“Why would you want to peruse an old boutique in a small town?”
He shrugged his good shoulder and smiled. “Hey, buildings are my thing. It’s nice to work with them when they’re not on fire.”
“Work with them?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “A lot of us firemen do odd jobs. Our shifts are twenty-four hours long followed by forty-eight hours off. That leaves a lot of time with nothing to do between shifts. Besides, to be perfectly honest, we’re not exactly paid the same as a CEO. The extra money is nice.”
“Oh. That makes sense, I suppose.” She stopped what she was doing and stared at him for a few long seconds. “You can come if you really want to.”
“Great. I really want to.” He didn’t understand why, but being a part of this with her felt inexplicably important. Like it or not, he wasn’t taking no for an answer.
***
From the moment she’d decided that for her own peace of mind she needed to meet with Margaret, her stomach had been center stage for a wild performance of tap dancers. No amount of Violet’s aromatherapy or Cole’s words of encouragement could put her or her stomach at ease.
If anything, the closer she got to the boutique, the worse she felt.
“Usually, on the rare occasion I drive through town, I’m not paying attention to the scenery.” Cole kept his gaze focused on the passing buildings outside his window. “There’s a lot of traditional charm on Main Street.”
“Absolutely. It’s the American dream. Anyone who lives here doesn’t want to wake up.”
“If only it were that simple.”
And wasn’t that the truth. In a perfect world, she would open her bakery. Money wouldn’t be an issue, leases wouldn’t be an issue, nor would customers. Her life would be like an animated movie. All the little creatures would help her bake, and knead, and roll, and cut the day’s treats, and of course a fairy godmother would sprinkle them all with special powder, making every bite irresistible.
“You’re smiling. Settling into the idea?”
She hadn’t realized Cole had turned to face her. “Not exactly. I guess you could say I was gathering wool.”
“From the huge grin on your face, I’d say you were gathering a lot more than just wool.”
Chortling, she pulled into an empty spot not far from the boutique. “If you promise not to laugh…” She let her words hang waiting for him to nod. “I was picturing the bakery in animation.”
“A cartoon?” His lips tilted upward in amusement.
“You promised not to laugh.”
Even though his lips immediately flat lined, his eyes continued to twinkle. “Not laughing, but you have to admit, it paints an interesting picture.”
“This is it.” Pointing at the shop to her right, she sucked in a long slow breath and blew it out even more slowly.
“You ready?”
“No.” She shook her head. “But I can’t let that stop me.”
Inside, the shop was pretty much as she had remembered. In the sketches she’d done for her “perfect world scenario” she’d done from memory. The rest she’d guessed from the outside of the building.
Cole seemed to be studying the room as intensely as she was. She could almost see him mentally sizing up the spaces, the distances, maybe even the repairs. “Do you think this is enough space?”
“Yes.” She looked around one more time. Now more than ever, she was sure this would be the perfect spot. If only. “Picture it, a couple of café tables to this side of the door for those who want to sit down a moment and enjoy their pastry—”
“Will you serve coffee too?”
She frowned at the question. She asked herself that a time or two. “I can’t make up my mind. Part of me says yes, extra income. The other part of me says no, more work. It also encourages people to linger and I don’t know that I want them lingering inside. I think I just want them to come in and get what they want and leave room for the next person.”
“I suppose I can understand what you mean,” he said. “What else?”
Happily, Lily rambled on about colors and pictures and signs, and where to put the last cases a little past midway of the current shop. “And then,” she waved towards the rear wall, “this wall would have to come forward a bit so this space and the current storage area will be the kitchen. Where the magic happens.”
“If it’s big enough?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she nodded shakily, “if.”
“I thought I heard voices.” Margaret O’Malley came hurrying through the doors Lily had just pointed to. “I’m sorry, I was on a call in my office and I don’t always hear the bell ring.”
“No worries,” Lily said with a smile. “This is a guest from the cabins, Cole McIntyre.”
“How do you do?” Cole waited for the older woman to extend her hand. Lily wouldn’t have expected the old-school gesture from him.
“Oh, yes.” Margaret patted their already clasped hands. “The young man Lily keeps sending to the hospital.”
Could there possibly be a stronger word than mortification, because right now Lily could feel the heat shooting up her body and burning strong in her cheeks. Of course, she should have expected this. In the small town the size of Lawford, most people knew everything about you, from your favorite color to how many times you wake up in your sleep to use the bathroom.
“I wouldn’t quite say that,” Cole defended.
“Really.” Margaret let go of his hand and stepped back. “I see.” She developed an odd grin before facing Lily. “Shall we get down to business, dear?”
“I don’t know that there is much to discuss.”
Margaret spun about and waived over her shoulder for Lily and Cole to follow. “Oh of course, you want to see the rest of the building. There’s actually a lot more to it than you would think. I have quite a bit of storage.” She walked through the doorway she had recently come out of and stopped dead center of a wide open space. “Years ago, my Herbie moved my offices upstairs. The second floor was originally an apartment, but I had no need for that. But I did need more storage. My Herbie, bless him, was so good at handiwork. I can’t imagine doing all this alone from now on, but letting go can be just as hard.”
