by Grace Palmer
“Hey, Rach. What's this?”
“Sales contract, of course. You did pass basic reading in school, didn't you? I think that was required even for superstar baseball players.” She grinned at him, clearly pleased with her burn.
“Yeah, I can read. Unlike your brother. But what am I supposed to do with these? I don't do filing. We've got Sandy for that. You know, the receptionist who, like… files contracts?”
Rachel rolled her eyes at him. “She's off today. Henderson said to give them to you to record them properly and then file them. Also, make sure that all the sales are entered in the internal system correctly. I'll leave you to it, sport.”
She winked and then left. He looked at the stack of papers before him and groaned.
More paper pushing. Just what the doctor ordered.
He started up the computer which had gone into sleep mode and leaned back. Drew closed his eyes and once again thought back to that fateful afternoon on Lake Wylie with Mr. Pearson.
Why had he not pushed back harder? Why hadn't he stood up for himself more? And why hadn’t he told Mr. Pearson that he didn't need his blessing to marry his daughter?
What year was this anyway, 1812? He didn’t need her father’s permission to marry Ashley. He could just take her down to the courthouse this very afternoon and put a ring on her finger and there wasn't anything her dad could do about it.
Except he also knew that Ashley would never go for that. She was too much a Southern girl at heart to break with tradition in such a way. In fact, he had that very conversation with Alma Anderson down at The Duke, a few days after Mr. Pearson broke his heart.
Alma had laid it out clearly: no self-respecting Southern girl was going to go against her father's wishes, so the best thing he could do was to give the man what he wanted. He’d applied for the job at Porter Property Management the very next day.
He sighed and glanced at the calendar. It revealed that he had worked here now for almost six months. Was that enough to convince Mr. Pearson that he was good enough to marry his daughter now? He could only hope so.
They were going to have dinner with the Pearsons as soon as they arrived in Willow Beach the following weekend. Having fallen in love with Willow Beach as much as Drew had fallen in love with their daughter, they purchased a small cottage in the center of town.
Meaning they would be spending a whole lot more time around here.
Drew wasn't quite sure if that was a good thing or not. Ashley looked forward to spending time with her sister, Emma, but was having Mr. Pearson so close by really a good thing?
Only time would tell. In the meantime, he had to make sure that he didn't get fired from this job. He opened his eyes and saw that his computer had finally loaded up.
After logging into the system, he flicked open the folder and glanced at the papers. “This is strange,” he said out loud the moment he spotted the first sales contract.
“What's strange, superstar?” Rachel asked from her cubicle across the room. He hadn't even realized that she was still there. He swiveled his chair around to better see her.
“It’s this contract. Helen Slocum sold her house.”
Rachel frowned at this. “Really? That falling down old estate on the edge of town? Across from where we’re building the new resort? I didn't even know that was still there...”
“It was, and I had no idea she was even thinking about selling.”
Rachel shrugged. “What's so strange about it? The woman must be like a hundred years old. Her husband was in his eighties when he died. She's probably shuffling off to a nursing home.” She turned then and tapping sounds announced the end of the conversation.
Drew went back to his paperwork. It got weirder the more he read. She’d sold the house under market price. Unless she had a solid retirement income, Mrs. Slocum was likely in a worse position now than she had been before selling the house.
Why would she do that? He could not wrap his head around it.
Perhaps Melanie knew more. She was out at the property frequently, attending to Mrs. Slocum small zoo of baby animals. Yeah, next time he saw his sister, he'd run it by her and see if there was something he was missing.
For now, the only thing he could do was enter the sale into the system as requested.
With a sigh, Drew leaned forward and began typing.
17
Tasha
Tasha looked at herself in the mirror and wiggled her nose. She was used to her ginger hair hanging down almost to her belly button, but it had been cut to just above her shoulders.
It looked good! Different, but good. There was a bounce to it she usually only achieved with a great amount of mousse and even more patience.
“You like it?” Tracy, her hairstylist asked.
“Love it! Can you cut the bangs a little shorter though? They’re kinda in my eyes. And then these…” She pointed at her eyebrows.
Tracy nodded. “Let me wet your bangs a bit and get that done. Then we’ll wax these babies.”
Tasha smiled and closed her eyes. Trips to the hairdresser was always a treat for her. She enjoyed being pampered, and the soft elevator music that was playing in the background always transported her into a meditative state.
Not for long, however.
“Did you see that ghastly outfit Caroline Piedmont was wearing when she opened the Walkabout?” came a shrill voice from somewhere behind her.
Tasha opened her eyes and looked in the mirror. To her surprise, she saw none other than Evelyn Barber making her way to a chair. Her hair was in a towel, having just been washed. She did not seem to notice Tasha.
“That silver number?” Hester, the lady attending to Evelyn’s hair, asked. “I thought it was rather charming. Very Snow Queen-like.”
“More like evil queen.” Evelyn shook her head. “I never would’ve worn something as ugly as that. No, I had a beautiful blue velvet pantsuit all picked out. It would have been stunning. I will never forgive that horrible Georgia Baldwin. If not for her influencing the other members of the committee, I would have been Winter Queen.”
