by June Faver
He turned to Reggie. “Invitations? Where do the brides get their invitations printed?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they go into Austin or order them online.”
“They should get them done at the Gazette. Don’t you have the capacity to do printing?”
She bit her lower lip. “I’m not sure. I’ll have to ask Marty Ketschmer, the guy who runs the presses.”
He nodded. “Good for you. It might be a way to expand the business. How about going after other printing jobs? Menus for restaurants? Business cards?”
She brightened. “I see where you’re going. So you’re thinking of ways to increase revenue.”
He winked at her, liking the way her eyes lit up when she looked at him.
They drove to the end of the city limits, and he turned to go down the street that ran parallel to the main street. Smaller shops and diners lined this street. A mechanic shop, a dollar store.
He slowed to gaze at every building. Why had he never noticed them before? His eyes lit on a small park where children played. Two women supervised the children; all of the little ones seemed to be preschool age.
“There’s Shannon.” Reggie pointed to a towheaded tot climbing the slide. She smiled as they passed.
“What’s she doing there?” he asked, slowing to a crawl.
“She’s in one of my best friends’ day care center while I work. It’s located in that little bungalow on the other side of the park. They bring the kids to play in the playground on nice days.”
“That’s good that you have someone you trust to take care of your child.”
Reggie’s genuine grin warmed his heart. “Yes. Jill Garland. You remember her? Long red hair? Her dad is the sheriff.”
He nodded, though he couldn’t recall the name. He could remember a redhead among Reggie’s four or five female companions who seemed to run together as a herd.
“She is really involved in local environmental projects, and she loves little kids.”
Frank listened to Reggie go on about her friend’s good qualities. “Sounds interesting.”
“She is. The name of her day care is Babes in the Woods. That fits, doesn’t it?” She spread her arms to encompass the entire densely wooded area. “I think it’s wonderful that we can live here with all the wildlife and greenery around us.”
“Um—yes, I guess.” Frank wasn’t sure about all this eco-freak stuff. He was more comfortable with city streets and skyscrapers but said nothing to dampen her spirits. Her face was rapt while expounding on her friend’s qualities.
“I—I’m glad you have a good place for Shannon to play.”
Reggie shrugged. “Well, of course, I would prefer to be taking care of her myself, but it’s nice to have a safe and secure preschool for her while I’m at work.”
Frank felt a knot forming in his stomach. He hadn’t realized how hard it was for Reggie to work and make sure her kid was taken care of. He had to admire that.
“Listen, Reggie,” he said. “It’s none of my business, but I am a little curious about Shannon. I mean, you don’t ever mention her father, and I…”
“Divorced.” Reggie shrugged. “I got dumped after Shannon was born.”
“Sorry.” He wondered how a man could run out on a woman as perfect as Reggie Lee and a treasure of a child like Shannon.
She was fiddling with her purse strap and gnawing her lower lip. “Kenny didn’t plan on being a father right away, and I was too naive to know that.”
That hit him like a sucker punch. “You were married to Kenny Landers?” He recalled the school bully and wondered what Reggie Lee could have possibly seen in him. He was such a crude oaf, and she was so…Reggie Lee…
“He joined the Army after you left. When he got out, he worked at the paper for a while, and I thought he hung the moon. When he left town again, he said he was going to look for a better job so he could provide for us, but then I got the divorce papers.” She shrugged again. “I just let him go. I figured if he didn’t want us, we wouldn’t want him.”
Frank concentrated on driving but kept his eye on Reggie. Her revelation had brought her mood way down. He reached out and gathered her hand in his. “Tough break.”
“Shannon and I, we’re okay,” she said simply. Best of all, she didn’t pull her hand away.
* * *
This feels way too much like a date.
Reggie was confused. She was having a leisurely lunch in a romantic restaurant with the man who had made her high school experience a living hell. And he was absolutely charming.
She laughed at the appropriate times but kept a wary eye on Frank, waiting for him to turn into Franklinstein. The atmosphere in the Grey Moss Inn was very romantic. It was softly lit and intimate even at the noon hour. The menu was phenomenal. Reggie tried to do justice to the food, but she was too nervous to properly enjoy it.
“Have some more wine.” Frank gestured for the waiter, but Reggie protested.
“No, really. I’m a lightweight.” She put her hand over her glass to keep the enthusiastic waiter from refilling it. She reflected that if she was a lightweight when it came to drinking wine, Frank was the heavyweight due to his many years living in Europe. “Besides, I have to get back to work.”
“Eventually,” Frank said and indicated that he was ready for a refill. “So tell me, since you now have free rein with the paper, what direction do you plan to take it?”
Free rein?
She had not really thought about changing anything. The Gazette had operated in the same way since she had first joined as a junior reporter when she was in high school. What would happen if she made big changes to the way the paper was run? She cleared her throat. “Well, I guess I would try to boost circulation by broadening the content to appeal to a wider segment of the community. You know? Write actual news stories.”
Frank grinned at her. “Like the big boys?”
