by Kirk, Cindy
“I have people who’ve been staying here every Christmas for as far back as I can remember. They reserve the same unit and know their neighbors in the adjacent units. We’re their family, and this community gives them something they can’t get where they live during the rest of the year . . . a sense of home and belonging.” Mavis fixed her gaze on Fin. “Being here nourishes their soul. I know it probably sounds corny to a big-city girl—”
Fin grasped the woman’s hand. “It doesn’t sound corny at all.”
“I appreciate you sharing your opinion,” Jeremy told her. “Thank you.”
“Thank you for listening.” Then Mavis smiled and a twinkle filled her eyes. She made a shooing motion with her hands. “Now, you two go and do whatever newly engaged couples do with their time, and leave me to my bulbs.”
Jeremy slung an arm around Fin’s shoulders as they left the office. He told himself it was because Mrs. Rosekrans was watching. The truth was, he wanted the connection. The decision on the film proposition hadn’t been easy the first time. It wasn’t going to be any easier the second time around.
“Until she’d mentioned it, I’d forgotten she and my mother were friends.” Fin’s voice was oddly subdued.
“That’s not surprising.” Jeremy smiled. “Your mother had so many friends.”
He stopped when they reached the blue door of her unit. “I thought you’d stay with family while in Good Hope.”
“Ami and Beck have less than a month before Baby Cross arrives.” Fin’s expression softened. “She wanted me to stay, but this time needs to be about them.”
How much easier it would be for Fin to simply call one of the many empty bedrooms in the recently remodeled Victorian home. Instead she’d put her sister’s needs first.
As if anticipating his next question, Fin continued without taking a breath. “Now that school is in session, my dad goes to bed at nine and is up by six. Not exactly the hours I like to keep.”
“It’s too bad the apartment over the bakery isn’t available.” Jeremy thought of the one-bedroom unit over Blooms Bake Shop, where both Ami and Marigold had lived for a period of time. “Ami would never have rented it to Hadley if she’d known you’d be back.”
“I’m not back,” Fin clarified. “Not permanently, anyway. Just for a month.”
Jeremy’s gaze returned to her unit’s bright blue door. While Sweet Dreams was a nice, comfortable motel, he couldn’t imagine Fin lasting a month in such close quarters. But what was the alternative?
A solution came to mind, but Jeremy swiped it away like a troublesome mosquito. Still, the idea continued to buzz. “Your sister is quite a cook.”
“After the rocky start to the evening, I thought dinner might be awkward.” Gazing up at the moon hanging heavy in the sky, Fin was in no apparent hurry to go inside. “But I enjoyed the food and the conversation. Everyone seemed much more relaxed by the time we left.”
“Your dad still isn’t sold on the fake engagement idea.”
“He’s old-fashioned,” Fin acknowledged. “He worries about me.”
“I worry about you, too.” Jeremy had worried about Fin’s safety in Los Angeles. Now, knowing she was engaged to the Pompous Ass, he worried for her happiness.
Not that where she lived or who she married was his business. But they’d once been as close as two people could be, and just because she was no longer a part of his life didn’t mean he couldn’t care.
“I’ll wait out here while you pack your bag.” He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “Thanks for not making a big deal out of spending tonight at the farm. I have lots of empty bedrooms, and this way we can leave first thing in the morning, pick Ruby up in Sturgeon Bay, then head to Milwaukee.”
He turned to go, but Fin’s hand on his arm stopped him.
“One more thing.” She stared intently in his eyes. “Promise me Ruby isn’t going to die.”
Jeremy started to say there was no way to know for sure, but he stopped himself, seeing she needed reassurance, not worst-case scenario. “She won’t have any problems, and she’ll be back home, feisty as ever, in no time. Froedtert is one of the top-ranked hospitals for heart bypass surgeries. Her surgeon does dozens of these operations a year. And we’ll be there to make sure she has the care that she needs.”
It still pained him that his parents hadn’t volunteered to forgo their European vacation plans. Still, his grandmother had him and Fin, and the promise of a wedding in the spring.
