Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

DUSTY

Knowing Chad Lincoln had his nasty little claws in Nova made me want to hurl a football at his face. The guy was not good news. When he’d been talking to her before, I hadn’t been too worried because Nova seemed smart enough to sniff out danger like him. I could see, plain as day, he was playing the long game with her. It was smart. She was super clear about not wanting to date, so he didn’t date her. He just found other ways to spend time with her.

Which sounded like what I was doing right now, but it was different. Completely different. Not even close to the same thing. Chad was lowlife scum, and I really just wanted to fill Nova’s apartment with furniture. Well, and see how many times I could get Alice to smile today. My tally was already at one, which was a solid start.

Neither of those things made me a creep. Right?

“You’re cooking for the other—” Nova stopped herself and turned on the seat to face me more fully. “Hold on. Battle of the Badges . Like, cops against firefighters?”

“Yeah. What did you think it meant?”

“One squad against another.” She rubbed her eyes and groaned. “Is this a huge town event or something? I thought it was all in good fun. Like a police family party kind of thing.”

I swallowed, careful about how I worded it. “None of our town events are really huge, but this fundraiser brings in a good chunk of money and we usually have a decent showing.”

“Which means yes, it’s huge.”

“I’m surprised Chad didn’t talk it up more.” Translation: I was shocked he hadn’t talked down about the firefighters more.

“He just wanted help figuring out a menu because he didn’t want to lose again this year,” she muttered. “I don’t think I’ll actually be cooking.”

“You afraid to lose?”

“Against you? No.” Nova sat up straighter. “Do you even cook?”

“Not professionally.” I was what The Great British Bake-Off called a home cook and would undoubtedly be sent home the first week if I ever made it on a show like that. But I enjoyed my time in the kitchen and figuring things out. What had started as a necessity—feeding Grandpa and myself so he would stop buying frozen TV dinners—had morphed into a hobby over the years. “Just for fun, and mostly at the firehouse. Do you?”

“Before coming to Gigi’s? No. I mean, I made dinner for my family, but I never had ambitions of cooking for other people. It’s just a job for me right now.” She settled into her seat, seeming to grow more comfortable. “Chad only asked for my help because he ate one of my dessert bars at a dinner thing and loved them. He thinks more highly of my abilities than he should.”

Green envy snaked through my stomach. I didn’t like the idea of Chad hanging out with her or enjoying her dessert bars. “So, you bake,” I said thoughtfully, like I was only interested in the competition. “Which means I need to step up my dessert game.”

Nova shrugged .

“Did we just become enemies?” I asked her, hoping she could hear the teasing in my tone.

“That’s a strong word. What did your fireman friend say at the diner? You have a lot of rivals in this town. I guess you can officially add me to the list.”

“It was only a matter of time.”

“Pretty much inevitable,” she agreed.

“It’s basic math, like all baking.”

She gave me a look. “How?”

“Take a heaping spoonful of cop blood and a dash of city girl. Mix them together and throw in a partnership with the devil. Boom, you’ll get a rival.”

Nova let out a laugh. “Fair enough.” She looked out the window, watching fields and farms pass by. “Where are we going, anyway? You’ve been cagey about this whole thing.”

“Not cagey. I’m nothing if not upfront.”

I could feel her roll her eyes, and I liked that she seemed more comfortable around me. “We’re garage-sale-ing.”

“I don’t think that’s a real verb.”

“We’re making it one today.”

Nova was quiet for a minute, making me wonder if I’d made an error in judgment. Was she a germaphobe? Unable to fathom owning someone else’s cast-offs? Too high and mighty for used sofas?

“That’s such a brilliant idea, Dusty. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it myself.”

Relief flooded me. “You couldn’t have known that the first Saturday in April is Beeler’s annual spring-cleaning weekend. There will be so many garage sales, you’ll have your pick of things.”

Or so I hoped. We were getting a late start because of the game, but given how these Spring Clean Saturdays went in Beeler, I was pretty positive there would be plenty left. As long as Jack was the only furniture restorer who swept in and took all the good things, like the eight armoires Tucker had to move.

“Should we narrow down the list a little, talk priorities?”

“Honestly?” she breathed, looking at me. Her brown eyes were relaxed, and she tucked loose hair behind both ears. “A couch would be ideal. A kitchen table and chairs would be nice too—and I don’t want to hear anything about what I said about the counter, okay?”

