by Zoe York
Jess knew that was the right answer. Sleep on it, think on it… But she was already excited about the idea of showing up at the gala dinner with Evan on her arm. If he wasn’t available, she’d be crushed again in a whole new way.
And Evie wasn’t helping, the way she was watching Jess with that glint in her eye. A warm, squirmy feeling spread through her low belly.
“You dated Evan?” she asked, rhetorically, because Evie had just told her that they had. But… “That’s not at all what I was expecting you to say.”
“It was a long time ago.” The other woman paused a beat. “You’ve met him. He’s attractive. Masculine.”
Both understatements of the year. But Jess got where Evie was going. Evan could pass as a straight man, no problem.
“You just need a date for a single night, right?” Evie said. “You’re not looking for a relationship.”
Jess thought of Brent. Of dinners and tidying up and gentle, easy sex that felt nice. Of promises that didn’t come to fruition. Of lonely evenings wondering if her husband would ever lift his head out of a book. Of wild, fabulous sex that only happened in her head, and she wouldn’t even know what to do with if she had it happen for real. No, she wasn’t looking for a relationship. “A single night with a safe guy sounds about like all I can handle,” she admitted.
Even spending time with Evan on her arm would be nice. “I could introduce him to people in London. Not that he needs my business help, but…”
“Actually.” The glint in Evie’s eye was positively Machiavellian now. “He does. We do. The town does, and Evan loves this town a lot, so he’d be willing to scratch your back if you scratch ours.”
“What are you talking about?”
“He’s better to explain it,” her friend said breezily, waving her hand. “More wine?”
“I feel like somehow I’ve stumbled into a trap,” Jess said.
“You need a date,” Evie repeat.
“I do.”
“And Evan needs…you.”
“I’m really not following.”
“We’ll go see him tomorrow.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“You guys got on well at the wedding.”
Maybe too well. The last thing she needed was to have a real crush on her decoy date. “Hang on. I think this is wine-fuelled, and there’s probably an easier option—”
“What are your options?” Liam asked as he returned to the living room.
Evie nodded her head toward Jess. “I think she can help Evan—and you—with the problem.”
“The Town Problem?” The way Liam said it, every word was capitalized and loaded with meaning.
Jess was torn between curiosity and dread. “What kind of Town Problem?”
“One where everyone is a stick-in-the-mud and zero fun,” Evie said. “Liam’s a little frustrated by it. He’s working with Evan on a new kind of subdivision, passive solar homes on the tract of land across from the winery, and they’re having trouble getting the permits approved.”
That was nowhere near her area of expertize. “And how can I help?”
“We’ve come at it every which way,” Liam said. “And it’s come to down to the fact that we clearly have a marketing problem.”
“With the new subdivision?”
“With the entire town.”
Jess raised her eyebrows, but Liam wasn’t spilling any more details. “Damn you,” she muttered, and Evie laughed.
Liam grinned. “I’ve hooked you, haven’t I?”
“Like an eager little fish, oh yes you have.” She swilled back the rest of her wine. “Top me up. And then roll me into bed so I’m fresh as a daisy tomorrow. I guess we’re going to meet Evan.”
Evie had waffles ready when Jess woke up the next morning, and the most gorgeous smelling coffee ever. “Part of the Seduce Jess to Help Wardham plan,” her hostess announced brightly.
Jess took a bite of blueberry waffles and groaned. “Very successful,” she said happily after licking her lips. “Let’s do this.”
“I wasn’t kidding last night,” Evie said. “Evan will help you out, too.”
“That was drunken sadness talking,” Jess said, waving her hand. “I don’t need a date for the gala. I’m fine. What I need to do is talk to Brent and get the tears shed ahead of time. That’s all.”
To prove that point to herself, she pulled out her phone and fired off a text message to her ex.
Jess: Congratulations on the recognition from the mayor. I’ll be at the gala as well. Could we have coffee sometime between then and now?
Then she dug into her waffles and turned her thoughts to small towns and creative problem solving.
After breakfast, Evie and Liam bundled up the kids and dropped them off with her mom, who lived on a farm just outside town. Jess followed in her own car, which gave her time to observe the town and the surrounding landscape from an all-business point of view.
For a beach town, the main streets were far from the shore, with blocks of residential housing in between. But it wasn’t as if Wardham packaged itself as a beach town. It was more a farming community, with new growth from wineries. The stark division was obvious as she followed Liam on the bypass around town. They crossed a river and were suddenly in a nice stretch of new development between the town and Go West Winery, where Liam and Evie’s wedding had been held.
The last time she’d been here, for the wedding, it had been the depths of winter. Icy and cold. Now, more than a year later, spring was well under way, with flowers popping in the ditches on either side of the road, and all the grape vines neatly strung up in rows were green and vibrant.
Obviously, the town didn’t have any problem with granting development permits. So what was the hold up with Liam’s project? And how was she supposed to help, exactly?
The Town Problem.