What had she told him right before they’d left the hospital? Ah, yes, she couldn’t ask for anything more.
When Jeremy spotted the car parked in the drive, he nearly groaned aloud. He didn’t want to talk with anyone right now, not even the woman who’d been his friend since childhood. While many in Good Hope considered Eliza prickly and difficult to deal with, she had a good heart.
Fin slanted a glance at him. “Is that Eliza’s Subaru?”
“Yes, it is.”
After parking the car in the carriage house, instead of going in through the back door, he rounded the house to the front, Fin still holding the bag she’d refused to let him carry.
Eliza sat on the porch swing but rose when he and Fin climbed the steps. As usual, she was dressed mostly in black, the fitted top accentuated by a leopard-print vest.
He saw Eliza glance briefly at the suitcase in Fin’s hand.
“I heard about the engagement.” Color rode high in Eliza’s cheeks as her gaze remained fixed on Jeremy. “And about your grandmother’s upcoming surgery. I came to offer congratulations and to see if there was anything I could do for Ruby, or for you.”
“That’s very kind of you.” Fin spoke before he could, surprising him once again.
Jeremy unlocked the door, pushed it open. “Please, come in. We can talk inside.”
They ended up in the kitchen, with Jeremy pouring them each a glass of wine.
“Read any good books lately?” Jeremy knew he was stalling and only prolonging the inevitable, but the thought of ending the friendship he’d enjoyed since childhood pained him.
“I just finished a nonfiction book on organizational management.” Eliza took a sip of wine and studied him over the rim. “Later tonight, I’m treating myself with a murder mystery by a favorite author.”
Jeremy thought of the book on his bedside stand. “I’m into a thriller that has more than its share of dead bodies.”
As if sensing he still wasn’t ready to share his news, Eliza obligingly filled the silence with book talk while Fin listened without speaking.
It didn’t take long before the book conversation ran its course. Eliza cocked her head and fixed those steely gray eyes on him. “I thought Ruby refused to have the surgery. What changed?”
Jeremy took a deep breath. “She was excited when she found out Fin and I were going to get married. She—”
“Stop.” The word burst like a bullet from Fin’s mouth, startling him. “Eliza is a close friend of yours.” Fin’s unblinking green eyes met his. “She deserves the truth.”
“We agreed.” Jeremy spoke in a low tone, barely above a whisper. “Not—”
“We agreed to tell only a small inner circle the truth.” Fin gestured with her head toward Eliza, whose gaze was now sharp and assessing. “Eliza is part of your inner circle.”
“What’s going on here?” Eliza set down her glass, her focus shifting from Jeremy to Fin, then back to Jeremy.
“Tell her,” Fin urged, her voice unnaturally soft.
As Jeremy knew there was no love lost between Fin and Eliza, he was surprised by the encouragement. Yet she was right. He and Eliza had been friends since childhood. Jeremy didn’t want to deceive her. Heck, he didn’t want to deceive anyone. He prided himself on being a straight shooter.
There was a long pause as he searched for the right words. Then he took a breath and laid it out, topping off their wineglasses halfway through the telling.
Eliza cast an incredulous look in Fin’s direction. “You�
��re engaged to Xander Tillman, yet it was your idea to go along with the misunderstanding?”
“I couldn’t let Ruby die. She’s like my own grandmother. I won’t lose another person I love.” When Fin’s eyes took on a distant glow, Jeremy knew she was thinking about her mother.
Jeremy continued, then ended with the surgery scheduled for tomorrow.
Absolute silence filled the air with a kind of watchful waiting.
“Does this have anything to do with Tillman’s proposition being back on the agenda?” Instead of the anger and sharp bite so often heard in Eliza’s voice, there was only weariness.
“No. That was already decided.” Fin glanced at Jeremy, then back at Eliza. “Although while I’m in Good Hope, I will try to get you and Lynn to change your votes.”
“What about Jeremy? Do you expect him to break a tie in your favor?”
Fin’s smile disappeared under Eliza’s assessing gaze.
