Chapter Seven

T he number of customers didn't slow. If anything, more arrived. Good for the bottom line, but Raine's stress level inched up with every drink she made. Juggling the orders was easy, but she hated keeping Robin and Keaton waiting.

They didn't seem to mind.

At tables next to each other, the two sat and talked. Keaton's smile after each sip suggested he enjoyed the Pumpkin Spice Caramel Macchiato.

Satisfaction flowed through Raine. She wanted all her customers to enjoy their drinks, but Keaton had stepped outside his wheelhouse these past two days.

Not an Americano in sight.

Trying a different beverage might not sound like a big deal, but for some customers, it was huge. They preferred their favorite and never switched no matter how many free samples she offered. And she'd tried with many.

She placed an apple cider into a drink tray with other coffees for the fire station. "Rachelle."

The beautiful firefighter came to the counter. Her box braids made her look like a model or movie star. Her black skin was radiant, matching her bright smile. Pregnancy agreed with Rachelle. Her baby bump hadn't kept her from being promoted in the fire department.

"Don't tell Jayden I came here." Rachelle glanced around and lowered her voice. "He claims the bakery's coffee is as good as yours, but we both know the truth."

Raine grinned. This wouldn't be the first time a loyal customer asked her to not mention being in the coffee shop. "Your secret is safe with me."

Rachelle picked up the drink tray and headed out.

As soon as the bell stopped jingling, Raine dashed into the office, grabbed the new hire folder, and set it on top of the orange and black bin. She carried everything to the sitting area and placed the bin on the empty chair at Keaton's table. "Sorry it took me so long."

"No need to apologize." Keaton placed his cup on the table. "I've been enjoying my drink while Robin told me about the Boo Bash."

"It's my kids' favorite event of the year." Robin was smiling now. "I thought the Easter egg hunt would be their number one, but they can't stop talking about the Boo Bash."

"Everyone loves candy." Keaton laughed. "My oldest brother is a surgeon. He always has a bag of peanut M&Ms with him. The only place it doesn't go is into the operating room."

Robin grinned. "That's sweet."

"Literally," Keaton joked.

Raine had forgotten the oldest brother's name. Finn. No, Flynn. The doctor was shorter than Keaton and had an intense personality like Garrett. Maybe Keaton did, too. She didn't know him beyond his visits to the coffee shop, a rehearsal dinner, and a wedding.

He didn't seem like the joke-cracking kind, but she might have stereotyped him as a geeky professor after hearing Callie talk about her brainy brother. He'd shown Raine he could also be stuffy and stuck up. She'd accepted his apology. Forgetting would take longer.

His offer to help caught her off guard. She hadn't fully recovered, but she needed to try. "Do you carry candy with you, Professor?"

"No, candy, but I carry this." Keaton reached into his pocket and pulled out keys. He held up a keychain—a rounded metal piece that was crossed. "This is made from iron and called a trollkor or troll cross. It wards off trolls and other evil creatures."

Raine raised a brow. "Come across those often?"

"No. Must work," he teased.

Robin laughed. So did Raine.

"A student gave me this as a thank you. A trollkor is usually placed above a door or window. Mine was above my bedroom window." He placed his keys next to his drink. "Before I left for Silver Falls, I added it to my keychain."

Raine couldn't resist. "Got to keep the trolls away."

"Evil little creatures. Though size doesn't matter. There are other mischievous ones out." Amusement filled his voice. "Big and small."

The troll comments were funny, but Raine got the feeling sentimentality was the real reason he carried the trollkor . Callie was like that. But hearing Keaton mention trolls gave Raine hope. Maybe working on the Boo Bash wasn't that big of a leap for him.

"Learn something new every day," she quipped.

Keaton's smile slid into a smirk. "I know what you're thinking."

It was her turn to grin. "Does the trollkor give you telepathic abilities?"

"No, your face does."

She touched between her eyebrows but felt no lines. "What do you see this time?"

Robin's gaze bounced between Keaton and Raine. She sipped her coffee.

Keaton's glasses only magnified his clear and warm green eyes. Not that she was paying close attention to his eyes. Or to him. Not that close anyway.

"Curiosity," he said finally.

Okay, Raine was curious. "You're good at this."

