He sat up straight and drank the rest of the water, looking a lot better, although his cheeks were pink now as he looked at her. “Thanks for your help.”
“Anytime,” she said and then wished she could bite the words back. Although she’d helped him, they weren’t friends.
He looked around the room as if noticing it for the first time. “Is this your office?”
“It is.”
He stood and wandered over to the framed pictures along the wall. She’d had a professional photographer capture some of her best work as well as a few buildings she loved around Eureka Springs, buildings she’d love to work on.
“This is incredible.” He nodded to indicate the before and after of the Coke 5¢ sign that she’d restored just that summer. It was one of the first signs that people saw when they came into Eureka Springs, and she’d been dying to get her hands on it since she’d come back home after college. “In Hawaii, you mentioned that you did historical restorations, but I don’t think I understood what that meant.”
A zing ran through her at the realization that he’d remembered something she said, along with a buzzing that continued as he stared carefully at her pictures.
“What is this?” He’d paused at her picture of The Old Grand Theater. No one even knew who owned it at this point, probably some investor in New York, but she’d always been drawn to that building. Partly because of the faded hand lettering on the old, worn brick that she wished she could get her hands on. Partly because of the lone Victorian doll you could spot through the huge display window out front, propped in a seat as if awaiting the next movie showing. And partly because her one good memory of her father was in that theater, back when it was still open.
“One of my dream projects,” she said. She pointed out another one next to it, this one less personal. “The old toy store, too. The colors on both of these buildings are phenomenal, and they’re the reason I got into this line of work in the first place.” Janson Styles had hired her to restore the toy store last year, just before Viola gone to Hawaii, and it had been one of the most rewarding jobs so far.
He turned from her wall of pictures, a gleam of appreciation in his eye. “You are very talented.”
“I’m a hard worker,” she volleyed back.
“I have a feeling it’s both things, equally.” They stared at each other for a beat, the room charged with energy.
“Well, I probably need to get back to work.” Viola stepped back even though they weren’t actually that close, but the emotion flowing between them made it feel like they were. “Is the coast clear?”
He peeked out the window between the blinds. “Appears to be so. Though, I’m not sure how I’ll make it to my car without my new security detail.”
Her cheeks turned hot. “It worked.”
“It sure did.” His gaze lingered on her a moment, making Viola feel as if she were short of breath, for a different reason, of course.
“Well, have a good trip,” she said dismissively, looking down at her tablet without seeing a thing.
He cleared his throat and opened the door. “Would you like to get together some time while I’m here?”
She looked up, incredulous. “So you can ditch me again? No thank you. I’ve learned my lesson.” She sat back in her chair and folded her arms, an eyebrow raised.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “About leaving you like that. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Enjoy your stay, Liam.”
He took it as the dismissal it was and left the office, the door shutting firmly behind him. In his absence, the room felt bigger than it had before.
Chapter 5
Liam left Viola’s office, realizing something he should have realized a long time ago: he’d really messed up.
Before he’d even met her in Hawaii, before they’d sat beside one another in the SUV taking them to the wedding party dinner on the first night they’d arrived, he’d noticed her in the lobby of their hotel. She’d thrown her head back, laughing at something, and it had caught his attention. Straight from the text he’d been sending to someone—he couldn’t even remember who now—he looked up and was arrested by her. He’d seen beautiful women before, sure, but something about her had struck him as real, unfettered in a way he wasn’t used to in his circle of acquaintances.
But in reality, he’d fallen for her before then, even. Because they’d been emailing each other back and forth for a few weeks, discussing wedding plans—things like toasts and night-before parties. She was witty and charming, and it didn’t take long for him to look forward to her emails. He hadn’t known anything about her then, for all he knew she was married or as old as his mother, but he’d been excited to meet her.
But when he climbed into the SUV beside her and he realized that this same woman from the lobby was the enchanting woman he’d been messaging? He was already so far gone for her that it wasn’t even worth trying to dissect when it had started.
They’d talked into the night, long after everyone else broke up after dinner to explore or go to bed. They’d walked the beach, holding hands and later kissing. Liam couldn’t remember ever feeling so alive.
And then the Albuquerque store, a constant pain in his side, proceeded to implode. An embezzling manager who was also having an affair with the assistant manager, it was the kind of thing that made the news and turned their store into the butt of a joke.
Not unlike he was today, unfortunately.
So he’d gotten ahold of his pilot and headed straight for the airport. It wasn’t until he was somewhere well over the Pacific that he remembered Viola waiting for him, but by then, the stress of his real life intruded, making Hawaii and his time with Viola feel like more of a dream.
He was an idiot.
Liam avoided the crowds of people on Main Street and slipped over Spring Street to a packed souvenir shop he recalled seeing. There, he bought sunglasses, a hat, and a navy Eureka Springs! hoodie. His disguise complete, he headed out to find all the buildings that Viola had pictured in her office. First one on his list: The Old Grand Theater. That was something he had to see.
Chapter 6
“If you can’t find someone to go with you, I’ll give my ticket to Fern,” Viola’s grandma called from the living room. She sat in her favorite chair, pulling together some concept drawings for the spider that Viola didn’t even want to know about, while watching one of her grisly crime shows. Viola hated those things and couldn’t imagine why her grandma loved them so much.
“I’ll find someone,” Viola insisted. “You’ve been looking forward to meeting Dane Lowbridge for months.”
“I have, but I’m sure he’ll come to Arkansas again … someday.”
Her grandma was in love with nighttime’s greatest—and most neurotic—detective, Mason Horwitz, played by the actor Dane Lowbridge. He was coming to Eureka Springs to shoot some scenes for his latest movie, based on the mystery and mass murders in the Crescent Hotel, and was holding an exclusive meet and greet the same night as the Winter Festival and gala.