Tasha and her stylist Tracy exchanged a silent glance, but said nothing. As Tracy continued to cut her bangs, the conversation behind them carried on, although rather one-sided. It seemed that Evelyn had talked herself into a bit of a rage.
“I have been campaigning all year to be Winter Queen. That Caroline Piedmont popped up out of nowhere two months before and decided to throw her hat in the ring. Outrageous! I already had the votes.”
“I thought the committee votes anonymously.” The woman in the seat next to Evelyn said. Evelyn’s head flew to the side and she glared at the woman who had dared question her.
“Yes, they do. Well, not everybody, anyway. It doesn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to figure who votes for who. And I had the votes. Until the Baldwin woman got involved. She helped Caroline and now look: a few days in and her reign is already in shambles. We didn’t even get to have an after-party to the Walkabout.”
“It was such a shame to hear about the inn,” Hester agreed. “I was so looking forward to the after-party. They always have the most delicious food, and most of it was catered by that Liza Pierce.”
“The new caterer in town? She makes the most delicious choux pastries,” Tracy chimed in. She was clearly uncomfortable with her client’s mother being trashed in the same room.
Hester nodded in agreement, but Evelyn Barber would not have it. “I thought it was hilarious that the party got cancelled. Served them both right. Do you know the article was written by a friend of mine? Sarah Salinger. When she told me, she was going to headline it ‘LOCAL GRINCH STEALS CHRISTMAS.’ I knew it was going to reach far and wide. And I was right.”
“Seems a little mean spirited, if you ask me. Especially with it being Christmas at all. I heard through the grapevine that the inn is losing business. That’s awful.”
Evelyn Barber scoffed. “Serves her right. In fact, Georgia Baldwin had better watch out. The way she’s going by tu
rning half the town against her, I would not be surprised if this act of vandalism was not the first in a whole series of unfortunate events.”
Tasha felt a burning rage well up inside her and she wanted nothing more than to spin around and put the woman in her place. However, she did not want to incense her further, and what she had heard so far already gave her plenty of reason to be careful.
Fortunately, she did not have to say anything because Tracy took it upon herself to ask the follow up question. “What do you mean? Surely, something like the vandalism would be a one-off event.”
Evelyn shrugged at this. “You would think. But then again, let me tell you: there were great number of people upset at the fact that the Piermont woman was made Winter Queen instead of me.”
“What are you saying? Do you know who was behind the vandalism?” Evelyn’s own hairstylist asked now.
“Of course, I don’t. I’m only saying that Georgia Baldwin might seem like a sweet old lady, but I’ve heard things. There must be a reason why her husband ran out on her the way he did. Just like that imposter of a Winter Queen. Her husband left her, too. And I dare say…”
Tasha did not hear anymore because Tracy placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I say we’ve had quite enough of this. Shall we drown her out?”
Tasha looked up at Tracy and nodded in gratitude, a furious tear welling up in the corner of her ye. “Yes, please. Before I lose my temper and commit some vandalism of my own.”
Tracy smiled and plugged the hairdryer into the outlet, and that venomous voice was drowned out by the pleasant white noise of the fan hairdryer.
Tasha sat across from Vivienne at Romano’s later on that day. Steaming white pizza set between them and her stomach rumbled. Vivienne looked at her with her eyes wide. “What a vile woman! Do you think she’s behind the vandalism?”
Tasha put another piece of pizza onto her plate and smothered ranch dressing over it. “I don’t know. She is definitely hateful, but it seems quite stupid to advertise her delight in the vandalism quite so publicly if she’s the one who’s behind it.”
“Yes, but then again, she has a reputation for being a little… well, you know,” Vivienne grimaced. When Tasha frowned, she added, “…slow on the uptake.”
“Oh, I see. Still, I have a hard time buying that she would target my mom, but not Caroline who actually took the title. Plus, it wasn’t just my mom that was against her. The vast majority of the committee was against her, as I understand.”
Vivienne tore into the pizza and closed her eyes. “Delicious,” she said with her mouth still full.
Tasha smiled. Vivienne had the appetite of an NFL player and the figure of a supermodel, even after three children.
Tasha, on the other hand, knew that she would have to hit the gym to work off all of the delicious calories before her.
“How is your mom’s business? It’s been a couple of days since the article came out. She still getting a lot of cancellations?”
Tasha shook her head. “Some. It seems to be tapering off. Since the story is not all over the Internet anymore like it was the first couple of days, it seems to be evening out.”
“That’s good news. I would hate to think of your mom losing a lot of business because of this. She paused and then frowned. “How are you and Eddie doing?”
Tasha smiled. “Better. Much better. You know I can’t even really fault him because I played along with the pranks for so long. And they were fun, but lately…”
Her friend smiled at her. “You’ve got the marriage bug, don’t you?” When Tasha protested, she shook her head. “No, don’t deny it. It’s no great surprise, either. Your mom is engaged, your sister is engaged, and I saw Drew poking around the jewelry store off of Main Street a couple of months back, so I’m sure another engagement is going to happen soon.”