"Fifty-five percent of communication is nonverbal." His professor tone annoyed her less today. "Understanding my students' body language and deciphering their tones helps me to teach better."

She lifted her chin. "What did my body language tell you?"

He rubbed his chin. "You want to know how I'll help with a Halloween community event?"

Her mouth dropped open. "I do."

His gaze pierced through her as if her secrets were on full display to him. She shifted her weight between her feet, wishing she hadn't set down the bin.

He kept staring at her. Her temperature shot up twenty degrees. She wanted to fan herself.

"It's a valid question," he admitted. "Do you know the answer?"

Robin's arm shot into the air as if she were a student. "I know the answer."

"Go ahead." Raine wanted to take back some control.

"Keaton teaches folklore, legends, and mythology," Robin said.

He gave a thumbs-up to Robin who beamed. "That makes me a font of holiday trivia and knowledge."

Holidays encompassed a lot. Raine had to ask. "Including Halloween?"

He bowed. "But of course."

"Halloween comes from a mix of traditions and tales. Kids love that stuff. At least mine do," Robin said. "This parent would appreciate the Boo Bash being less about trick-or-treating at First Avenue Businesses and more about the holiday itself. They get enough candy when they go door-to-door in the neighborhood on the thirty-first."

Splat.

That was the sound of Raine's hopes and dreams for an easy event hitting the cement floor beneath her feet.

"Don't worry. Raine and I will come up with something unique and…fun." The way Keaton said the last word sounded almost foreign to him.

Uh-oh. Was having a worthless helper better than no help at all? If he turned into another Heather…

Not wanting to think about a worst-case scenario, Raine grabbed the file off the top of the bin and patted the plastic lid with her free hand.

"This is what the First Avenue Business Association gave me. Everything I…we…need to plan the Boo Bash is inside."

"I'll check it out."

That would be his first test. Raine hoped he passed it. "If trolls are inside, I'm sure your keychain will make them spontaneously combust."

Laughter lit his eyes. "Let's hope they don't make a mess."

Her heart bumped.

Huh? That reaction made no sense.

She handed paperwork to Robin. "If you want to start training tomorrow after you drop off the kids, bring all the paperwork back filled out and your social security card with you. If you can't tomorrow, let me know what day works for you. This week would be best, but I know this is sudden."

"Thank you." Robin crinkled one of the edges. She smoothed it out. "Thank you so much. I'm so happy to have a job. I'll be here tomorrow."

"Don't you want to know the hourly wage or what you'll be doing?" Raine asked.

"I saw your ad. It had both those things listed. Both are great." Robin gathered her purse and empty cup. "Oh, I forgot one thing. Casual dress?"

"Yes, you'll wear an apron over your clothes, but spills happen. Jeans, a T-shirt, and closed-toe shoes are standard around here."

Robin stood. "See you in the morning."

She took her cup with her.

Keaton watched Robin leave. "It's hard to believe a narcissist like Nick Baxter has such a sweet wife."

"Soon-to-be ex-wife. Now where were we?"

"Opening this bad boy." Keaton hadn't reached for the bin's lid. "I wonder if this sense of anticipation is what the archeologist in Trondheim felt when they discovered a skeleton at the bottom of an old castle well."

Professors had an odd sense of humor. Unless that was purely Keaton. "A troll skeleton?"

"Human." His grin took ten years off his face, and her pulse kicked up. "In addition to holidays, I'm a font of useless facts about my favorite culture. Norway, in case you didn't guess."

"I hadn't. Do you have family ties to the country?"

"Nope. Even did one of the DNA tests. I fell in love with the country my freshman year of college in a course on Old Norse folklore. Until then I'd been a philosophy major and pre-law."

"One class changed everything?"

"It did."

"You were lucky to find your passion early."

"When did you discover coffee?"

"I used to fix it for my dad. I got my first job as a barista when I was in high school."

"You were younger than me."

Raine nodded, trying to find a way to ask the question on her mind. She rubbed the back of her neck.

"What else do you want to know?"

He was too good at this body language stuff. "There is one thing I'm curious about."

That brow of his shot up. "Only one?"

She didn't want to be amused by him, but she was. "Did Margot pressure you to volunteer for the Boo Bash?"

