Trapped in Tourist Town

by Jennifer DeCuir

  • • •

  “Hey, if it ain’t Gladys.” Old Man Feeney slapped the counter at his own joke.

  Cady tried to pretend she wasn’t paying attention, as she took someone’s order in the corner.

  “How’s it going? It’s Burke, by the way. Nice to meet you.” Bold move. She watched him walk up to the old man and stick his hand out. Clearly shocked, Feeney returned the handshake out of habit, too stunned to come up with a smart-alecky reply.

  Burke’s eyes swept the tiny space behind the counter and she was pleased to notice he must have been looking for her. Enjoying the fact that she had the element of surprise, she stepped up behind him and tapped his shoulder.

  “Boo.” She grinned.

  “I’m ready to order,” was his curt reply.

  Ouch. Ego bruised, Cady shrugged and slipped between the glass pastry case and the counter. Maybe she had read him wrong and the spark she’d sensed was completely one-sided. She’d be lying if she didn’t admit to being disappointed. It could have been a very interesting summer. But since that’s all it would have been, this was just as well. She mustered a smile.

  “Soy latte?”

  “With an extra shot. Two pumps of hazelnut. Sugar-free, if you’ve got it.”

  Cady nodded, her humor restored as she realized her peanut gallery was following their conversation. Following and not understanding a word, from the looks on their dumbfounded faces. She waggled her fingers at the men, scrunching her nose up and shooting them a smirk.

  Mr. Cranky Pants wandered off to wait for his drink. He definitely wasn’t in the mood to chat. Too bad. They hadn’t firmed up their working relationship. She’d thought up some ideas for his magazine series and wanted to run them by him. Pouring Burke’s latte into a large stoneware mug, she carried it to an empty table and waved him over.

  “Where’s my to-go cup?” He scowled.

  “Oh, relax. It won’t kill you to spend a little time with other human beings for a change.” She shrugged an apology when it appeared she’d struck a nerve. “I know. I’m pulling you out of your comfort zone. Get used to it. It’s what I do.”

  Grumbling, he yanked out a chair and sat down. Fixing her with an “Are you happy?” look he picked up the mug with two hands and took a long sip. If there was such a thing as a mood meter that could be read on a person’s face, Cady saw the dial on Burke’s change from angry red to a serene blue with just that one sip.

  Satisfied that he wasn’t going to bolt the second her back was turned, she grabbed the pot of plain ol’ Joe and topped off the old men who had temporarily gone back to their own business. Heating up a cinnamon bun, she slipped it on a plate, grabbed herself a diet soda, and carried both to Burke’s table.

  “What’s this?”

  “Sometimes when people are cranky it’s because they have low blood sugar.” She leveled him with a look. Ignoring the fork she’d placed in front of him, he snatched up the sticky bun and took a giant bite.

  “Better?”

  “Much.”

  She popped the top on her can and took a few swallows before noticing his peculiar stare.

  “What?” She swiped a hand across the back of her mouth. Did she have something on her face?

  “You run a bakery with a fancy-ass espresso machine and regular drip coffee up the wazoo. Why the hell would you drink soda?”

  “Truth?” Cady’s expression was sheepish. “I hate coffee. Well, that’s not true. I love the smell of it. I love brewing it and making my espresso drinks. But I have never acquired a taste for coffee. Uck!” She shuddered.

  Laughter bubbled up from somewhere deep inside the man, genuine amusement. No matter that it was directed at her. The sound made her feel good. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

  She shrugged. “All the more for everyone else.”

  Burke set his half-eaten pastry back on the plate. Cady swiped a finger through the icing and brought it to her lips. Her eyes widened at the strangled sound coming from his throat. He was staring at the finger in her mouth. He looked—hungry. She swallowed hard, suddenly finding it hard to breathe.

  Time for a little redirection.

  “I’ve been trying to come up with some outside-the-box ideas for your articles.”

  “No, this isn’t going to work. I need to do this assignment on my own if I have any hope of getting it turned in on time.” Burke pushed his plate to the center of the table, all the while shaking his head vigorously back and forth. His lips were set in a hard line.

