brothers?” Hannah asked.

“Um… sorry, I don’t have any eligible bachelors up my sleeves.” At the sound of the doorbell, Eddie jumped to her feet. “That’s the pizza.”

Glasses were topped up and everyone settled back to enjoy their meal.

Elizabeth thought she had herself under control and as she was about to take her first bite of her slice of pizza, she panicked. What if Mitch thought she’d agreed to tonight’s girls’ night because she didn’t want to spend more time with him? She reached for her cell phone, only to have it snatched away from her.

“Girls’ night rule number one,” Eddie said, “No outside distractions. Sit back. Relax. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover. General gossip. Miscellaneous thoughts and speculations. Eating and drinking. And a movie.”

A different type of panic overtook her. She felt trapped.

“Are you right there, Elizabeth? You look as if you’re about to have another episode,” Joyce said.

Elizabeth frowned and took a bite of her pizza. “I do not have food issues. At least, not permanent ones.”

“Yeah, what was up with that? People are still talking about you and the Puff Doughnut,” Eddie said.

She focused her attention on her glass of wine only to realize they were all waiting for an answer. Setting the glass down, she sighed. “My ex was… is a health fanatic. He weighs his food portions and consumes vast amounts of supplements. I swear half the stuff he eats comes in powder form or pills. I hadn’t had any sugar in three years.”

Their mouths gaped open.

“Not a single granule. As for treats like pizza…” she rolled her eyes, “You can’t make pizza dough without sugar. So that was also off the menu.”

“You must have loved him to stay with him for so long. I swear, I would not have lasted a week,” Hannah said and took a large bite of her pizza.

“It wasn’t love. Not even at the start. I realize that now.” She took several sips of her wine. “It wasn’t just the food control. He wanted me to defer all decisions to him. As for opinions… well, I hardly dared express any. He’d always sit me down and analyze my thought process pointing out everything he found wrong with it.”

“And he’s walking around free?” Hannah asked.

“As hard as it is to admit, I’m more concerned about what he saw in me. Do I come across as gullible and—”

“No,” they all chorused.

“There’s a certain degree of trust that goes into a relationship,” Eddie said. “You can’t possibly know everything about a person when you first meet them. Then you have to rely on what they reveal of themselves and trust that they’re being honest. Your ex is a manipulative bastard. He took advantage of you. There, I said it.”

They all nodded. However, Elizabeth wasn’t convinced. Andrew’s manipulation had been subtle and had built up over time, but she’d put up with it…

“Oh, I nearly forgot.” Eddie threw her hands up in the air. “The wedding invitations are going out this week.”

“You put it off long enough,” Joyce said.

“Theo had to organize his folks and… well, Sophie’s still feeling a bit raw.”

Joyce shook her head. “She’s a tough cookie. Helena says she doesn’t even mention him now. She’ll be fine. Pity they couldn’t come tonight.”

“Does her ex still live here?” Elizabeth asked. It would be dreadful to have to live in the same place, always being reminded of what might have been, what had been promised…

Eddie shook her head. “He’s moved to Melbourne and good riddance to him.”

“Any more sightings of the heiress?” Hannah asked. “It’s all I hear people talking about when I step out into the bar.”

Joyce topped their glasses. “She’s from New York. Why would she want to come to a small country town like Eden? She’s probably lounging in some private beach or cruising the Caribbean in a yacht.”

Elizabeth cleared her throat. “I went to school with a girl from Wyoming. Her father had brought the whole family over to Australia when he took up a position in a new company. Then I met a guy from Seattle at university. Melbourne’s a melting pot.”

“Melbourne, yes. But this is Eden. Anyway, I’ve got a big reveal moment I’ve been keeping under wraps.” Eddie spread out the blueprints for the new house her and Theo were building by the lake. It was still a work in progress and due to be finished in time for their wedding.

“I can’t wait to move in. Setting ourselves up in Claire Muldoon’s house has been great, but I want our own place.”

This wasn’t the first time Elizabeth had heard the local hairdresser mentioned. She’d recently moved to L.A. to live with Theo’s father whom she’d met a few years back. Thinking of two lovers reunited after so many years made her—

She grabbed hold of a cushion and hugged it against her chest. She’d see Mitch tomorrow, she thought and tried to call for calm and patience.