Her entire life Lily had in one way or another flirted around the edges of death. She and her sisters had helped their mom ride the learning curve of wakes and funerals and dealing with the bereaved. Still, finding the right words at a time like this came hard for her.
“But,” an almost dreamy smile bloomed on Margaret’s face, “as soon as your mother said you might be interested I knew moving on was the right decision. Herbie always loved eating your desserts at the Inn.”
“Thank you.”
Cole’s gaze darted from point to point, zeroing in on a low beam midway between the walls, he gestured toward the ceiling. “Looks like your husband did a pretty good job. I’d say the joists run from front to back, which is why he added this crossbeam for support of the second floor.”
Somehow Margaret’s face seemed to glow even brighter. “Why, yes. He had wanted to hide it but that would’ve cost more money and it was only a storage room I didn’t see the point.” She continued walking. “Come along and I’ll show you some more.”
Together the three of them went from corner to corner, Margaret regaling Lily with stories from when she first opened her tiny shop out of her home at the outskirts of town, to moving here, to her life changing conversation with Virginia Nelson over funeral arrangements. Since the second floor had been used all these years for additional product storage, Margaret and her husband had installed a small service elevator that Cole was able to use to easily join them upstairs.
By the time the tour was over, Lily’s head was spinning. Numbers and facts and possibilities were all tumbling around in her head. Every so often when Margaret stepped away to take a phone call or deal with a customer, Cole would lean in to give his opinion on the structural condition and possibilities for her bakery. Even though she would not
own the building, Cole’s contributions were going a long way to making her feel more sure of a trouble-free experience.
Lily struggled to wrap her mind around Margaret’s offer to rent the space on a sliding scale for the first two years. Had her husband enjoyed Lily’s baking that much? The option put an entirely new spin on her dreams. Just thinking about the possibilities for her future made her absolutely giddy. Her gaze drifted to Cole chatting sweetly with Margaret. A lot of things were making her nearly giddy today. Hopefully none of them would come crashing down around her.
Chapter Fourteen
“Are you sure you’re okay? We were at the boutique longer than I’d expected.” Lily watchfully walked along Cole’s side.
“I’m doing much better.” It was actually a bit surprising to him just how much better he felt not only after only a few days, but even since this morning. His shoulder wasn’t hurting at all, and despite the swelling in his ankle, moving the joint in small exercises met with less resistance. In short, he was making progress.
Before they reached the door, Lily’s steps slowed, taking in the voices on the other side. “Sounds like we have company.”
“Does this happen a lot or is all this attention reserved for…special occasions?” He’d come within inches of mentioning his recent harrowing experiences.
The way Lily rolled her eyes, he thought he had his answer, but she responded verbally as well. “I’d love to say this is something special because I could have killed you—twice—but the truth is, they’re fussers. All of them. And I love every one of them for it. Even if I can’t imagine the General was this way in the Marine Corps, but then again…” She shrugged and shoved the door open.
As expected from the voices, the living room buzzed with activity. What wasn’t expected was to find his buddies from the station dispersed among Lily’s family. An appealing aroma smacked him in the face, making him sniff the air. “Is that what I think it is?” he asked.
Payton responded without looking away from the cards fanned in his hands. “Chili the way you like it. He’s making enough to last you guys a week. We also brought the extra things you asked for.”
“Found these fellas waiting for you.” The General smiled at him. “Didn’t think you’d mind if I let them in. Especially when they explained they would be cooking for you.”
“No sir, not at all.” If Cole had been injured anywhere else, these guys would have been at his side anyhow like white on rice.
Lily’s grandmother looked up from her crocheted effort swooping yarn around a hook. She used the same hand to pat the sofa beside her. “I saved you a spot. Come take a load off.”
Not until he’d heard those words had Cole realized just how much he wanted to not only sit, but put his foot up. “Thanks.”
In order to help him get comfortable and elevate his leg, Mrs. Hart propped the sofa cushions under his leg and fetched a blanket for him from the other room. Cole didn’t have the heart to tell her he’d rather relax in a refrigerator than under a blanket.
Payton chuckled under his breath, mumbling something about molly coddled before playing a card and carefully eyeing his partner Violet to see if he’d made the right move. When her turn came around and she played the ace to take the trick, Cole thought his friend would burst with delight. If it wasn’t bad enough the guy could cream them all at a hand of poker, now he was going to add whist to his repertoire.
“I can’t believe how good this tastes.” Lucy swallowed the spoonful of chili. “No wonder you won first prize.”
A friend she hadn’t met before shrugged in a casual effort to hide how pleased he was with the complement.
Cole yelled over his shoulder, “That would be prizes with an S. Derrick’s taken the blue ribbon every year for the three years that I’ve known him.”
“Just don’t tell anybody he uses ground chicken instead of beef. At most firehouses that’s sacrilege.” Payton tossed a card onto the table.
