“That’s the Bedford Oak,” he explained when he caught her staring at the tree. “It’s a five-hundred-year-old white oak tree, one of Bedford’s many landmarks.”
“Can we stop?” she asked with excited eyes.
He smiled and pulled over. She was out a second later with her camera in hand, which she always seemed to carry with her. Noah stayed put, watching her photograph the tree with a beaming grin on her face. He’d never met anyone like her, of that he was certain. And he wasn’t questioning why he was intrigued by Olivia anymore. He went with his gut. Something was there between them. He felt it down to his bones. The unusualness of their connection. The difference in her that made her stand out like a rare jewel. And the very fact that he kept wanting more of her. She was uniquely special.
Ten minutes later, they were back on the road and she stared out the window, a comfortable silence between them. When Noah slowed his car before reaching Bedford Village, he regretted the drive was over. Boutiques, with their redbrick buildings and green awnings, lined the main drag and mature trees hugged the road.
He found the first empty parking spot and then they began strolling the streets with minutes passing that Noah didn’t care to count. Hand in hand, she walked next to him past the county’s oldest surviving government building, originally built in 1787 and restored to its full glory between 1965 and 1970. With each step forward, her fingers dragged across the white picket fence in front of it.
“Have you always been so aware like you are?”
She glanced sideways with surprise in her eyes. “You think I’m aware?”
“Incredibly aware,” he stated with a firm nod. “You are tuned in to the world in a way I’ve never seen before. You touch things you pass, paying attention to how things feel. You look deeply at things that you find beautiful.”
She scrunched her nose. “Is that weird?”
“Weird?” he repeated with a dry laugh. “No, Olivia, you fascinate me.”
“Oh.” She gave a sweet smile before averting her gaze. “And yes, I’ve always been that way.”
When they reached the street’s corner, stopping beneath the deep oval green of the Hartley Cheese Shop signage, she turned to him and said seriously, “If that fascinates you, there’s something else you should know about me.”
“What’s that?” he asked.
Her eyes twinkled as she gestured at the redbrick shop. “Some women like purses. Other women like shoes. I love cheese.”
“You like cheese?” He laughed, so perplexed by this woman.
She nodded with a dead serious expression. “No
t like. I looooove cheese.”
His mouth twitched. Christ, she was cute. “Well then, let’s give you what you love.” He opened the door and she quickly entered.
“I’ve up and died and gone to heaven,” she practically purred, taking in the shop around her.
Deli counters lined the small store and black bookshelves held the store’s products. Behind the counters were rows upon rows of bread.
Olivia beelined straight for the counter, and without pausing asked the employee, “Can I please have a few slices of your oldest white cheddar?”
“Most definitely,” the gray-haired woman wearing a white apron replied. “We’ve got some five-year-aged white cheddar. Will that do?”
Olivia rubbed her belly. “Oh yes, that will certainly do.”
Noah chuckled.
While the woman took a block of cheese out from the display case, he went to the till, where an older gentleman worked, and paid for the cheese.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Olivia rebuked from behind him, a white paper bag in her hand.
Noah shoved his wallet into his back pocket. “I want to be the one responsible for putting that smile on your face, so yes, I did.” He guided her toward the door with a hand on the small of her back and paused while another couple entered the shop.
Back outside, Olivia smiled. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Again, they strode forward side by side. He studied her as she opened the paper bag and offered him a piece of the cheese. He peered into the bag. “It doesn’t look like anything special.”
“Oh, but it is so special,” she countered.