"She mentioned you needed help, which is why I offered. I'm in town through October at least. I don't have a business to run. And you need help with the Boo Bash. Now, you have it. What's your other question?"

Raine's body language must have given her away again. "Do you have event planning experience?"

"In my department, the newest faculty members help with events. Not large-scale ones, but I have a surprising amount of ‘event'…" he made air quotes "…experience. Outside of work, I planned Garrett's bachelor party. Not a family-friendly event though."

"Wait. How did you have a bachelor party when he and Taryn surprised everyone and eloped?"

"It was a post-elopement bachelor…" Keaton rubbed his chin. "Let's call it a groom party since they'd said, ‘I do.'"

Why hadn't Raine thought of doing something like that? Probably because she'd been overwhelmed then too. "We should have thrown Taryn a wife shower."

"It's not too late."

"True. Though ordering dessert would have to be done sneakily. Maybe once I hire more people and get past the Boo Bash."

"Remember, no more thorn in your side. Unless you think I'll be one."

"I'll have to let you know." Raine was cautiously hopeful, but Keaton could turn out to be an even bigger thorn.

He reached for the lid. "Ready to see what's inside?"

*

So much for opening the bin.

The bell on the door didn't stop jingling. Keaton sat at the table, waiting for Raine to finish with the rush of customers that appeared. He was here to help so he didn't mind waiting.

Keaton could open the bin himself, but where was the fun in that? He pulled out his laptop to work on his manuscript. His gaze, however, kept straying to Raine. He hated the change in her.

As more people stood in line, weariness creeped back into her face, and her smiled turned forced.

All he wanted to do was grab an apron and help her out.

What was wrong with him?

He couldn't do that after what he'd said yesterday. She'd laugh in his face and rightly so. Still, he snuck another peek in her direction.

The tip of her tongue stuck out between her teeth. Whatever she did behind the counter—he couldn't see her hands—she was focused on the task.

Hard at work as usual.

Raine was different from the women he knew. She kept glancing his way. Not an is-he-a-serial-killer look either. Her gaze lingered longer than it should, and he enjoyed that, more than he should. If she didn't appear so wary, he might think they were in one of those rom-com movies Callie enjoyed watching.

Uh-oh. If he weren't careful, Margot would think her matchmaking scheme was working. Still, his volunteering to help with the Boo Bash had been a good idea.

Raine hurried over. She placed a plate with a cookie on it and another coffee on the table. "This is for you. Sorry to make you wait again."

"Not a problem. I've been working."

"On your book?"

He nodded.

She eyed the lid on the bin. "You didn't open the bin?"

"It's taking all my patience not to open this bad boy. I was the one who found all the Christmas presents my parents hid, but they blamed Callie." Keaton patted the lid. "But I was good. I didn't peek. I wanted to wait for you."

"That's…" She wiped her hands on her apron. "Thank you."

"I have nowhere to be today." Or any day. Which was odd and disconcerting and a million other things Keaton wanted to forget. "But we should open this before someone else needs a coffee."

She remained standing. "Go for it."

He opened the lid. No trolls or remnants of trolls. Only folders, checklists, a clipboard, orange cardstock, and spools of Halloween-themed ribbon. "Is this what you expected?"

She peered over his shoulder. "Honestly, this is more than I thought would be in there. When I got the folder for the Valentine's dance, it didn't have much information. Organizers are so tired and behind they only have time to pass on the basics."

He rifled through the bin. A whole lot of nothing. "That seems to be the case here."

"You sound disappointed. What were you hoping to find?"

"A magical document with a step-by-step of what to do that would make parents, kids, and business owners happy."

"Perfect answer, Professor."

She wasn't making fun of him. Only his family and Margot knew about how he'd lost his job, but hearing Raine call him that burned. His ego had to get used to it.

"Find anything good?" Raine asked.

"A few supplies." Nothing jumped out at him as being particularly helpful. "I'll go through everything, so we know what we have to work with."

How hard could helping Raine be?

Planning a Halloween event for kids was a far cry from translating ancient manuscripts, so fragile they might disintegrate at any moment.

Except the lines on Raine's forehead deepened to Grand Canyon-level depths. His answers to her questions hadn't been enough.

Okay, Keaton got it.