Lily pulled a glass from the cupboard and walked to the refrigerator. Holding the glass while it filled, she looked to her grandfather playing cards. “Where are Sarge and Lady?”
One thing Cole had noticed in the few days he’d been here, whenever the General was around, the two golden retrievers were at his feet.
“They are keeping Iris company on her walk,” the General answered. “The best company when a person is wound as tight as she is.”
“I do hope she can stay a while,” Gram said without looking up. “She needs the lake.”
“It has been a tense couple of years for her.” Violet shifted the cards in her hand. “It will be nice visiting. What would be nice is if we could get all nine of us cousins here at the same time.”
“Like when you were children.” Grams smiled, stringing more yarn around the hook.
“What she needs is a good man.” Lucy wiped her hands on a nearby dish towel, oblivious to the eye rolls the two cousins shared. “I need to get back to the house. Still have some chores to do and George is probably wondering where I ran off to.”
“He’s probably still at the marina. Bobby needed a second pair of hands fixing a hoist or some such thing.”
Lucy turned to the fireman checking the big pot. “If you want to save this chili for your convalescing buddy, I’m making lasagna tonight. You’re all welcome to join us for dinner. We’re expecting a full house.” She took a step back and didn’t pause for a breath. “Have you met Callie?”
“Now, Lucy,” the General’s wife chided sweetly.
“What?” The housekeeper smiled impishly.
Smiling, Fiona Hart returned her attention to her crocheting. The moment Lucy closed the cabin door behind her, Lily and Violet rolled their eyes again and muttered a choral groan. Cole had to admit he got a kick out of Lucy’s not so subtle hint.
“I swear.” Lily shook her head. “She doesn’t quit, does she.”
“Who knows,” Violet played a card, “maybe one day she’ll actually set a couple up who are suited to each other.”
“Fat chance,” three voices echoed, including the General’s. Every head in the room turned to face him.
“Don’t look at me like that. It’s obvious to anyone that Lucy hasn’t got a talent for matchmaking.”
“True.” Violet set her cards down a minute. “She can sing every song from Hello Dolly from now until the next blue moon and it’s not going to help her any. She’s a lousy judge of compatibility.”
On Violet’s last word the house phone rang and standing closest, Lily grabbed it. “Hello?”
Unlike cell phones where a person could easily eavesdrop on a conversation, Cole couldn’t make out who was on the other end, never mind who might actually be calling.
“Of course. No problem at all.” Lily hung up and cast her eyes on the fireman closest to her. “Lucy says to tell you she’s got some of Katie O’Leary’s soda bread.”
“You might as well give in.” Violet shuffled the deck of cards. “She’s liable to set the house on fire to get you guys in the same room with…” She looked up, frowning. “So is she trying to set up Callie or Iris?”
“Probably both,” Lily muttered. “Unless there’s some unsuspecting guest she’s got in her sights.”
“Heaven help the guest if she does.” Grams wound more yarn more tightly around the hook.
“Is she really that bad?” Payton asked.
“Worse,” the cousins echoed.
“Damn it.” Derrick pointed out the window and spun around. “I thought you were kidding.”
“What?” Lily looked in the direction of the main house. “Oh, Lucy.”
Smoke poured out the first floor window of the white Victorian.
Gabe already had the fire extinguisher in his hands and was halfway to the door. Payton bolted to his feet and knocking his seat back, galloped out the door behind his buddy.
“Oh, my,” Mrs. Hart muttered, quickly putting her project away. “Here we go again.”
***
Not
that she’d know what to do, but Lily ran out of the cabin behind everyone else, shouting to Cole that she’d be right back. At least she had to admit if Hart House was going to catch fire, having three firemen within running distance was a bonus.
“We can’t lose this house.” Violet ran beside her.
Lily took in a deep breath. “We won’t.” This house had generations of memories and as much life in it as a living, breathing being.
Bolting up the porch steps, the sight of all three firemen in the entry talking to Lucy and the General, sent relief washing over them. Feathery waves of smoke still filled the room. Her grandmother and Iris stood fanning the smoke away with magazines.
“I really am sorry,” Lucy said softly. “I can’t imagine how I could have made that mistake.”
“What mistake?” Violet asked.
The General stepped forward. “Lucy thought it would be nice to start a fire.”
“We figured that,” Violet mumbled so only Lily could hear.
“She forgot to open the flue.”
“In the fireplace,” Violet spoke loud enough for her grandfather to hear and nod.
Lucy slapped her hands together and rubbed vigorously. “I’d better get back to the kitchen. Will you boys be staying for supper?”
One by one, each fireman shook their head, muttering, “Sorry, another time, rain check.”
“I’ve got plans and we came in one car,” Payton said.
Gabe held up the extinguisher. “I’ll take this back to the cabin.”
“Well, don’t make yourselves scarce. There’s always room for one or three more at the dinner or card table.” Lucy turned to Grams. “Isn’t that right?”
Waving her arm left and right in front of her face, Grams smiled. “Next time we promise to keep the smoke to a minimum.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Payton chuckled.
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