Chapter Two
“Like I said, a coat of paint in the front room, dining room, and kitchen, and a little extra de-cluttering and we’ll be good to go.” Evan Monroe plastered the sincerest smile he could muster across his face and locked eyes with Mr. Bryers. He could tell Mr. Bryers still couldn’t make his mind up about him but from the way his wife was grinning, she was sold on Evan.
“You really think we could get two hundred and fifty thousand?” she asked for the third time since Evan first gave her the ballpark figure their house might sell for.
“I really do. Just make those few minor changes, stop in the office to sign our contract, and we’ll get your home listed. It’ll be sold before you know it.”
“We’ll talk it over some more and then stop in and see Bets. Sign contracts and whatnot then,” Mr. Bryers said.
Of course, Evan thought. Aunt Bets. This guy didn’t trust him and wanted Bets name on the contract. “Sure, come by whenever you’re ready.”
Evan slipped the paper booties off of his shoes and shoved them into his pocket. He waved goodbye and headed out to his car, relieved to be out of there. It was the third home he’d seen that day and he was exhausted from having to be constantly “on.” He didn’t know how Bets managed to keep it up for so many years. He’d only been working for her in her real estate office for a little over five months and there were days he’d swore he wouldn’t be able to go on.
Evan had moved to Snowy Ridge at his dad’s urging. He had struggled since graduating with his business degree from University of Michigan three years earlier, moving from job to job. Nothing had stuck for him. You were told your whole life that you went to school to get a great job and have a great life and then when you were ready for it, nothing came. It was a total letdown. Evan wasn’t sure what he’d expected the post-college workforce to look like, but he felt it had to be better than what he’d experienced. He tried sales for a printer company, marketing at a dot.com, and office administration for a temp staffing agency. Each job was worse than the last. He had just decided he was destined to live with his parents forever and work at a Starbucks, when his dad called his sister, Bets, and asked if Evan could come work for her.
Evan put his car into drive and headed back toward the small real estate office on the south end of Main St. It was just a one-room store front but it was all they needed for Monroe Realty. Aunt Bets had been a one-woman operation all these years so she didn’t even have a desk for Evan to use when he was in the office. The twenty-by-twenty-foot space had just enough room for a desk and chair, two chairs for clients to sit in front of the desk, a couple of potted plants, and a water cooler. There was a small bathroom and a closet in the back. When Evan needed to work in the office, he sat in one of the clients’ chairs. It was a tight space for sure, but, Aunt Bets was good to him. She paid him well and was letting him take more and more clients on. And he wasn’t paying rent to live with her so he’d saved up most of his earnings. His hope was to get enough to live on for a year while he figured out and found whatever job he was truly meant to do. While things were going good in Snowy Ridge, it wasn’t where he wanted to be. At night, when he was alone, he still felt empty and adrift in his life.
Snowy Ridge was a cute little town. It was real picturesque and all that, if that was what you were looking for. He could see why people went there for vacations or bought the little cabins that dotted the lake front. And if you were a snowmobiling fanatic, it was one of the top spots to be. But, for a single guy in his twenties, it was hell. There was nothing to do and nowhere to go. There was one tiny movie theater that showed the same movie for weeks at a time. There was one kitschy shop after another, full of things he’d never buy. There was only a handful of tiny bars and with his friends all living far away, no one to go with him. He still couldn’t bring himself to go hang out at one of the bars alone. And there were practically no single women. The town was a revolving door of tourists or families buying vacation homes. Evan was, for the lack of a better word, bored out of his mind. There were only so many episodes of The Walking Dead a guy could watch with his aunt.
At first, he told himself the break in dating was good for him. He’d come out of a long-term relationship with his college sweetheart, Daisy, and he needed the time alone to figure out who he was as his own person and not one half of a couple. Daisy had been pushing hard for the two of them to get married and it completely freaked Evan out. He wasn’t ready for the whole house with a picket fence and two kids. He couldn’t even find a job that he liked. Getting away was good. It would give him the time to figure it all out. Only, what he’d figured out was that he still had no clue.