Planning a happy hour, a lunch, or a bachelor party weren't the same as organizing a community event, but what he didn't know, he could learn. She would see. Until then…

He might as well say the words. "I won't be a burden."

Keaton agreed with Robin. The Boo Bash shouldn't be all about the candy. He wouldn't suggest over-the-top, time-intensive ideas, which was likely what Raine expected him to do. "I never called you that."

"No, but the thought crossed your mind?"

Her cheeks reddened.

"No apology necessary," he added quickly. "I don't blame you for thinking that."

Keaton didn't. Robin's comment about not as much candy had dropped the metaphorical guillotine on Raine's neck. Her eyes had gleamed, and her lips trembled slightly. He thought she might cry.

But she hadn't.

When Callie shed tears, Keaton and his brothers did what they could to make the waterworks stop. They hated seeing her hurting, and that had led to more than one trip to various theme parks in the area. Same with Taryn when Brecken had taken off.

Keaton would have done the same with Raine. Not that she would have asked for anything from him. "I just want to help you with the Boo Bash, but you're in charge."

She wet her lips.

He stared at her mouth before glancing at the cookie she'd brought him. "What do you say?"

"Okay. I'm not trying to be a pain. I'm just…"

"Over your head."

The bell on the door jingled.

"Way over." Raine closed her eyes and sighed. "I've—"

"Go."

As she hurried to the counter, he watched her go. The barista didn't fight fires like Jayden's wife, Rachelle, who he'd seen on his way in, but both women were strong. Raine faced a rough time, but she wasn't folding or asking to be rescued. She wanted help, but only the right help.

His type or not, that strength appealed to him at a gut level.

Thirty minutes later, Keaton carried the bin and computer bag to the counter. "I went through everything. I have ideas I'd like to go over with you. Are you free tonight?"

"That soon?"

"The most helpful info in the bin was about purchasing the candy. You can get a discount, but there's a deadline to order."

"The budget isn't big so a discount would help. I can meet later tonight."

She sounded hesitant.

Keaton didn't want to add to her to-do list. "Sure?"

Raine nodded. "Timmy works tonight. I need to be here for some of his shift, but he won't mind closing on his own."

Keaton remembered she hadn't been eating much. "Want me to bring food?"

"I'll grab something for us. You're the volunteer."

Yeah, this wasn't a date. Keaton wouldn't date a woman like Raine, but… "You're a conscripted volunteer."

"More like the fool who keeps renewing her membership in the First Avenue Business Association. This is on me, Professor. I'll be home around seven. Show up any time after that."

"I need your address." He handed her his phone. "Text it to yourself, so I have your phone number."

She typed on his phone and handed it back. "Pizza, okay?"

"Just no anchovies or pineapple."

"I can live with that."

"I want to go through some of the checklists again." Keaton raised the box. "Mind if I take it with me?"

"It's all yours." Her gaze bounced from the bin to him. "I'm sure this isn't what you thought you'd be doing in Silver Falls…"

"No, but I'm happy to help. Callie and Garrett love Silver Falls. This is for them too."

Raine didn't say anything, but something flashed in her eyes.

Keaton didn't know what. "The town means a lot to you too."

"Yeah." She glanced out the front window. "I searched all over for a place to open my coffee shop. As soon as I visited Silver Falls, I knew this was it."

"It?"

"Home."

Talk about déjà vu. "Callie said something similar after her first visit to Silver Falls."

A wistful expression crossed Raine's face, one so different than any Keaton had seen he wanted to take a picture. He blinked, and it was gone.

She nodded. "Most people who move here feel that way."

"Not sure Garrett did."

Another nod. "But Taryn's here so…"

Brandt had returned to his hometown too. "Love makes people do the unexpected."

He expected her to agree with him not shrug.

She blew out a breath. "Sometimes love isn't enough to make someone stay."

Was she talking about her ex? That Emmett guy? Raine sounded resigned, not hurt.

Still… "Then maybe the love…the person…wasn't the right one."

Gratitude shone in Raine's eyes. "Maybe."

Not that Keaton knew for certain. He wasn't sure if he'd ever been in love or simply infatuated. There seemed to be a fine line. At least for him. But for Raine's sake, he wanted to be correct. And hoped he was.