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Autumn Love: Five Novellas of Finding Love in the Heart of Thanksgiving

By Lena Nelson Dooley, Lisa Crane, Anne Greene, Kathy Wall, Marilyn Eudaly

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Chapter 1

Austin Hodges strode across the vast showroom of Home and Hearth superstore in Oak Ridge, North Carolina. He would’ve rather just ordered the kitchen cabinet knobs from a catalog, but the particular style his best friend Scott and his bride had chosen for their home were a special design and could only be obtained from an H and H store. Some sort of incentive to get people inside, probably so they would buy more than they planned to. If their friendship hadn’t been so longstanding, Austin would’ve suggested that Scott and Lisa choose something else for their first home.
With fisted hands on his hips, Austin surveyed a display wall that extended the entire length of one aisle. On the wall, tiny cabinet doors hung one above the other in stacks of at least a dozen, showcasing a different knob on each. There had to be hundreds, or maybe more, on the long expanse. He pulled a folded page torn from a design magazine out of his front jeans pocket and frowned at a photo the size of a picture postcard. How would he ever find the knob on the cabinets in that kitchen? He might be here all afternoon … or longer.
“Sir, can you help me?” A feminine voice floated from behind him.
In his distraction, Austin didn’t even consider that the question was for him until a finger gave his shoulder a sharp jab. He turned and stared down into eyes that looked like dark pools of melted Hershey bars, his favorite snack. “Were you talking to me?”
“Can you help me?” The determined feminine face was surrounded by a cloud of golden blond hair that looked like a hurricane might have styled it. “I really need to decide which cabinets to buy, and everyone else seems to be busy.”
Something about this woman intrigued him. Of course, he had never seen a blond with eyes that particular shade of brown, but it was more than that. The aura around her held an alluring magnetism, and she had a feistiness about her.
Without even folding it, Austin shoved the bit of paper back into his pocket. “What kind of help do you need?” Maybe she wanted him to reach something that was displayed too high for her to reach.
The woman turned and marched toward the end of the display. He watched her quick steps until they disappeared around the wall.
In only an instant, she thrust her head back and peered at him. “Aren’t you coming?” Her voice sounded commanding. What was she? A drill sergeant?
“Sure.” He quickly joined her, and they headed down the next aisle.
“I’m remodeling my kitchen, and I’m trying to decide which cabinets to use.” The words poured from her in a torrent. “And I’m not really sure how these things are attached to the wall. Do you screw them up or glue them?”
From the serious expression on her face, Austin knew she wasn’t joking. Surely she didn’t think any glue would hold a cabinet full of dishes.
“Well, ma’am—” He eyed the wooden structures they had stopped in front of. “—there are several ways a cabinet can be attached to the wall. It’s according to how they’re constructed.”
The blond stared at him with an intent expression as if she was taking in every word, but something in the depths of her eyes told him that they were spoken in a language foreign to her.
“How do I find out about the ones I want?” She didn’t blink as she continued to stare at his face.
Austin wasn’t used to this kind of scrutiny from a woman, so he glanced back toward the displays of kitchens. “Which of these cabinets are you interested in?”
Her gaze shifted toward them before she answered. “I’m not sure. Whichever ones are easiest to install.”
After widening his stance and crossing his arms, he cleared his throat. “It won’t matter to the guys who do the installation. They just have a basic charge for most of these cabinets.”
She touched him lightly on his forearm. “I’m sorry. I must not have explained it right. I want to know which ones would be easier for me to install.” Then she glanced at her hand on his arm and jerked it away as if she hadn’t realized that she had even touched him.
The warmth from her fingers lingered. He straightened to his full height. “You want to do it yourself? Is your husband going to help you?”
The expression in her eyes hardened. “I. Am. Not. Married.” She spat out the words as though they tasted rancid.
Austin ran his hand around the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I just assumed you were, since you weren’t using the installation service.” After he stuffed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans, he continued. “So who’s going to help you?”
“I’m doing it myself, I told you.” She raised her voice slightly as if he hadn’t heard her the first time.
Austin stepped back. “Ma’am, let’s start this conversation over. Okay?” He stuck his right hand toward her, hoping she wouldn’t leave it dangling there. “I’m Austin Hodges.” He waited to see if she would respond.
Several long seconds later, she gave his hand one quick, strong shake. “And I’m Valerie Bradford.”
“Valerie, I like that.” He smiled at her. “I’ll feel better calling you by your name.”
Finally she laughed. “All those ma’ams were a little much. I teach at the high school, and I hear enough of them during weekdays. At least some of the students are still being taught manners.”
Austin tucked his fingers back into the front pockets of his jeans, encountering the wad of paper in one of them. Soon he’d have to get back to looking for the knobs for Lisa. “No matter which of the cabinets you choose, Valerie, I’m afraid you’re probably gonna need help hanging ‘em.”