“That’s an insult to him. You know Jeremy as well as I do.” Fin’s steady gaze never left Eliza’s face. “He’s an honorable man. If it becomes necessary for him to break another tie, he’ll do what he thinks is in the best interest of Good Hope.”
Eliza slowly nodded her agreement.
Jeremy couldn’t believe that after all these years of sniping at each other, the two women were having a rational conversation. He sat back, took another sip of wine.
“What happens when you go back to Los Angeles?” There was puzzlement in Eliza’s voice mixed with a liberal dose of concern. “How are you going to explain the breakup?”
Before Fin could respond, Eliza’s focus shifted to him. “Your reputation will be in tatters.”
“If that’s the price I have to pay for my grandmother’s health, I’m okay with it.” Jeremy kept his voice casual and offhand, as if losing a reputation that he’d spent his life building was no big deal. “I’ll say that I couldn’t make Fin happy. That I tried but—”
“Not happening.” Fin paused, then continued, softening her tone. “I made it clear to Jeremy that I’m taking the blame. I’m not sure how quite yet, but I’ll find a way.”
Eliza inclined her head. “I believe you will.”
“Not in this lifetime.” Jeremy would have said more, but his phone rang, a jarring sound that had them all jumping.
“Is something wrong?” Eliza’s voice, often so brusque, filled with concern. “Is it your grandmother?”
Fin’s eyes were wide. “Is it the hospital?”
Glancing at the readout, Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s Kyle Kendrick. I forgot I promised to get back to him about the courthouse renovation project.”
“Don’t tell me he’s staying around longer?” Eliza’s gray eyes flashed.
Fin cocked her head. “You don’t like him?”
“He’s arrogant.” Eliza sniffed. “I’ve no use for arrogant men.”
Jeremy smiled and finally answered his ringing phone. He considered leaving the room but was comfortable where he was, so he remained seated.
“Kyle. I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you.”
Jeremy listened, conscious of both women’s eyes on him. “I verified the contract will be ready for you to sign on Monday morning.”
They talked for a few minutes longer before Jeremy clicked off. “He seems like a nice enough guy.”
Eliza dismissed Kyle with a flick of her wrist. “Listen, I know you’ve had a busy day, and tomorrow will likely be worse, but before I leave, I’d like to discuss some business with you.”
Fin pushed back her chair and stood. “I’ll go up—”
“You don’t have to leave,” Eliza told her. “You might even have some thoughts on this.”
Clearly intrigued, Fin sat down.
“In three weeks, Rakes Farm is set to host a Your Wish Fulfilled Christmas event for Mindy Vaughn, a seven-year-old suffering from a brain tumor.” Eliza’s voice remained even, but Jeremy saw her fingers tighten around the wineglass.
“Is that Owen Vaughn’s daughter?” Fin slanted a look at Jeremy. He’d played football with Owen in high school.
“Yes. She’s a real spitfire. She reminds me of Grandma Ruby.” The smile that had lifted his lips faded as he recalled the last year of treatments she’d undergone.
“Anyway,” Eliza continued, “Mindy loves Christmas, and she wants the holiday to come early.”
The child had wished for Christmas. Fin found herself idly wondering what she’d wish for, but it had been a long time since she’d allowed herself to wish for anything. Wishing led to disappointment.
“Since she might not make it to December . . .” Eliza paused to clear her throat. When she spoke, her voice was even and under control. “Your Wish Fulfilled, with help from the rotary and the Cherries, will do a Twelve Days of Christmas. It will begin with events at Mindy’s home, culminating on day twelve with a big party in the barn and sledding down—”
“Sledding?” Fin interrupted. “It’s summer.”
“Snow machine,” Jeremy tossed in. “The white stuff won’t last long, but it’ll be here.”
“The Cherries will assist with the sledding, the caroling, and the rest of the barn events, but I got to thinking . . .” Eliza paused for a moment, as if gathering her thoughts. “What if we helped take it bigger? Got the whole town involved? The businesses could put up their lights and we could toss in a few of the Twelve Nights events. I know it’d be extra work, but . . .”
“I think it’s a fabulous idea.” Fin glanced at Jeremy.