“The Eden Bloggess’s been quiet lately.”

“There’s a blog about the town?” Elizabeth asked.

“Not really. It’s sort of a personal blog. We have no idea who she is.”

They all looked at Elizabeth.

She shook her head. “Cross my heart, it’s not me. But it’s a good idea. Maybe I could set one up and promote my jams.”

“Just so long as you stick to that and leave us out.”

“She’s mentioned people?”

“Vague mentions,” Joyce said, “Nothing really specific. I know she’s a regular at the café. But I don’t really know who she is. Everyone who comes in looks suspicious. I’m tempted to ban the use of phones in the café. And tablets. And laptops.”

“Good luck with that.” Eddie jumped to her feet. “Okay, whose turn is it to pick the movie?”

* * *

While enjoyable, the girls’ night had felt like the longest night of her life.

The next morning, Elizabeth rushed back to Rosewood Cottage getting showered and dressed in record time so she could head over to The Gloriana for a late breakfast. However, as she headed out the front door, she nearly collided with a man.

Tom Ellis promptly introduced himself. “I just got off the phone with Eddie. She told me you were thinking of setting up a small business. I was on my way back to town, so I thought I’d take my chances and drop by to see if you were free for a chat this morning.”

Elizabeth felt all out at sea. Had she done something wrong like forget to apply for a permit? Glenda had assured her she had approval to prepare food on the premises…

“I should explain,” Tom Ellis said. “Luke Sterling, a local businessman, and myself run a mentoring program. Eddie mentioned you wanted to look into the next stage of setting up a business.”

Elizabeth released a breath of relief. “For a while there I thought I’d broken some sort of local bylaw.” She set her handbag down on a side table and gestured for him to take a seat.

“I’m sorry, were you on your way out?”

“Um, actually I was thinking of getting some breakfast.” She bit the edge of her lip. “Do you think we could do this over a cup of coffee?”

“Perfect. I had to rush out of the house early this morning. I could do with a refuel.”

And she could kill three birds with one stone. Have breakfast, get some professional advice and see Mitch.

“We could go in my car. I’ll be driving out this way again.”

“That works for me.” She wanted to see Mitch again, but she couldn’t afford to linger in town for too long. She needed to organize herself and produce a couple of batches of jam for the next Sunday market a week away. Also, Eddie had mentioned another market in nearby Harrietville. While her little car hadn’t cost much, she hadn’t foreseen the extra expense. Now she needed to sell more jam to make up for it.

She grabbed her bag and followed Tom Ellis out to his car.

He drove a four-wheel drive, and if the layer of mud on the tires was any indication, he did a lot of business in nearby farms.

“I’ve actually tried some of your jam at Joyce’s,” he said as he pulled out of the driveway. “I only made the connection when Eddie told me. You have an excellent product, so that’s half the job done.”

“Now I have the scary part to look forward to.” She laughed.

“It’s not so bad. It all depends on what you want and need. You’ve already taken care of the branding. Eden’s Garden sounds good but have you considered using your name?”

“Elizabeth’s Garden?”

“It has a nice ring to it.”

He turned to her and smiled.

He was good looking, she admitted. Tall, like Mitch. And broad shouldered, like Mitch…

It was only when he was parking the car that she happened to glance at his left hand. No wedding ring. It didn’t mean anything. But assuming he was available, she wondered if she’d be interested in him. The other night at the pub, she’d felt a connection with Mitch—a mutual liking. When she’d tried to gauge her interest by casting her attention to all the other good looking men hovering around, she’d felt nothing. But one glance at Mitch had released a swarm of butterflies in her stomach.

Why had she clicked with him? What made him stand out from the crowd? His easy manner? The way he looked at her as if he wanted to brush his hand across her cheek, and gather her in his arms? She had to wonder if her attraction had anything to do with him coming to her rescue that first day when she’d been desperate to make a firm commitment to her new life.

That first day, she hadn’t checked to see if Mitch had worn a wedding ring, but he’d had the two little girls with him, so she’d assumed he was married. And then she’d found out he was single… When had she decided to take the plunge and throw herself at him?

Something had happened the other night at the pub. All those exchanged looks, Joyce’s explanation of Mitch’s ritual. Then she’d found herself alone in the car with him, and there had been stars in the sky and, it had been after midnight…