Page 41 of Falling for Keeps

“All I’ve been breathing in is paint fumes.”

“Carson Price and Emma Harper!” an older woman with dark hair calls, bustling around the aisle with purpose, a more petite woman with white hair trailing right behind her.

It’s the Ednas. A more gossipy duo does not exist than these women. It’s just our luck that we’d all end up in a craft store out of town at the same time. Well, maybe the craft part makes this a bit less coincidental. I don’t know where else I’d expect to see them…except for every business in town that might have someone they can siphon information from.

Emma must have the same thought, because she takes a big step away from me.

“Good afternoon, you two,” Edna Bloomburg, the dark-haired one, croons.

Her glasses-wearing counterpart, Edna Gilbert, smiles with her eyebrows hiked up. “So sweet to see you two together. Is this a first date?”

“No,” I say quickly. “Definitely not. Nothing like that.”

Emma shoots me a look, leaning close until I get a whiff of apples. “Cool it. You’re acting super suspicious.” She pulls our faux leather bolt from the shelf and turns her attention back on the ladies. “Dr. Price hired me to reupholster his waiting room chairs. What do you both think of this one?”

“Oooo!” They fawn over it, giving their opinions while clutching skeins of yarn.

“We’d better go pick out the other fabric, Dr. Price.” Emma uses my title again, like she’s trying to give an impression of distance between us, or of professionalism. The women seem to respond to it.

Edna B. puts a skein to her chest. “We don’t want to get in the way of your work.”

“Please tell us you’ll be opening soon,” Edna G. puts in. “It’s too much on my bones to come all the way to Burlington merely for a cleaning.”

They’re literally in Burlington right now.

“We’ll be open by the end of the week,” I tell them.

“Wonderful news!” She shakes her yarn. “I’d better have my little project finished in time!”

“Oh?” Emma asks. “What is it going to be?”

“A surprise.”

“Have a good afternoon, kids,” Edna B. says.

“But not too good!” Edna G. says through a cackle as they scurry away together.

Emma gently presses my arm. “Come on. I see a good fabric for the tree house cushions.”

I let her lead me away, but I’m pretty sure we were outed for something that’s not even happening. Emma doesn’t seem worried at all, though. “You’re pretty confident in your powers of deflection.”

“It’s all in the attitude. Act worried about being caught, and they’ll know they caught something.”

“Which they didn’t.”

“Exactly.” She shoots me a funny look. “Because we’re friends, as we’ve each stated multiple times. I’m looking for my Prince Charming, and you’re not looking for anyone, so friends is the most we can be, anyway. It’s pretty basic.”

“Right. Exactly.” I follow her, agreeing when she chooses a color and pattern. She has multiple fabric options, which we haul over to be cut to the specifications Emma asks for. I’m letting her lead me around the store like a trusted owner holding my leash as a wriggling thought bounces around in my head, failing to make purchase.

After we load our excess of fabric into the truck and take off for Autumn Ridge, it finally hits me.

When Emma mentioned that I’m not on the hunt for a woman, she didn’t say she wants nothing to do with me either. She said I’m unavailable, and she wants a man.

I am unavailable. I can’t trust my heart to anyone else. It’s been tossed into a blender and set to smoothie, and there’s no putting it back together. The only thing I’ve learned in my decade with Jen is that you can’t trust anyone. One day they’ll be completely in love with you, be your best friend and the person who wants to spend all their free time with you. The next day, they’ll meet Chad at the gym who makes them feel seen in a way you never have and six months later they’re asking for a divorce. A year after that, you’re back in your childhood bedroom, starting over completely with a nine-year-old who depends on you to make sure she doesn’t feel the full sting of abandonment.

No, you can’t trust anyone.

Emma will only ever be my friend.