Sinclair was nodding her head even before Holly finished. “She thought I should have put Alyssa for adoption.” She looked at me to explain. “I was an unmarried eighteen-year-old accidently knocked up by my secret boyfriend who left town for ten years.”
I nodded. Brooke had told me that story.
“I think she wanted to adopt her, and while I sympathize with her and Jamison’s infertility, I was seriously miffed when she’d talk disparagingly about me. Even more when she’d say things about Alyssa. I might be biased, but you know her. She’s a great kid.”
Holly smiled. “She is Sinclair. You did a wonderful job.”
“Damn right!” She stood. “Listen, if you need me to spread your marriage around—”
“No. I just need Meredith to feel comfortable supporting the library through a stable married woman.”
“You have my support for that, you know that.” Sinclair hitched her purse over her shoulder. “I’ve got to get home. Wyatt will be coming in from dealing with the cattle and I’m sure Alyssa has homework. Although she seems to have less. Are you giving less?”
Holly glanced at me briefly. “Yes. When she’s home she should be spending her time with you and Wyatt, not doing homework.”
I arched a brow, ridiculously flattered that she’d adopted my philosophy of giving kids more time for themselves and their families when they’re not in school. I figured, if I did my job right, they didn’t need to do more work at home.
“It was good seeing you Tucker,” Sinclair said as she moved to the door.
“You too.”
When she left and Holly turned to me, I said, “A fake marriage seems to have worked out for her.”
She nodded. “Yes, well that’s no surprise. She and Wyatt never stopped loving each other. They just had to get over old hurts.”
“And her brother?”
She picked up the coffee cups and brought them to the kitchen. “What about him?”
“He’s happily married after a fake marriage.”
“Yes, well, I think they’d always had a little thing for each other. He was always a little different around her.”
I followed her to the kitchen. “So, the mayor and Brooke? Is that because Brooke always had the hots for him?”
She turned to me. “Really? I didn’t know that. I just figured since their families were close, and she worked for him, they’d fallen in love while working to save her father’s farm.”
“So, proximity can lead to deeper feelings?” I asked.
As if she knew where I was leading her, she shook her head. “Not necessarily. Brooke and the mayor knew each other for a long time. So did Ryder and Trina, and Sinclair and Wyatt.”
I stared at her, having an urge to shake her. To make her stop being so damned resistant to me.
Instead, I smiled. “I guess we’re safe then. No chance you’ll fall for me.” Because I was annoyed, I left the kitchen to finish unpacking. As I put my clothes away, my annoyance grew because it was clear even after all her resistance, a part of me still held out hope that by the time we were done, we wouldn’t be fake.
14
Holly
I didn’t have much time to make up library plans to show Meredith. The project had gone from renovating the existing building and improving the resources it offered, to a brand-new building and improved resources. But Meredith insisted on seeing what I had over lunch on Saturday after noon. With Tucker’s help, we used a computer program to draw up ideas, with figures crossed that there was land available to fit the idea. We were definitely going at this backwards, but I knew that by the time we were done, our concept today would likely be vastly different. More than anything, I just wanted to get our ideas in front of her.
An hour before her arrival, I finished printing out all our ideas and putting them in a folder for her to review. I also printed out our building ideas, taping the pieces of paper together to show the full blueprint for her to go over.
“Holly, come cook with me,” Tucker said, leaning against the kitchen door. “She’ll like it better if it looks like it came from you. And since you have no intention of keeping me around, you need to learn to cook.”
He had a smile on his face, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. Ever since Sinclair’s visit earlier in the week, he’d seemed a bit off. Like he’d been upset or annoyed at me. Since it made it easier to avoid him, I let it go.
“Put this on,” he said, handing me an apron.