"We had more of that hot chocolate you liked and then some of these coconut and chocolate bite thingies and then some gingerbread and I tried some apple drink, but I didn't like it." It had been a few hours since Jacob got back from his second visit to Kingston farm and he was retelling the story to his grandmother on the phone. She'd heard the story the moment he stepped inside and he'd been bouncing off the walls in excitement since. She assumed he'd be much more tired with the tales he told, but she guessed that having such a good day only made him more energetic. She knew it would be easy to get him to bed at least.

More photos had dropped in from Max and Chelsea of Jacob and sometimes Cole was included as well. Noelle was guilty in looking at the one's with him in them much longer than the rest, but she'd never tell a soul. His smile was electric. In every picture he was smiling brighter than the last and he grew more and more handsome along with it. She thought it unfair that men like him probably get more and more handsome with age and here she was with a fifteen step skin care routine at twenty-six.

When Noelle's mother called to see how they were doing, Jacob immediately took over the conversation to tell her about his day. He quickly mentioned Cole 'the football man' about ten times in his story and her mother was quickly intrigued. Noelle's mother, Amelia, never hid her want for Noelle to find a nice man and hearing about this Cole person brought him straight to the front of the line. When Jacob finally tired of his storytelling and wanted to move to the next thing, he handed his mother the phone and ran off to his room.

"So...Cole Kingston huh? Max and Chels had nothing but the kindest things to say about him," Amelia began.

"Yup, I was informed as well." She already knew what her mother was gearing up to and lounged back on the couch in preparation for what came next.

"He's very handsome, don't you think?" And there was step one of Amelia Walters attempt to marry Noelle off to the latest bachelor in her mix.

"From what I saw, I guess he's not so bad..." she lied. She was definitely not ready to admit to any sort of crush on the man. If she had agreed, her mother would be pulling out her wedding dress for Noelle to try on.

A scoff could be heard on the other end of the line. "You're a terrible liar, even through the phone Sweetie. I had your father google him for me and whoa mama. That man gives those male models on my novels a run for their money."

"I'm telling dad you're talking this way about another man."

"That's alright, he agreed with me when we were looking at pictures together. We can all respect that the man is handsome. Except you for some reason and I wonder why." The tone in her mothers voice was playful and obnoxious. She wasn't in the mood to be teased especially when it was the truth. "Jacob seems taken with the man too," she included, knowing Noelle couldn't overlook that.

"He's much older than me, Mom," Noelle replied with a firm tone, trying to convey that she did not want to spend her time talking about the very handsome Cole Kingston. All she wanted to do was think about him on her own, with no outside commentary.

"Oh please, now you're just being silly. He's 38, not ancient. Plus that means he is probably ready to settle down."

"Well maybe I'm already talking to someone," she lied again. She did set up a profile on the dating app, but she had yet to open it again. She was a little too occupied with something or someone taking up a large portion of her attention though. Now that Jacob was back and also singing his praises, she couldn't completely try to ignore the feelings he awakened in her. Especially if she might run into him thanks to her brother.

The thought of that was more thrilling that worrisome and Noelle tried to ignore it before her mother spoked up again. "Is it someone we know? Bring him over for dinner on Tuesday," she said in hopefulness.

"I said I'm talking to someone. That's, like, twenty steps before meeting the family. Sorry." Noelle then turned the conversation into Christmas plans in order to steer her mother away from her love life. She especially hinted at what was on her and Jacob's Christmas list while leaving out the item he asked Santa for. That again brought the handsome man back into her head. Noelle huffed out loud, feeling like a teenager with a crush she couldn't let go of.

"What are you making a fuss about, I said we'd get you the coat you showed me," Amelia responded in confusion. Noelle was glad she wasn't on a video call with her or else she'd definitely notice the distraction and assume it was because of a man. Not that she'd be wrong, but her mother didn't need to know that.

"Sorry just trying to do some cleaning while we talk and I stubbed my toe." Lies. So many of them. She felt bad for continuing the trend with yet another lie, but she didn't know what else to do other than share the truth of why she's so distracted. Maybe she needed to talk to her best friend. She was a no nonsense type of woman who would talk sense back into Noelle. Plus, she hadn't spoken to Kasey in over a week so it was due.

She spoke to her mother for a few more minutes before telling her she had to go get dinner ready. At least that wasn't a lie. As she made spaghetti and meatballs, a Jacob favorite, she listened to him recount his day one more time with a little less energy. She knew he was finally wearing himself down and there probably wouldn't be a need for an after-dinner movie to calm him down.

Sure enough he was heavy eyed towards the end of his meal and she had to carry him to his bed and wash him up herself since he slept like a log as soon as his eyes closed. He was always like this and she was very thankful that he was a heavy sleeper. Living in an area that had heavy storms at times didn't wake him up and scare him.

After cleaning Jacob up and then the kitchen, Noelle curled up on the couch once more and opened the dating app on her phone. After a deep breath she started browsing. It can't be that hard, can it? Nearly three minutes after her optimistic thought, she tossed her phone to the other end of the couch and stared up at the ceiling. None of the 'matches' piqued her interest and all had a red flag or two she couldn't overlook. More than that, none of them compared to Cole Kingston. Every new profile she browsed she compared. And the problem was, there was no comparing him to anyone.

"Lord, help me."