Heather Burch - One Lavender Ribbon

“Can I help you?” A light smile tilted the corners of his mouth, and his shoulders filled the doorway.

“Yes,” she muttered. What had she practiced saying? She couldn’t remember. Something about how she’d just moved here and bought a house on Hidden Beach Road in Bonita Springs. For support, she clutched the photo in her jacket pocket. “I’m looking for William Bryant.”

He considered her a moment. “I’m William Bryant. But everyone calls me Will.”

“Well, the Mr. Bryant I’m looking for is a World War II veteran and—”

“Good ol’ war days,” she thought he mumbled.

She leaned closer. “Excuse me?”

“Nothing.” But it was something, and she could see it clearly in the instant of frustration framing his mouth and the slight flare of his nostrils. “I’m certainly no war veteran. Sorry I couldn’t help you.”

He moved to close the door, and her hand flew up, palm flat against the cool wood. There was something familiar about this man. She rubbed the photo in her pocket. “Look, I’m not trying to cause any problems or anything, but . . . ” This wasn’t going at all the way she’d imagined. She should just walk away, but the fact was, this man and the William from the letters shared a name. They had to be relatives.

The emerald eyes hardened. “But what?”

“Well, I’d like to talk to Mr. Bryant about his war experience. I have—”

“Let me get this straight. You’re looking for a WWII veteran so you can get him to talk to you about the war. And that doesn’t seem insensitive to you?”

Adrienne’s cheeks heated, and her palms turned clammy. “Insensitive,” she echoed. She hadn’t even thought of that.

“As I said, I’m no war veteran, and I can’t help you with finding this other Mr. Bryant. But if I were him, I’d seriously have my doubts about someone who showed up at my doorstep wanting to know about the hardest time of my life.”

A strong wind surged around the house and smacked her face with the precise force his words smacked her. She needed to explain, but her voice left her, all that energy going into holding the stranger’s door open and fighting to stay erect against the wind’s onslaught. Nervous tension flew off her in waves solid enough to drift away upon. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

The man stood there like a statue, brows riding high and daring her to explain.

Well, when he put it like that, there was no explanation that could suffice.

After a few horrible seconds, his eyes slid from her face to her hand, still flattened against his front door.

Adrienne followed his gaze to her left hand, the tiny band of lighter skin on her ring finger that, after three months of daily sunshine, still didn’t match the rest of her flesh. She swallowed the lump rising in her throat.

He noticed. His gaze softened on her, only marginally, but enough for her to feel it.

“Miss, I’m very sorry I can’t help you.” He offered a weak smile. Maybe it was sincere, maybe not. She’d heard pity before. And she hated it. Worse than anything . . . except maybe Eric’s condescension.

He tossed a thumb behind him. “I’m, uh, in the middle of something.” But his body language told a different story. The tension around his eyes had lessened, mouth relaxed. A tenderness worked its way toward her.

She plucked her hand from the door, feeling more defiance than despair. She didn’t need anyone’s pity. “Of course. I’m sorry I bothered you.”

“No problem.” He almost sounded sincere; the taut muscles of his chest had loosened, releasing some of their strain; his shoulders, broad and tight beneath a T-shirt, dropped a few millimeters.

Expecting him to shut the door and let her leave, Adrienne’s gaze fell to the porch floor with its fresh stain. Her fingertips were stained a similar shade. Maybe that’s what he’d noticed, not the missing ring on her hand. Walnut stain looked better on porch floors than on skin.

When Will didn’t close the door, she glanced up. His head tipped to the side, and his weight fell against the doorjamb. He cocked one foot in front of the other.

Those green eyes probed again, this time filled with sparks of curiosity. It caused a prickly sensation along her neck. Just close the stupid door! I made a mistake . She tried to turn and leave. Unfortunately, her feet didn’t cooperate. As her upper body pivoted, her lower body stiffened. She felt the frown crease her brow and deepen. Embarrassment flushed her, because Adrienne really, truly wanted to believe in love. It was a shocking realization, one she’d rather not visit while standing on a complete stranger’s property. But the words drifted through her mind again. I know there’s real love out there. The kind she’d read about in William’s letters. Now, standing on the front porch of a man she didn’t know, her desperation almost overwhelmed her.

Divorcée.

Tiny lines crinkled at the edges of his eyes. “Have we met?”

Absently, she tucked her hair behind her ear. “I don’t think so. I’ve only lived here a few months.”

His gaze coasted from her head downward. A smile slashed his face. “You seem familiar.”

“I, uh, get that sometimes. People say I favor—” She fumbled with her walnut-stained fingers.

“Angelina Jolie?” he finished for her.

“No, Jennifer Garner.”

His eyes narrowed playfully. “I can see that. But your mouth is full, like Angelina’s.”

Adrienne swallowed hard. Seriously? Mr. Rude and Grumpy wanted to stand around and flirt? No thanks. Mortification caused a person to want to climb into a hole, not play games. She lifted her hand into the air. “Well, as I said, I’m sorry to have bothered you.”

He pointed a finger at her. “The bank.”

“Excuse me?” Please, please, feet, step off this porch.

“You recently opened an account at the bank where I work.”

Frowning, she thought back. She had opened a savings account at the Naples branch of her bank. But if this guy had waited on her, surely she would have remembered. “You helped me?”

“No, but I noticed you from my office.”

She raised a brow.

He laughed. “Hard not to.”

She should say thanks or something. But honestly, this whole interaction had thrown her off her game. Who was she kidding? She didn’t have a game. And—she began to realize—she was really bad at interacting with men. She stared at a pot of plants to the left and chewed on her stained fingernail. Not with all men. This kind of man. The handsome, strong kind that made her stomach tighten a little. Adrienne was going to need practice before entering the dating world.

With Ryan it had been different. He’d shown up in her life right after the divorce and helped her unload her baggage. Well, if a guy sees that much of your baggage and doesn’t run off screaming, it sort of endears him to you. But Ryan wasn’t the kind of man she could see herself ending up with. A college boy might be a great playmate, but he was a long way from dating material. Too many years of fun still wrestling under his skin.

Adrienne blinked. “Oh, I’m sorry. Got lost in my thoughts there for a second.”

A half smile appeared on his face. “Obviously.” He stayed positioned in the doorway, his faded jeans stretched over muscular thighs and his T-shirt over a set of pecs that hardly screamed “bank teller”. She forced a smile. “It was nice to meet you, William. I really am sorry I interrupted your Saturday morning.”

“I go by Will, remember?”

“Will, then.” Adrienne drew in a breath and turned to leave. A breeze ruffled her hair as she reached the bottom of his steps.