♥♥♥

Valerie huffed out a sharp breath. Why did men assume that just because she was a woman, she wouldn’t know how to do things? “I’m remodeling the house I inherited from my grandmother, and I’ve been doing all the work myself, because I can’t really pay to have it done. I’m pretty handy.”
As if on a mission, the man marched down the row of cabinets away from where they stood. Valerie quickly followed behind him, taking two steps to his one. She hoped the tall, ruggedly-handsome stranger wouldn’t get into trouble with his boss for spending too much time helping her. She tried not to notice, but his muscles filled out his blue polo shirt in a very pleasing manner. The waves in his deep auburn hair bordered on curly. One lock had fallen on the center of his strong forehead, quickly curving into the signature Superman curl. For a moment she imagined him as a redheaded super hero. The thought of him in formfitting tights brought a flush to her cheeks. The muscles of his legs almost stretched the dungarees to their limits, much as his shoulders and arms did the shirt. The man must really work out. Probably goes to the gym every day. Or can people who work at Home and Hearth afford that? As a schoolteacher, she sure couldn’t.
She almost ran into him when he stopped and turned around. “Oops.”
He caught her by both shoulders, which kept her from crashing into him. “I wanted to show you these.” He gestured toward rows of cabinets where the doors showed through the openings in the front of the cardboard cartons. “Those cabinets you were looking at have to be ordered from the factory, but here are some you can buy and take home with you. They’re a little less expensive, too. You might check to see if you like any of them.”
Valerie studied the structures with a critical eye until she came to the white ones. “These would brighten up the kitchen.”
She glanced up at her helper. His name was Austin, wasn’t it? Why didn’t the man wear his name badge? Maybe it gets caught on things or something. She hadn’t noticed whether anyone else in the store wore them or not.
Once again, the man crossed his arms. If he had a shaved head and wore a gold earring, he’d look a lot like Mr. Clean. “Do you need both upper and lower cabinets?”
She nodded. Did the man really think she’d replace only part of them?
“These cabinets are easier to install than the ones you order from the factory, but I still don’t think you can do it by yourself. Do you have anyone who can help you?”
Valerie rubbed her fingers across her forehead where a slight ache was trying to take hold. This was becoming more complicated than she thought it would be. “I could ask a couple of the boys from my high school speech class to help.”
He didn’t waver. “Have they done anything like this before?”
What is wrong with this guy? You’d think he didn’t want to make a sale. “I doubt it.”
Finally, he relaxed some. “Look, I’m not trying to be difficult. If you’re handy—” He gestured toward the cabinets that would go on the bottom. “—you might be able to do these, but not the top ones. They’re a two-man job, and at least one of the people working with them should know what he’s doing.”
She scowled at him, hoping he would take the hint. Did he realize what he’d said? Two-man, emphasis on the man, and “what he’s doing.” For a moment, anger rose within her, but that wouldn’t help anything, so she decided not to tell him what she thought about his terminology.
“Do you have the measurements, Valerie?”
Austin might look like a hunky movie star, but he didn’t have to treat her as if she didn’t have a lick of sense, as her grandmother used to say.
“Yes.” She dug through her shoulder bag until her fingers closed around her notebook. “Here they are.”
He took the proffered notes and studied them. “Okay, you want lower cabinets all across this one wall, and two different sections of cabinets above. Is this a window above the sink?”
At least the man could decipher her drawings. “That’s right.”
After handing back the diagrams, she watched as Austin studied all the cabinets in front of them. “If you use three of this model on each side of the window, you’ll need seven of these other ones. You’ll put the sink in the middle one. Are you gonna use the same sink you have or replace it?”
She stuffed the notebook back into her tote bag without taking her attention off the man standing before her. “Can’t I decide later?”
He rubbed his chin with one hand. “You could, but it’ll be easier to cut the correct-sized hole in the cabinet before it’s installed. After it’s attached, you can only get to it from one side.”
“Okay.” She might as well decide now. “With the new cabinets, I would like a new sink, if it’s not too expensive.”
Austin looked as if he was about to say something, but stopped himself. She wondered what that was all about.
With his hands thrust under the opposite armpits, he rocked back on his heels for a moment. “Look, I know you don’t have any reason to trust me, but I could give you references if you want me to. I’d like to come over and help you install these, at least the top ones, but I’d like to help you with the bottom ones, too.”
Valerie was surprised by his offer, but maybe he didn’t understand what she was saying before. “I can’t afford to pay you much at all.”
He nodded. “I know that, and we’ll discuss that later. Since you’re a teacher, you have weekends off, don’t you?”
Now it was her turn to nod. “Of course.”
Austin reached into one pocket and then another one as though searching for something. “I don’t have a card with me. Do you have something to write on?”
She started to shake her head before she remembered her notebook. Once more, she pulled it from the bag. “Here.”
He fished into one of his pockets and extracted a pen before scribbling something on one of the pages. “Here’s my phone number. Think about it, and call me to let me know if I can help you.” Austin glanced at a man walking by the end of their aisle. “Wait here. I’ll get George to write these up for you and get them loaded in your truck.” He loped off, leaving her staring after him.
Truck? Did he say truck? She didn’t have one. Then it hit her. How was she going to get these cabinets to her house? If she hadn’t been so tired, she’d have realized that. Maybe one of men at church could help her pick them up. She really didn’t want to pay a delivery charge or rent on a truck.
When George came down the aisle after the consultation with Austin, he was alone. For just a moment, Valerie wished the tall redhead had come back with him. Then a question shot into her thoughts. Why hadn’t Austin written up the order himself?

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