I put up one hand in surrender, keeping the other on the wheel. “I won’t say anything about being right.”

She shook her head, but her smile was beautiful. “What do you think, Alice? Anything else?”

“A pink couch.”

“Well, you can’t be picky at garage sales, babe. We’ll see what they have.”

“Would you settle for purple?” I asked. “Or maroon?”

“Pink,” Alice whispered.

I looked at the monkey carefully buckled into the seatbelt beside her through my rearview mirror. “If we can’t find pink, can I convince you to approve of a red couch?”

“Red?” Nova asked. Her tastes seemed to run neutral and plain. I’d seen her in nothing but jeans and plain T-shirts since she’d moved here. Always the same sneakers, always her hair in a ponytail. This was the first time I’d seen her hair down, falling around her shoulders, and it softened her in a way. “I would be very surprised if we find a red couch.”

“You never know what you’re going to get at garage sales. Don’t count anything out yet.”

Nova glanced at me briefly before turning her attention back to Alice. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and find a yellow couch covered in Minions with banana pillows.”

I glanced in my rearview mirror in time to see Alice’s face scrunch in a giggle, her eyes lighting up. “I changed my mind. I don’t want a pink couch. I want a Minion one. ”

“Never say never, I guess.”

There were no Minion-themed couches to be seen, but as we drove down Manning Street, there were certainly a number of colored sofa options. I’d chosen this particular neighborhood because it ran higher-middle class—there was no one willing to let go of well-used furniture for cheap like a housewife trying to upgrade her living room. We were the ones doing them the favor by getting the bulky things off their hands.

“Remember,” I said to Nova as we parked. “Appear ready to walk away, even if you love it.”

“You’re a haggler, aren’t you?” she asked.

“I’ve been garage-sale-ing my whole life. There’s a science to getting a good deal.”

She looked at me, then nodded. “Should we come up with a code so we can communicate around the sellers without giving away what we think?”

I pulled a stick of gum from the center console and popped it in my mouth, trying to gauge if she was serious or not, then offered her one. She refused. “How about the Cowboys? We can discuss going to a game. If you like the couch, you want to go. If you don’t like it, you want to get rid of the tickets.”

“That would work if it was football season.”

Well, she had me there. “Dinner, then?” I asked. Her face tightened, so I hurried to reassure her. “There’s a new pizza place in town called Stone. We can debate whether you want to eat there. You can communicate how hungry you are for the couch.”

“That works.”

“If you hate it, just say you want to eat Chad’s burgers.”

Nova laughed, the sound sudden and sharp like she had surprised herself. “You don’t play fair. ”

I looked at her. “I’m always fair.”

She held my gaze for a beat before hopping out of the truck and going to help Alice. They walked hand in hand to meet me on the sidewalk, Alice holding her pink monkey under her arm.

I offered Alice a piece of gum, which she took, her cheeks blooming with color.

“What do you say?” Nova prompted.

“Thank you.”

“No problem, little lady. Now let’s go find us a couch.”

Our search proved to be more difficult than I’d expected. Nova, Alice, and I walked up and down Manning Street, then turned onto the next road and walked that one. Most of the good couches had been sold already, and none of the kitchen tables were small enough to fit in Nova’s little dining area. There was a bed she lingered over, but then she told me pizza didn’t sound great and we walked on.

“I’m tired,” Alice whined softly. The last hour had loosened her up around me a little. I’d wondered if she was always this quiet, or if her shyness stopped once they reached the safety of their own space.

“We can call it a day,” Nova said, sounding just as done as her daughter.

“And give up? How about one more street, then we’ll try another neighborhood. Deal?”

It took a beat too long for Nova to agree, but she said, “Deal.”

I started walking past the next house because there was no furniture to be seen, when Alice tugged on her mom’s hand and pulled her toward a shallow table holding knickknacks. She picked up a pink jewelry box with a ballerina that popped up when she opened the lid.

“I think you need to wind it,” Nova said.

Alice turned it over and knew exactly what to do. “Lily has one just like this. ”

A pained expression crossed Nova’s face. Her eyes cut to me. “Friend from New York,” she whispered, then turned back to Alice. “Can I see it?”