Jeremy understood immediately why Eliza was concerned. “You’re worried all this Christmas hoopla might look odd now that the proposition is back on the agenda, like we’re trying to show the town what they’d miss if we skipped the Christmas festivities this year?”
Eliza nodded. “Conversely, it might also appear as if we’re doing it so we can assure people they’ve already had their taste of Christmas this year.”
Fin gave a snort of disgust. “Who cares how it looks or appears?”
“Said the woman who’s engaged to one man while pretending to be engaged to another.”
When Fin shot her a sharp look, Eliza only grinned.
“I’m just saying.” Fin smiled sweetly. “If you go ahead with the plan, I’ll be happy to do whatever I can while I’m here at the farm.”
“You’re living here?” Eliza raised a brow.
“Since when?” Jeremy asked.
“Once Ruby is released, I plan to stay here to help with her care until she’s stronger.” Fin smiled at Jeremy. “We hadn’t talked about this yet, but it makes sense.”
“You’re going to have your hands full with this one,” Eliza told Jeremy, then turned back to Fin. “I accept your offer. Katie Ruth is the Your Wish Fulfilled rep for this area. You can help her coordinate events at the farm. I’ll handle the downtown decorating.”
“Sounds like you two have it all planned out.” Jeremy pushed back his chair and rose.
“It’s a good start. And it’s time for me to go.” Eliza moved to Jeremy, then gave him a swift, hard hug. “Thanks for trusting me with the truth.”
Jeremy glanced at Fin for a second, then let his gaze linger on Eliza. “How could I not? You’re my inner circle.”
“I’ll walk you to the door.” Fin waited until she and Eliza were out of earshot before she stopped, gripping Eliza’s arm. “You have my word I won’t hurt him. Not again.”
Eliza studied her for a long moment. “I think you believe that. No, I know you believe it. And I hope to God you don’t hurt him. But I learned a long time ago that sometimes a person can be hurt despite the best of intentions.”
Chapter Seven
Jeremy watched Fin key something into her phone, then hit Send. It wasn’t that he was nosy; staring at her simply beat pacing or casting another look at the surgical waiting room clock. The hands of which had moved at a snail’s pace all afternoon.
Fin looked up, caught him staring, and smiled sheepishly.
“The way you were concentrating, it looked as if you were transmitting the nuclear codes.”
“Hardly that.” Fin waved a dismissive hand. “I was just texting Xander my daily update.”
Since the update undoubtedly involved him, Jeremy was blunt. “What did you tell him?”
“I told him I checked the city website and confirmed his proposition is on the September fifteenth agenda. I also mentioned that you are actively soliciting opinions of business owners.” She paused, as if seeing the question in his eyes. “I saw no reason to relay last night’s conversation with Mavis and her strong feelings against the measure.”
“Probably for the best.” Not able to sit another second, Jeremy pulled to his feet and began to pace. “Why can’t someone stop in and tell us how she’s doing? I don’t think wanting regular updates is asking too much.”
“I wish they could.” Fin chewed on her bottom lip. “But I bet everyone in the operating room is pretty busy.”
Jeremy paused near the window and tried to ignore the frisson of fear snaking up his spine. “The doctor said it could take three to six hours. It’s been nearly three.”
“No news is good news.” Fin studied him, her eyes dark as jade. Though she appeared calm, the way she was shredding the tissue in her hand told Jeremy he wasn’t the only one on edge. “I hate hospitals.”
“I never did before,” Jeremy muttered. “But I do now.”
“We could play cards?” Fin suggested. “It might make the time go faster. God knows it can’t go any slower.”
Jeremy glanced around. Several families were gathered on the other side of the spacious room, visiting in hushed tones. The solemn atmosphere reminded him of a funeral. He swallowed against the baseball that had become lodged in his throat.
As Fin gazed expectantly at him, he cleared his throat, then did it once again before speaking. “One problem. No cards.”
“I have that covered.” Fin opened her bag. “Marigold dropped a deck into my purse at Ami’s the other night. She said something about hoping I’d find a use for them.”