  Panicked, she reached for his hand across the table and squeezed. The quiet murmuring that had been friendly conversation just moments before was now deathly silent. Apparently theirs wasn’t to be a private conversation, as the entire bakery strained to listen in. Closing her eyes, Cady pushed her temper down before she completely lost it. Taking a deep breath, she caught Burke’s eye and spoke softly.

  “You see why I need to get out of this town?” She raised her voice. “In the city, people mind their own business!”

  She stood up, sweeping her arms out in front of her.

  “Okay, gentlemen, it’s time to start your days. Get a life. Find somewhere else to perch.”

  “Aw, but the soaps are on.” Earl Duffy whined.

  “And this is one of my favorite episodes,” added Tony, a retired school bus driver.

  “Out.” Arching a brow, she sent them all a look that had them scrambling from their stools and shuffling toward the door.

  “I’m telling Logan you kicked us out. He’s not going to be happy,” said Old Man Feeney, the biggest grouch in the bunch.

  “You feel the need to tattle that strongly, you go right ahead.” Cady hoped to heck he was bluffing. She didn’t need any trouble with Mr. Logan when she was so close to having enough money to finally quit this job.

  When the last man had left and the jangling of the bell over the door had receded, she turned to find that Burke was still sitting at the table, nursing his latte. He stared into the bottom of the mug, the corners of his mouth pulled down. He certainly was a man of mercurial mood changes. In someone else she might find that annoying. In Burke, she looked at it as a challenge.

  “Ah, peace at last.” She turned her chair around backwards and straddled it.

  “You going to get in trouble?” He still refused to look up.

  “Oh, please!” Okay, yeah, probably—but she’d deal with that when it happened.

  “I meant it, Cady. I can’t do this. I don’t mix business and pleasure.” Chagrined, he rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. “Jesus, that came out corny, but you know what I mean.”

  “It doesn’t have to get complicated. We stick to business. Look, I’ve been thinking of some locations we should scout.” She tugged a napkin from the dispenser on the table and pulled a stubby pencil from behind her ear. Distract him with facts. Gloss over the attraction kindling between them.

  The next half hour was spent kicking around ideas. Cady tried to tamp down the pleasure that came with knowing she’d been able to put another smile on that handsome face. Yeah, they could totally do this.

  “Fine. I’ll consider a trial run. Meet me later this afternoon, somewhere ... public.” He averted his eyes, and she watched his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat.

  “How about the library? The children’s section is quieter after about four thirty. We won’t be disturbed there.”

  This time he spun his emerald gaze toward her and stared hard.

  “What? We’ll have a chaperone. Hello? Librarian?” Cady stood up and cleared the table before Burke could come up with an excuse to get out of their meeting.

  He headed for the door, then paused.

  “Thank you for the cinnamon roll.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “You are going to drive me completely insane. You know that, don’t you?”

  “Probably.”

  He shook his head slowly before turning away and leaving the bakery. She hurried to the w
indow to admire the view. Burke might not be able to mix business with pleasure, but Cady was all for it.

  Chapter 4

  Her nose twitched as it always did when Cady entered the bright, antiseptic lobby of Kittredge Manor, Scallop Shores’s only nursing home. Today was her day to coordinate activities in the game room. She peered down the long hallway, smiling and waving at the residents, some in wheelchairs and others leaning on walkers. Her great-aunt was not among this group. Cady ventured toward the game room, knowing Auntie liked to spend as little time in her bed as possible. Cady peeked her head around the door frame.

  “Cadence Elizabeth Eaton, I hear you are getting up to no good with that new city boy. Hoping this one will sweep you away to his castle overlooking Central Park?” Cady’s great-aunt and namesake patted the couch cushion beside her. Cady hurried over, drawing the old woman into a tight hug as she sat down.

  If that question had come from anyone else, she would have taken offense. She knew her aunt was joking. The two women often talked about Cady’s future. The image of a man coming in to sweep her off her feet was laughable. The whole point of moving to the city was to live on her own. She didn’t need a man to rescue her from Scallop Shores. She just needed cash. And no, she reassured herself, Burke was not rescuing her by taking her on as his assistant. He was helping her stick to the timeline she’d set for herself. Yeah, that was it.