She felt her color rising. Was he just stringing her along? Waiting for her to say something stupid and fall on her face? “I think the residents of this community deserve a newspaper that is more than a glorified list of announcements.”
He nodded. “And you think you can deliver that?”
She sucked in a deep breath and let it out all at once. “I would sure give it my best.”
“Reggie, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but you’re going to need more than that. If you like, I can help you make a plan to take the Gazette from A to B and a timeline for getting you there.” He cocked his head to one side. “Do you think we can develop a plan to make the Gazette a viable entity?” He gazed at her with what appeared to be open admiration.
Her heart was thumping against her ribs. If he had any idea what his flash of dimples did to her stomach, his substantial ego would soar. “Yes, I think we can.”
He raised his glass and clinked it against hers.
Reggie took a sip of wine and surveyed Frank over the rim. “Tell me what you’ve been doing since high school. You said you were a lawyer?”
“Yes, I went to law school, mostly to please Aunt Rosie.” He grinned sheepishly. “I seemed to have a penchant for the study of law, but not for the actual practice. After I passed the bar exam, I took off for Europe to reward myself. The longer I hung out, the less inviting the prospect of actually going into corporate law.”
“I don’t understand. You mean after all those years in school you just blew off your education?”
He shifted slightly, his gaze narrowing. “Exactly. I found something I was born to do.”
“And that was…?”
“I have a certain knack for buying and rehabilitating floundering businesses. I know when to sell. Trust me, I’ve made huge profits just buying and selling.”
She felt as though she couldn’t draw a breath. Frank had spent years taking businesses apart and rebuilding them just so he coul
d sell them off at a profit. What would he do with the red-brick building that housed the Gazette?
Just when she was beginning to feel a little more comfortable in Frank’s presence, she learned he was just passing through.
Chapter 4
Frank took her back to the newspaper, and drove off feeling remarkably buoyant. His vastly improved mood was due to his lunch with Reggie Lee Stafford. It hadn’t quite been a date, and yet it had.
He’d learned that she had taken back her maiden name. She was divorced from a major oaf, received no child support, and had sole custody of their daughter. She was showing him a lot more backbone than he had given her credit for. Reggie Lee Stafford was definitely more than just another pretty face.
The fact that he owned the Gazette building might be influencing Reggie’s more compliant facade. He wouldn’t fool himself into believing she actually liked him, but every now and again, he did see little flashes of attraction or at least a mild interest. Whatever was driving that was enough to keep driving him.
He had liked her since their school days, and the slim chance that she might return his affections someday kept him intrigued. He hadn’t counted on liking her so much, and he hadn’t counted on liking her little girl.
The BMW zipped along, almost without his direction. The roads twisted and climbed among the hills that gave the Texas Hill Country its name. Verdant rolling hills covered mostly with oak and pine masked the homes nestled beneath. There were communities with churches and small businesses tucked in nooks and crannies all around the lake.
The beauty of the area attracted a great many tourists, so weekends and summers the traffic and activities increased significantly, yet the area was able to maintain the welcoming, small-town flavor that made it such a relaxing getaway.
Several rivers fed into the lake, offering additional waters to canoe and raft along with the river current, thereby avoiding the motorboats and water-skiers. Tubing on the river had been one of Frank’s favorite pastimes, when he and his buddies rented inflated inner tubes and floated with the current. Okay, there may have been beer involved, but he cherished the memories of camaraderie with his buds.
He turned onto the road leading to the vineyard. Something about the sight of row after row of lush grapevines gave him a rush of pride. He was proud of his great-aunt for her vision, and he was proud of Evan for devoting his life to making her vision flourish.
His own life had been devoted to turning a fast buck. He had felt good about his accomplishments up until the time he had returned to Rambling. Now, his previous focus on chasing after the almighty dollar seemed shallow.
Perhaps he was considering the mindset of the beautiful Reggie Lee Stafford and her love of the environment, in particular the town of Rambling and surrounding area. He seemed to recall that Reggie Lee and her friend Jill had spearheaded a campaign to get the school to stop using plastic bottles in the vending machines, and they had succeeded. And it was the arty one—Lori Holloway—who had painted signs they plastered all over school. But Reggie Lee and Jill had been the ones who spearheaded the crusade.
Frank chuckled a little. Now he had the blonde crusader leading the charge at the Gazette. He figured she would put her heart and soul into anything she espoused. Too bad there was no room in her heart for him.
He stopped the car on the edge of the road and got out. Up close, he could admire the vibrant colors of the grapes and the texture of the twisted vines. He strolled into the row of vines, his handmade designer loafers sinking into the soft dirt. There was a fragrance in the air he couldn’t place as well as the warm earth smell. The scents were like coming home. He expected to see Aunt Rosie step out from between the staked vines, wearing her straw hat and leather gloves.
“Frank?”
He turned to see Evan Hauser walking toward him, his hands shoved deep in the pockets of his jeans. “Hey, Ev. How’s it going?”
“Great. I thought I recognized your car. Is something wrong?” His brow knitted into a worried frown. Evan was a gentle giant…unless on the football field…or perhaps other arenas he felt strongly about. Now his pleasant face was gnarled up in a grimace.