She was definitely hooked, but she couldn’t figure it out from the clues in front of her. Liam stopped his SUV in front of the lane that led to the winery. He rolled down his window and gestured across the road and down a bit, where Jess realized there was a large sign announcing the new development.
Waving back, she urged him to move on. She drove past the entrance to check out the empty plot of land, then doubled back, pulling into the gravel parking lot just as Evan West stepped through the main doors of the impressive glass and wood structure that made up the main building of Go West Winery.
“Nobody has any right to look that sexy this early in the morning,” she muttered to herself before getting out of her car with a bright smile.
Evie did the re-introductions, and Evan said nice things about remembering their dance at the wedding. From the way he pinned his gaze on her face, she believed him.
If she were a wine buyer, he’d have hooked her before she’d even tasted a sip.
His charm skills were on point, that was for damn sure. But once they were settled in his office, he cut to the chase: those skills didn’t work on the town council.
“Did Liam explain how they’re blocking our development across the way?”
“He mentioned it, but didn’t go into detail.”
“They make it a moving target,” Evan said. “Every rejection we get is for a different and often conflicting reason. Basically, the project is dead in the water until there’s external demand for it. Then we’ll be sitting pretty with a ready-to-go project that can be completed ahead of anyone else.”
“You want to create the demand, and force their hand?” Jess nodded. “That works.”
A knock at the door interrupted them, and all four heads swivelled. A tall, curvy woman strode in, all business. “Sorry to interrupt. This just came in from the Japanese contacts.”
“Remember when they would only deal with me? And now they’re sending everything to you,” Evan chuckled. “Jessica Doran, meet Beth Howard, our operations director. Beth, Jessica is a friend of Liam’s, and he’s pulled her in to consult on the Town Problem.”
“Oh,” Beth sai
d, her eyes wide and her lips pursed. “Welcome. We need all the help we can get.”
Jess grinned. “Nice to meet you, Beth.”
“Same. Are you sticking around? I’ll be at Evie’s Pilates class at five this afternoon if you want to join in.”
Jess was about to refuse, but maybe spending some time on Main Street Activities would help her sort out the mysterious Town Problem.
And now she was even starting to think in all caps. “Count me in,” she said. “I’ll be the one in black pyjama bottoms at the back of the room because I’m not properly prepared.”
“You’ll fit right in,” Beth promised over Evie’s mutters of protest. “And now I’m taking my leave!”
Jess didn’t miss that Evan was fighting back a smirk as he got back to the background details on his problem. “So while I have a developmental roadblock on a housing complex, there are others are who facing similar problems. There are a couple of elite athletes who want to open a camp for teens just outside of town, and are getting told no, for example. And word spreads. So we’ve got a small, informal committee of people who want change in this town. The problem is, we only have one friendly seat on town council. Carrie Nixon, who owns the bakery in town, is willing to do whatever it takes to reinvigorate our tourism pitch. Obviously, I’m in. I’m all the way in. The wineries around here are doing great things, but technically Go West is the only one inside the town limits of Wardham. We run the risk of being outstripped by the county around us and the other towns along the lake, because our council is stuck in the mud.”
The obvious answer was to change the town council by running more progressive candidates. Jess frowned. “When are elections?”
“Not for another two years.”
“Mmm.”
“So we’re looking for other ways to make change happen.” Evan stood and went to the wall, where he slid a panel out of the way and revealed a whiteboard covered in notes.
Jess let out a low whistle, impressed.
He walked her through the various businesses, and the way town council operated. What was surging, and what was stagnating. It kept coming back to a lack of a cohesive push for growth—and growth in new and interesting ways was consistently being blocked.
He sighed. “Business is booming. But the overall messaging of the town lets us down.”
Liam and Evie nodded along. Clearly they agreed with the assessment.
Jess got up and walked toward the whiteboard. At the org chart for the town, and which councillor was responsible for what portfolio. Carrie Nixon’s name popped out. A friendly ally.
The answer was obvious, although subtle. She wasn’t surprised they hadn’t grabbed on to it, because it seemed like a minor step in the grand scheme of things. She turned to Evan, standing beside her, and gave him a confident look she hoped he believed. “What you need is a marketing plan for the beach.”
“The town is the real prob—”
“Not the town. The beach.” She waited. He frowned at her.
They were standing close enough that he could look down at her, really inspect her, and she refused to waiver. She was right here. She was an expert, brought in to know her shit, and on this point, she knew her shit.
His frown deepened as he tried to follow her, but still had doubts. “The beach is a part of the town.”
She lowered her voice. She didn’t need to challenge him. She needed to win him over. “I know you want to rebrand the town. Big, bold, new. I see that. And it’s a great, lofty plan, but it’s not immediately attainable. Let go of that. That isn’t happening for two years at a minimum. Besides, it’s the wrong focus anyway.” She couldn’t help the bit of cheek that slid into her voice. “Small towns aren’t sexy.”
“Hey!” But she had him. His eyes were dancing. This man might love his small town, but he knew he went to the city for real excitement.