  “News travels too damned quick around here, Auntie. Who told you? Old Man Feeney?”

  “That old geezer? Please!” Aunt Cadence waved away the question as she would a hovering fly. “That pretty young nurse ... What’s her name? Tina? Her mother saw you and Romeo down at the beach. Lois, one of the part-time girls at Kayla’s Kut and Kurl, filled her in on who he was.”

  Even though she’d lived in Scallop Shores all her life, it was times like this that could really make Cady’s head spin.

  “That is just amazing. The poor man isn’t in town a full twenty-four hours and there is a surveillance team monitoring his every move. Tell me, Auntie, how’s his credit history? Any bounced checks?”

  “I can think of a better question to be asking. Like, is he married?”

  “Oh my gosh! Is he? What have you heard?”

  “Gotcha!” Cady’s aunt chortled happily, slapping her knee with a palsied hand. “Well. From the look on your face, this is one young man I want to meet. He seems to have made an impression on you. And as the men in this town have learned, that is one hard thing to do.”

  “Come off it. It’s not as if I care. I was curious, that’s all. We’re going to be working together and I thought I ought to know a bit more about him.”

  Cady shrugged off the suggestion that she had a vested interest in Burke’s marital status. She went on to explain to her aunt why he was in town. Excitedly, she filled the older woman in on the places she intended to take him. She told her about how the magazine wanted to do a whole series on Scallop Shores.

  “It’s going to be fun. He said he might even stay until October. He could get a feel for how the tourist season winds down. I can show him how the summer tourists differ from the ‘leaf peepers.’” She bounced in place. “Ooh, maybe we could do the Haunted Hayride!”

  “Sounds like you’ve planned out his whole summer—and then some.” Cadence arched a bushy white brow.

  “I told you. He’s paying me. I’ll save every bit of it. Then when autumn comes ...” She smiled inwardly.

  “You’ll ride off into the sunset together.”

  “No, I was going to say that when autumn comes, I’d move to the city. He may not even be there. He’s a travel writer, after all. He could be on to his next assignment by then. Besides, I’ll be busy settling in to the city.” Didn’t mean she couldn’t pick his brain while she had this amazing opportunity. Cady looked forward to learning what Burke's life in the city was like.

  “You’re going to have such an exciting time. Some people might see the hustle and bustle as chaotic, overwhelming, but you will do just fine. I know you’ve got big plans inside you. I can’t wait to see what you do with them.”

  Big plans. Like running her own coffee shop. There was plenty of time for that. She was only twenty-six, after all. She’d be happy to get a job as a barista and save the monumental dreams for later, when she’d had a few years of city life under her belt, and the confidence and experience that would surely come with it.

  Cady threw her arms around her aunt and pulled her close. She closed her eyes and sighed, breathing in the scent of the lilac perfume Auntie always wore.. She loved lilacs and would always associate her favorite flower with her favorite relative. It was said that smells triggered memories and Cady would wholeheartedly agree. The smell of lilacs made her think of baking cookies in Auntie’s kitchen when she was just a few years old. Her aunt had been the one to teach her to bake. She had used Auntie’s morning glory muffin recipe just that morning. It had been the first flavor to sell out.

  “Okay, enough chit-chat. I’m supposed to be winding you all up so you go to bed like good boys and girls tonight.”

  “No more Bingo! That game’s for old farts.” An elderly gentleman scowled at Cady from his perch in the corner.

  Gerald Potter. She didn’t blame him for being cranky. The man’s family lived right in town and only made it over to the nursing home on Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was disgusting. Pasting on a bright smile, Cady walked up to him, crouching down so they were eye to eye.

  “You any good at Texas Hold ’Em? ’Cause I’d feel just awful if I ended up taking all your money.” She winked.

  “Raise the stakes, Missy. Strip poker. And I ain’t gonna go easy on ya. You’ll be in your skivvies in no time.”