“Not a thing.” Frank spread his hands to indicate the vines. “I just needed to clear my head.”
Evan’s brow relaxed. “This is a great place to do that.”
“What kind of grapes are these?” Frank pointed to the nearby clusters, hanging dense and ripe.
“These are our own cross-pollinated grapes. They go into our Pinot Noir. We use a blend of two varieties to achieve our sublime taste.”
“Hey, you don’t have to sell me.” Frank turned and continued walking deeper into the row of vines.
Evan grinned sheepishly and fell into step beside him. “Are you getting settled in at Miss Rosie’s house? I guess it’s your house now.”
Frank shrugged. “It still feels like her house. I unpacked my bag in my old room. That’s as settled in as I can get right now.” He wondered briefly if he would ever again regain the feeling of being at home anywhere. Maybe Rambling was no longer his home.
“How does Rambling look to you after living in Europe? Are we just too redneck for a sophisticated man of the world?”
Frank slid him a sideways glance and realized he was being teased by an expert. He was glad Evan was getting over the fact that Frank was his employer. He longed to return to the casual friendship they had always enjoyed. “There are some things that look even better. I’m talking about Reggie Lee. I can’t believe she hooked up with Kenny Landers.” He shook his head.
“Tell me about it. When he came back from his stint in the Army, he was really buff, and he seemed to have gained some discipline.” He shrugged. “But it didn’t last. After he got Reggie, he reverted to type. Trust me, she’s better off without him.”
Frank fought down some primitive feelings of resentment. His memories of Kenny Landers were all bad. “He was the football hero.”
“Yeah, but Reggie was the brilliant bookworm. She was popular, and she had the brains to go with her looks. Not like any of the airheads who used to hang all over Kenny.” Evan spread his hands. “I mean, she was the one girl he could never impress.”
Me neither. Frank picked up a pebble and weighed it in his palm. He thought about Reggie Lee as he had known her in high school. Skittish, aloof, her acerbic tongue had kept him from making friends with her. Of course, calling her Regina Vagina hadn’t helped his cause. He took aim and slung the pebble down the road.
“She seems to be doing okay now,” he observed.
Evan nodded enthusiastically. “She has a cute little girl. She goes to work at the paper. Works in her dad’s store too. Goes to church and that’s about it.”
“It seems to make her happy.”
Evan squinted at him and gave a throaty laugh. “You still got the hots for Reggie?”
“What do you mean, still?”
Evan gave him a little nudge. “C’mon, man. Everyone knew you liked her.”
Frank made a scoffing noise. “Everyone but Reggie Lee.”
“Well…” Evan spread his hands. “Maybe you carried things a bit far.”
“Y’think?” Frank nudged a clod of dirt with the toe of his loafer. He wondered what else was going on in her life. “Reggie Lee seems to be happy now. Some people don’t have big dreams. Some people are content with the hand they’re dealt.”
Evan shrugged. “I think Reggie had plenty of big dreams. Having a kid must have put a damper on her plans.”
Frank considered this. How would her life have changed if she had not married and given birth? Would she have remained in Rambling if she was less encumbered? Yet he had to admire that she stepped up to the challenge and didn’t dump the kid on her parents and run off. He shoved his hands deep in his pockets.
Like his parents had dumped him on his great-aunt after he had been expelled from
the posh Dallas prep school for fighting. They had thought that sending him to live in a small town with an elderly great-aunt would be the ultimate punishment. Little did they know how much he had enjoyed his freedom. When they were killed in a car accident a short time later, his great-aunt became his legal guardian.
Frank had made friends and, thanks to Evan, stayed out of fights. Other than Reggie and her snotty friends, he had been well liked. If things had been different between them, would he have left town? Would she have gone with him?
He shook off his idle thoughts and turned to Evan. “Any ideas on increasing productivity at the winery?”
Evan stopped in his tracks. He stammered something unintelligible. “I mean, are you dissatisfied with production?” If Frank had smacked him in the face, Evan could not have looked more astonished.
Frank slapped Evan on the shoulder. “Heck, no, man. I’m always looking for ways to up productivity. I figured, in your position, you might have some thoughts on making things even better. Is there some equipment you need? Another market to tap into?”
Evan looked perturbed. “Your aunt let me do whatever I thought would take us in the right direction. Since I took over as manager, I’ve more than doubled our revenues. We hit an all-time high this past year.”
Frank raised both hands to calm his friend. “I realize that. And you’ve increased the volume of wine produced each year as well as the number of acres growing grapes. Altogether a fine job.”
Evan stood with his hands fisted at his waist. “Then what’s the problem?”
What indeed? “No problem, Ev. I just wanted to know if you had any ideas to knock around. I’m always open to new directions.”
“I’ll let you know.” Evan kept his eyes cast down at the ground.
“C’mon, Ev. I’m not picking on you. I’m complimenting you. You’re doing a great job here. I just want to encourage you to spread your wings. Let yourself go.”