A small Post-it note on the side labeled it two dollars.

“Can I have it?” Alice asked, her little blue eyes pleading.

“Yes.” Nova dug around her purse when her eyes shot up to me. “Cash. Dusty, I didn’t bring any cash.”

I’d thought of this already, which was why I’d stopped at the ATM that morning and loaded up on twenties, just in case. “I have it, but you could ask if they take Venmo first?”

She looked relieved. “Good idea.”

Nova walked to the top of the driveway and spoke to the lady there. They both had phones out, so I imagined they’d found an app to pay with.

I crouched beside Alice. “Do you dance?”

“Not like this,” she said, watching the ballerina twirl. “My friend does.”

“So can I,” I said.

Alice looked up sharply, a delighted expression on her face. “You can’t dance like a ballerina.”

“Oh, I bet I can. It can’t be that hard.”

She giggled. Make that two tallies, now.

“Do you think they make these in my size?” I asked, flicking the frilly pink tutu on the porcelain dancer.

Alice giggled again, shaking her head. “No.”

“Hey, Dusty,” Nova called, “Should we get that, uh, pizza now?”

I looked past her to the woman she was chatting with, a puzzled expression falling over the homeowner’s face.

“It looks like your mama might have found herself a couch,” I whispered to Alice. “You coming?”

Alice nodded, closing the jewelry box lid.

“Are you hungry?” I asked, climbing the driveway to reach her side. There was a navy blue sofa tucked in the shade of the garage that I hadn’t seen earlier. Soft lines on the cushions made it look like it might be fuzzy or fake velvet or something.

“Pretty hungry, yeah.”

“It can wait a bit.” I turned to the gray-haired homeowner. She had a young face for silver hair, but was probably old enough to be my mother. “Good afternoon, ma’am. Is that couch for sale?”

She gave a pained smile. “My husband wants it to be. I’m having a hard time parting with it.”

Ah, so it had sentimental value. “You have any kids?”

“Four,” the woman said. “All out of the house now.”

I wondered briefly if I’d played any of them in school. Beeler was our rival, but I wouldn’t mention that now. “It’s hard when family moves away.” I nodded to Nova and Alice, who stood beside her mother, gripping the pink monkey under one arm and the jewelry box under the other. “These two just moved to Arcadia Creek from New York, along with her little boy.”

“Did you leave family behind?” the woman asked.

“My brother and his family,” Nova said. “My parents live there too, but they’re missionaries in the Philippines right now.”

Great. Her father was a cop and a saint. No wonder Ben wanted to be the man when he grew up.

“Oh, bless their hearts,” the woman said. “It must be hard to be so far away.”

“My aunt lives in Arcadia Creek, so we aren’t totally alone,” Nova said. “She’s letting us use her apartment for a while.”

It was left unsaid that her situation wasn’t ideal, and even a stranger could pick up on the fact that Nova had run away from something. The woman looked down at Nova’s hand, where the wedding ring was absent, and her eyes softened. Then she looked at me. “You two been together long?”

Nova and I tried to set her straight at the same time.

“Oh, we aren’t?— ”

“We’re just friends,” I told her. “I’m the guy with the truck, and we’re fixin’ to get some basic furniture for their apartment.”

“Well, if you want the couch, it’s yours.”

Nova’s face brightened. “How much?”

The woman shook her head. “Free.”

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly?—”

“It’s the sofa we had in our loft, and my kids spent many years on it with their friends. There were a lot of movie nights and morning cartoons on this thing.” She glanced at it with affection. “It’s old but in decent condition, and I just wanted to see it go to a good home.”

Nova’s eyes looked suspiciously bright. “I’m happy to pay for it.”

The woman squeezed Nova’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, darlin’.”

“I’m parked over on Manning, but we’ll fetch the truck and be back in a minute.”

“Take your time. We aren’t going anywhere.”

Nova practically bounced beside me, holding Alice’s jewelry box in one arm and her hand in the other. “Can you believe that?”

I could. “Welcome to Texas, where good people live. I don’t know if it’s your smile or the fact that your parents are missionaries, but something you said won that lady over.”

Nova scowled at me. “I wasn’t trying to win over anyone.”

How did she not see it herself?

“That’s the point. You don’t have to try.”