This guy. Ugh. ‘Well, it’s cold to me. What are you from Alaska or something?’
‘Buffalo.’
‘Hmph. Well, that’s nice for you that the cold doesn’t bother you, but it bothers me.’
‘Where are you from?’
Kira sighed. She didn’t love telling people she was from Georgia, especially people from up North. They made instant assumptions that she didn’t appreciate, assumptions that she was dumb or slow or worse. It was why she’d made a concerted effort to ditch her accent when she’d moved. It only slipped out now when she was angry or drunk, or speaking to her sister.
‘Georgia.’
The man just nodded. ‘No wonder you’re cold.’
No rude comments. Interesting.
‘I don’t know your name,’ she said. If this guy was going to keep hanging around, she’d probably need to know what to call him.
He smiled and stuck out his hand. ‘Sorry, I’m Bennett.’
Kira took it in hers and shook it. It was big and warm. ‘Kira.’
‘I know.’
‘You know?’
‘Sure, you’re big news in town. I’m staying above my sister’s café and you’re all anyone can talk about.’
Odie and Pudgie whined at her feet and she squatted down to pet them. ‘You say that, but where is everyone?! I’m open and I haven’t had a single customer.’
‘Does anyone know you’re open?’
Kira huffed. ‘The sign says open, doesn’t it? And we have a brand new website with all the information and an Instagram profile… Oh, actually could I post a pic of your dogs? So far I just have random tree pictures.’
She peered up at where he still stood above her.
‘I don’t think anyone is checking for a new website. And I think you did a good enough job telling people to uh … stay out … that no one is driving by to check for an open sign.’
‘Oh. Hmm. Good point.’
Now what? How was she going to lure everyone back? Her dreams of perfectly preserved vegetables were quickly fading.
‘Why don’t you go to that tree-lighting thing? It sounds like a big deal to the town. You could make some kind of announcement about your grand reopening.’
She wanted to tell him she didn’t need his suggestions, thank you very much, but that was actually a really good idea. Damn it.
She stood. ‘Yeah, maybe.’
He smiled that stupid straight smile. His parents must have paid so much for that smile. Nobody was born with teeth that straight. Well, nobody was born with teeth in general, but that was beside the point! She was getting sidetracked.
‘Well, I’ll leave you to your perfect tree hunt,’ she said. ‘If you find one you like, Iris at the booth has saws for cutting it down.’
‘You have a person sitting in that old shack out front?’ His eyes widened in alarm.
‘Of course I do. It’s fine.’
‘Fine? I don’t know about that. Looks pretty run down.’
Kira put her hand on her hip, fully intending to give this know-it-all asshole a piece of her mind, when an image of poor sweet Iris buried under a pile of old wood beams flashed through her mind.
Oh, God, what if this know-it-all asshole was right!
She turned and ran, the dogs hot on her heels. Well, Elizabeth and Odie were. Poor chubby, Pudgie was pulling up the rear.
‘Iris! Iris!’ she called, racing toward the little cabin on the other side of the farm. ‘Iris, you’re in danger!’ Kira had thought it was rustic. She’d thought it had charm. She’d thought it looked very cute and post-able when she’d strung twinkle lights up along the roof. She had not once thought it might fall down and kill her only employee!
‘I don’t think it’s that imminent!’ Bennett yelled to her as he followed behind the dogs. Imminent or not, Kira couldn’t risk it. Mostly because she couldn’t bear the thought of Iris getting hurt, but also because she didn’t have insurance yet and definitely couldn’t afford anyone’s medical bills.
‘Iris, get out of there!’ She skidded to a stop in front of the booth. A wide-eyed Iris pulled aside the little window and peered out.
‘What’s going on?’ Iris asked, taking in Kira, red-faced and panting, the three barking dogs, and Bennett striding in last, but no less harried than the rest of the crew.
‘Get out of that death trap!’
‘Deathtrap?’ Iris’s brows furrowed.
‘Everyone just calm down,’ Bennett said. ‘I don’t think it’s that serious.’
‘Not that serious?’ Kira spun toward him. ‘Not that serious?! Then why did you say it? Why did you waltz in here and just start spouting helpful little tidbits like maybe that booth is a death trap…’