Evan hadn’t given up on life or anything. He still had a healthy ego and knew things eventually had to turn up for him. There was a goal set in front of him; he just couldn’t make out what it was yet. And he still thought of himself as a catch even if he did live with his aunt. Someday he’d find a girl who he couldn’t live without and who would be equally crazy for him. He just wasn’t going to find her hanging out in Snowy Ridge, Wisconsin.
Evan pulled his car to a stop in front of MoonBeans. He wasn’t ready for an evening at home with Aunt Bets just yet. He needed a little post-work pick me up.
Evan grabbed his book out of his glove compartment and tucked it in his coat pocket in case he decided to stick around the café for a while. He liked coffee shops: the heavy aroma of coffee that continuously filled the air, the warm, cozy seating that always felt inviting, and the never-ending stream of interesting characters who lingered and made for excellent people watching. MoonBeans had been one of his favorite places in Snowy Ridge from the first day he’d arrived.
He pushed open the heavy wood door to the coffee shop and the bells hanging over head jingled, announcing his arrival. The cute barista, April, was working the counter and smiled widely at him. He liked when she was working and when he’d first moved to town, he actually thought about asking her out. But his love for caffeine was too great to allow him to take the chance of things going awry and he not being able to frequent the only coffee shop in town. So, they maintained a simple, yet flirty barista/customer relationship.
“Hey, handsome, you’re here kind of late today.” April said as Evan approached the counter. “Still want your usual?”
“Yeah, double espresso. It’s been one of those days.”
“I feel ya. I’m having one of those days myself. But I think I’m going to need something a little stronger than a coffee.”
Evan smiled at her. If he didn’t think she’d take it the wrong way he’d ask to go along with her for a drink. “How much longer do you have?”
April glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall, just over the line of coffee syrups, and then returned her gaze to Evan. “Twenty more minutes and then I have a date with Jose Cuervo.”
“Lucky guy.”
“You go ahead and take a seat, hon’, and I’ll bring your drink out to you.”
Evan nodded and headed toward one of the two vacant over-stuffed chairs in front of the stone fireplace. There were a pair of young teens hovering over a chess board at one table and a woman, a mom, Evan guessed from her overstuffed bag with the scattering of buttons featuring various kids holding soccer balls pinned to it. He’d bet she had a large family too, judging from the five-inch stack of coupon papers she was clipping her way through. And then there was a nice-looking, from the back anyway, blonde woman looking out the window onto Main Street with her back to the rest of the café, sipping a cup of tea. Maybe he should sit closer to her.
Evan walked past his original choice of seat and was about to take the seat next to the blonde when he got a closer look at who she was. Ugh, he thought. It was that woman who wasted his time a couple of months back when she tried to hire him to sell the Starlight Pub. He had prepared a market summary and gone over there, ready to deliver his pitch, when it turned out there were no plans to ever sell the pub. It wasn’t even hers to sell. It belonged to her sister and mother. Evan felt a sense of irritation return just at the memory. He did not want her to notice him or worse yet, talk to him. Sure, she was beautiful and all, but, aside from that, she wasn’t his type. And not just because she’d made him do hours of pointless prep work and gotten his hopes up for a big sale. When he’d met her, he also found her to be overly forward. Like a tipsy bar fly looking for any guy to take her home. It wasn’t an attractive quality.
Evan did a one-eighty and headed back for one of the over-stuffed chairs, choosing the one that faced away from the blonde. He’d wait for April to deliver his drink and then get out of there before the woman recognized him.
Just as Evan reached into his coat pocket to retrieve his book, a familiar voice filled the room.
“Evan, darlin’, I thought that was your car parked outside,” Aunt Bets said. “How did your appointment go? Can I join you, dear?”
Evan sat up straight in his chair. Great. There went his break. “Sure, Aunt Bets. I was just grabbing a quick coffee.”
“Oh, that sounds just perfect, I’m going to get me one too.” Bets turned her head toward the café menu on the wall and squinted while she read the choices.