“Yeah, I don’t know what happened. He’s always been so opposed to getting married, but all of a sudden… I can’t help it that every time Eddie fake proposes to me, I kind of wish it was real.”
“So, tell him! How is the man to know if you don’t tell him?”
Tasha shook her head. Eddie was staunchly against marriage; she knew that. Being a child who had grown up in two separate homes due to his parents’ divorce, he’d always vowed to never get married or have children.
And until recently, Tasha agreed with that.
“If ever he finds it in himself to want to propose, I’ll say yes. But in the meantime, I don’t really want to rock the boat. Things have been great and I let them get weird because of the whole marriage issue. I don’t want that to happen again.”
Vivienne flashed an encouraging smile at her. “Well, you never know what time will bring. Jordyn was dead set against getting married when we first got together, and now look at us: three kids later and he’s already wanting to try for a fourth!”
“So soon?” Tasha shook her head. “Although I can already imagine that happening.”
The two friends giggled and then Viv picked up her sparkling water, which she had asked to be served in a champagne glass. “Let us toast.”
Tasha reached for her glass, hers containing actual white wine.
“To the things we cannot foresee. And to friendships that will last a lifetime.”
“Ooh, that’s a good one.” Vivienne winked as they clinked glasses before settling back into a relaxing dinner.
Tasha smiled to herself. This evening was exactly what she had needed.
18
Melanie
“I really appreciate you taking me to the hospital, Ashley,” Melanie said as she got into Ashley’s little sedan.
“No worries. It’s really not out of the way for me, anyway. And besides, I wouldn’t mind checking in on Colin as well. We might not be the best of friends, but I’d like to show my support anyway.”
Melanie nodded and shut the passenger side door. It had been two days now since her visit to Helen Slocum’s little patch of land. And the woman’s mention of Alfie still rattled her.
She was not quite sure if she should mention it to her mother or not. Over the past few days, more and more guests had cancelled their reservations and almost all of her current guests had departed. With Joel and Sam’s help, security cameras were currently being installed at the inn, but as of yet, there was no sign of the person responsible for the chaos.
“When do you think he might come out of the hospital?” Ashley interrupted her thoughts.
Melanie shrugged. “I’m really hoping in the next couple of days. The surgery went well, so it really shouldn’t be too much longer now. It’s mostly the concussion. He’s sleeping a lot, having some trouble staying awake.”
Ashley nodded. “Have you guys had a chance to talk properly yet?”
Melanie shook her head. “No, he’s been in too much pain. We might be able to today since he seems to be improving, at least according to the doctor. I’m not looking forward to telling him about Alfie’s actions over at Mrs. Slocum’s, if it really was him.”
“It seems likely. Poor lady. And she already was planning on leaving anyway. If she had doubts about selling before, the trashing of her animal’s homes surely did it.”
Melanie sighed. “To think the guy who caused this destruction also caused all the trouble between me and Colin. I just want to be able to get it all sorted out so we can move on. If that’s what he wants.”
Ashley turned left at the huge Christmas tree that lit up the town square. The Walkabout seemed like it happened months ago, rather than just a few short days.
“I totally understand wanting to move on from it, but you have to talk. You told me part of why you are so upset is because of how long it’s taking to build the house.”
Melanie nodded. The truth of the matter was that it wasn’t just the house, but what it symbolized. Their future together. It wasn’t finished and evidently, until it was, nothing in their life could move forward. She groaned and leaned back.
“Yeah
, I’m really just so tired of waiting. It’s not just the house. The wedding is on hold and… Ashley—” She gnawed her lip before gushing out the rest of her thought. “…I’m not getting any younger. I really wanted to be pregnant last year when we had that scare and I’ve never stopped thinking about it since. I guess I should’ve been more honest and told him how much I wanted a child.”
Ashley, being such a sweet thing, reached out and gently squeezed Melanie’s hand. “He knows though, doesn’t he? I mean, you talked about it.”
“We did talk about it and I know he wants to, but he’s really been taking his time. And for me… I just don’t know that I have the time to take.” She turned to Ashley and smiled. “At this rate, you and Drew will have a child before Colin and I do. Tasha and Eddie might end up having one too and they’re not even planning it!”
Ashley smiled but Melanie could tell it was forced. There was a silence between them for a moment and then Ashley turned to her. They were stopped at a red light, just around the corner from the hospital.
“Has Drew always wanted kids?” Ashley asked. Melanie leaned back against the head rest and chewed her bottom lip. Then she nodded.
“Yeah, I think so. He used to joke that he wanted a baseball team of his own.” Seeing Ashley’s horrified expression, she placed her hand on her arm. “I’m sure the number of kids would be negotiable. Have you two not discussed it at all?”
Ashley shook her head as she pulled into a parking space. “No, not really. Ever since my dad told him that we couldn’t get married until he had a proper career, we haven’t really talked about the future all that much.”
Melanie undid her seat buckle. “I am sorry. But then again, it doesn’t exactly surprise me. Drew is the kind of guy who wants to have a concrete plan ahead of him. I suppose he just doesn’t want to keep talking to you about marriage until he has a way to actually convince your father to give him his blessing.”
“I suppose so.”