  “Gerald! You mind your tongue, you dirty old man,” Cadence hollered from the couch. Cady nearly fell on her butt, she was laughing so hard.

  Getting up, she rummaged in the roomy storage closet and took out three card tables, scattering them around the room. Gerald wheeled himself up to the closest table, telling Cady he’d save her a spot next to him. She flashed him a thumbs-up and headed out into the hall to round up some more poker players.

  The afternoon passed quickly and Cady had to admit that there were some real card sharps in attendance. Gerald Potter was definitely one of them. He was such a character. She really looked forward to the time she spent volunteering at Kittredge Manor.

  “Hey, Cady, you’re still here? We could use some help getting everyone down to dinner if you aren’t too busy.” One of the nurses had bustled in to break up the poker tournament.

  Wait a minute! Surely it couldn’t be dinnertime already.

  “What time is it?”

  “Going on five thirty.”

  Oh, crap! She was an hour late for her meeting with Burke. Way to show what a responsible assistant she could be. Smacking herself on the forehead, she tugged her hair for good measure.

  “I love you, Auntie, but I am so late. I’ll see you in a few days.” She gave the old woman a hug, blew a kiss to Gerald, and hoped she had a prayer of finding Burke still waiting for her at the library.

  Her brother, the cop, would have thrown her in jail if he’d caught her speeding through town to get to the library. Throwing open the big glass door, Cady jogged up to the second level to the children’s section. She looked around wildly. There was no sign of Burke.

  “He’s pissed.”

  Wincing, she turned to face her old friend, the head children’s librarian, Bree.

  “How long did he wait?” She scuffed toward Bree’s desk and sat down on the corner.

  “I’m not sure. Maybe an hour?”

  “I am such a jerk! I was at the nursing home. We were having a poker tournament. I completely lost track of time.”

  “You and your play dates. Really, Cady, you are such a bad influence on those poor people.”

  She wanted to laugh but felt too guilty to manage anything more than a chuckle.

  “He was so cute, too, sitting over at that litt
le bitty table. His knees were all the way up to his chin.”

  Cady followed the direction of Bree’s finger, visualizing Burke folded into a chair built for a preschooler. If it were possible to feel worse, now she did.

  “I’ll catch you later, Bree. I need to go bake up a batch of ‘I’m-sorry-I’m-such-a-bonehead’ brownies. And maybe some cookies.”

  “A pie wouldn’t be a bad idea too.” Bree lowered her eyes, a smile lurking at the corners of her mouth.

  “A pie too, then.” She started to compile a grocery list in her head as she walked to the library exit.

  It was going to be a long night.

  • • •

  His fantastic view of the ocean went unappreciated as Burke glowered into the bottom of his third crappy cup of coffee. He’d been up since dawn. He had hoped to run off his anger on the beach, but coming back to the cottage and standing under the lukewarm shower spray, he found himself snarling under his breath.

  It was just a huge reminder that Cady wasn’t his type. He shouldn’t be counting on a townie for anything. He was here to do a job and as soon as he finished, he’d be off to the next assignment. So what if she’d actually made him feel excited about this series for the first time since it had been handed to him? She hated Scallop Shores. She’d probably just decided there were limits to what she’d do to earn enough money to get to New York City.

  Burke brought his coffee mug up to his lips and swore when nothing came out. Now he was angry with Cady, angry with his editor, angry with himself for running out of coffee. The list was getting longer as the morning went on. He shoved the cup aside and went back to constructing notes about possible town landmarks to visit.

  He scratched off the last two he’d added, ripping the entire page from the notebook for good measure. Wadding it in a ball, he tossed it toward the garbage can in the corner. It bounced off the rim and landed on the floor. Of course.

  A fresh page stared back at him, the promise of something new and exciting. Burke resisted the urge to lean down and take a whiff. Something about a new notebook, new writing supplies of any kind, really. He knew he’d probably been the only kid in school who looked forward to back-to-school shopping. His nanny had always taken him. His own parents couldn’t be bothered with the actual raising of their son.