Bets should have been wearing her glasses but Evan knew that she thought they made her look old and rarely put them on in public. He noticed the line of makeup that ran along Bets’s left side of her face where she’d neglected to rub in her foundation. She always caked her makeup on so thickly that it reminded Evan of a theater student he’d dated freshman year. Bets had on large red dangling earrings that matched her red leather skirt and made a clinking metal sound when she swung her head around too fast. They were the kind of earrings that the majority of Snowy Ridge women in their fifties wouldn’t be caught dead in but, hey, it matched the red collar on her leopard printed top. Aunt Bets always wore colorful ensembles and while most people would think it would hinder her business, it never did. People loved Bets Monroe.
“I think I’m going to get a vanilla latte,” Bets said with a dramatic nod.
“Here, sit, Aunt Bets, I’ll order it for you,” Evan said and started to rise, but Aunt Bets wasn’t even listening. Something else, or someone, had already caught her attention.
“Luci Foster, honey, is that you? How are you doing, darlin’?” Bets walked toward Luci and greeted her with a hug and a kiss. When she pulled away Luci had a set of red lips on her cheek.
Evan smiled as he sat back down. He wondered if anyone would tell her or if she’d go on the rest of her day with Bets’s mark.
“I usually see you sitting here in the window when I drive by in the mornings,” Bets said.
“Yeah. I write here most mornings, but, I…” she paused.
So, she’s a writer, Evan thought.
“I just sort of had to get out of the house for a while,” Luci continued.
Bets nodded like she knew exactly why Luci would need to get out but Evan couldn’t imagine how she possibly could.
“I was just thinking about you girls and your mother. How’s she feeling? Did she get my fruit basket?
“Oh, yes, thanks so much, Bets. It was wonderful. So thoughtful of you. And yes, she’s feeling much better,” Luci said. “She’s itching to get life back to normal.”
“Of course, she is. I’m gonna give her a call real soon. Evan?” Bets called out.
Evan could feel himself slump into his chair. Crap, he thought.
“Evan, honey, come here. Have you met Luci Foster?”
Great, now he was trapped. He had to go over and be polite. Bets had no idea that he was already more familiar than he wanted to be with Luci Foster. When she had initially called about selling the pub, he’d decided he would handle the entire thing and not tell Bets about it. He had wanted it to be a surprise; to show her that he was more than capable of taking on bigger sales. When it turned out to have all been a huge mistake, he was too embarrassed to come clean and tell her.
Evan slowly stood up from his chair, fixed a smile on his face, and made his way over to Bets and Luci. “Hi, Luci,” he said. He waited for Luci to flash a smile of recognition or make some sort of comment on his looks like she had the first time they met. But she didn’t do either.
Luci looked up at him with a polite, forced smile. “Hi, there. Nice to meet you.”
Evan narrowed his gaze at her. Nice to meet him? “Um, yeah,” he begun.
“Are you new in town?” she interrupted.
Evan screwed up his face. New in town? Was she kidding? She really didn’t recognize him?
“Oh, honey, this is my nephew. He works with me now,” Bets said.
Yeah. As in the realtor you called and had come out to the pub earlier this year, he thought. Evan waited for some sound of recognition to come from Luci.
“That’s wonderful. Well, good luck to you and welcome to Snowy Ridge,” she said.
Evan bit his top lip and examined Luci’s face. Did she have amnesia or was he just that forgettable? And even if it was him she didn’t remember, how do you forget trying to sell a building? “Uh, yeah. Thanks.” To Bets he said, “There’s my coffee now. Do you still want that latte?”
“Nah, I changed my mind. It’ll just keep me up half the night.”
“All right, well I’ll see you back at home, then.”
“All right, Sugar,” Bets said.
“Bye, Luci,” Evan said and briskly walked back to his chair and grabbed his drink. He was happy to see April had put it in a to-go cup because that was all he wanted to do right now. Go.
***
I hope you’ve enjoyed this preview of Finding Me, the third book in the Love at Starlight series. If you want to keep reading, find the full novel on Amazon: .