“They aren’t. Deal with it. But beaches—people will travel from all over for an unforgettable getaway. Have you heard of The Grotto?”
“Up north? Pine Harbour area?”
“Yeah. Do you know the name of the national park around it?”
Evan screwed up his face. Jess almost crowed, because she had him.
“No,” he finally confessed.
“That’s because that single, Instagram-able part of the park is the selling feature. Marketing is sales, sales is a product. You need a single, Instagram-able product. You know this already for your wine, right? One of your lines probably gets the bulk of your marketing dollars.”
She loved the way Evan swore under his breath. That was hella sexy. The way he nodded was even hotter. “Got it. And for Wardham, our product is…the beach.”
“The beach,” she said firmly. “Sell that, and the rest will follow. Sell that, and people will start their wine tours here instead of down the road. And they’ll stick around all day, check out the shops, restaurants, and bakeries.”
“You’ve sold me. So how do we make the Wardham Municipal Beach sexy?”
This was her favourite part. She grinned. “We re-name it.”
3
After the meeting at the winery, Liam and Evie had to do a loop to pick up all of their kids. Their babies from her mom’s farm, her two older boys from her first marriage who had spent the night at their dad’s. Jess wished them well in their child collection tasks, and headed straight into downtown Wardham.
She pretended it was her first time coming to visit and followed the signs to the municipal parking lot behind the shops on the main drag. It had a maximum of two hours, which barely allowed time for a nice meal, let alone a trip to the beach. So she skipped that lot and went closer to the water, but the parking options there were limited as well.
In the end, she parked on a residential street—not ideal, but according to the sign at the end of the block there was no limit on how long she could stay. Then she strolled down to the beach. Even though it was early in the season and much too cold for swimming, there were still a decent number of people using the public space. A family on bikes, a couple strolling hand in hand.
At the end of the boardwalk, though, she hit pay dirt.
Literally, a lot of dirt. There was a lot for sale on the corner, and past it, the beach devolved from bike paths and boardwalks to giant boulders and a break wall in the distance.
She snapped a quick picture and texted it to Liam.
Jess: What do you think about buying this lot and turning it into an ice cream stand with copious parking?
Liam: This engineer doesn’t know the first thing about ice cream.
She rolled her eyes. So literal.
Jess: I bet you can find someone who does, though. Trust me.
His reply had another number copied on it.
A minute later, that number replied, too.
Evan: Whatever she says sounds good. - E.
Instead of actually showing up for Pilates class in her PJs, Jess went to a boutique she’d seen in town. Most of the clothes weren’t really her style, but she found a pair of leggings and a stretchy bralette that would work under one of her t-shirts.
As she was checking out, the owner introduced herself as Lola Rodriguez. “Are you new to town?”
“Just visiting for the weekend,” Jess said. “I got talked into attending an exercise class, so this was an emergency shopping situation.”
“Evie’s class?” Lola’s smile grew. “I’ll be there. Who talked you into it?”
“Beth Howard. From Go West Winery?”
“She’s good like that.” Lola laughed. “She was one of the first friends I made when we moved here from London.”
“Small world,” Jess said, laughing. “I’m from London, too.”
“Oh yeah? We came here five years ago. My husband’s OPP, so we didn’t get to pick where we ended up, but I’ve come to love it. And it’s a great place to run a business.”
Jess nodded. “Well, it’s nice to meet you. And I’ll see you in a few hours!”
Her next stop
was back to Liam’s house to have lunch with their family—now bigger and louder, with the addition of the two boys. Then she retreated to their guest room for a few hours to get some work done, before packing up. She would drive straight home after the workout.
Or so was her plan.
But as she arrived at the studio, she immediately realized that there was more to “pilates at 5” than just a workout with friends.
There was, it turned out, a secret post-exercise ritual.
“Will you be joining us at Bun?” Lola asked as they rolled out mats beside Beth.
The winery director nodded. “Definitely. Come to Bun.”
“Bun?” It took Jess a second. “Oh! Bun in the Oven!”
Lola winked conspiratorially. “Carrie opens it up for anyone who doesn’t have to rush home for dinner with the family.”
“Or some of us tell our husbands to fend for themselves one night a week,” Beth added under her voice. “It’s Mommy’s Muffin Time, that’s what I tell my toddler.”
There was no way Jess was missing muffins, or secret anti-establishment networking meetings. From across the room, she caught Evie’s eye. Wardham had a delightful underbelly her friend had kept from her—and Jess wanted to know all about it.
Evie smiled innocently.
Lola leaned in and whispered, “The after-workout meet-up is the main reason most of us do this class. It’s an informal networking meeting. Without any of the…” She paused, choosing her words carefully. “Small town politics, I guess. We can all be real there. And here.”
And that’s exactly what it turned out to be. Jess had to drive back to London, so she didn’t stick around long, but she made sure that Beth introduced her to everyone, and before she left, she thanked Carrie and Evie for inviting her to their secret little cabal.
“Come back any time,” Carrie said, handing her a latte for the road.