“Grace was the only one in town that would give Tami a job after she broke up Edie and Mel’s marriage. Remember she was Mel’s assistant before she worked for Grace.”
“I remember.”
“And the girl Grace hired before that, remember how she stole money from the till and just took off?” Pansy sighed. “Poor Grace. She’s too kind for her own good. Someone really needs to watch out for that girl.”
Riley had always thought Steve did a poor job of watching out for Grace. Now he wouldn’t be there for her at all. He pushed away the notion. She still had her family. Not that they were doing the greatest job either. They hadn’t been able to save Grace from being left at the altar.
“What was it you came in here for?”
Riley dragged his mind back to the situation at hand. “Tissues. I wanted a new box of tissues for Grace.”
Pansy shook her head as she crossed to the supply closet. “That poor girl, crying her eyes out over some worthless man. It’s too bad she didn’t choose more wisely.”
Why had Grace chosen Steve? They’d been dating on and off for years, breaking up one week and back together the next. If their dating life was that unstable, how had she ever thought they could keep a marriage going?
“You’d better get back to her now, Riley.” She held out the box of tissues for him.
“Huh? Oh yeah. See you later.” He grabbed the tissues and turned to go. As he was leaving he noticed the peculiar smile Pansy gave him, but he didn’t have time to consider what that was about.
****
Grace told herself for what seemed like the hundredth time that she wasn’t going to cry anymore. She was angry at herself for making such a spectacle. She preferred to be behind the scenes, not in the spotlight. Today, though, she had actually wanted to be the star of the show—but because she was getting married, not because she’d been left at the altar. Getting married and eventually starting a family meant more to her than anything—even her business.
Her mind went back to earlier in the day. Riley had knocked on the door of the dressing room. When Lily had affirmed that they were all dressed he came in. The first thing he did was to send everyone else out of the room. Then he came over to her and took her hands.
“We need to talk.”
“About what, Riley? For the last time, you can’t come to Hawaii with us.” She felt her smile begin to evaporate when Riley didn’t react to her joke. The look in his eyes set her heart pounding. Something was very, very wrong.
“Gracie, he’s not coming.”
“Who’s not coming?”
Riley seemed to be having a hard time getting the words out. “Steve just called me. He isn’t coming.”
“Is he sick?”
Riley released her hands and walked a few steps away. She couldn’t see his face anymore and that frightened her. “He called from the airport. He’s…he’s decided he doesn’t want to get married.”
It took a few moments for his words to sink in. “I’ll just use the other ticket and go after him. He doesn’t mean this.”
Riley turned back to her, but didn’t say anything. She could tell by the look on his face that there was more. She waited.
“The other ticket is being used.”
“Used? By who?” By his expression she knew he was about to hurt her again, and he was dreading it. “Just tell me, Riley. Get it over with.”
“Tami is with him.” His words fell like stones, pounding into her heart.
“Oh. I see.” Her brain wanted to reject his words, but Riley would never lie to her. She could see how hard it was just for him to tell her about Steve’s defection. “Riley, I just need a moment alone.”
When he left, Grace began to think about all the people waiting for her in the church. How could she face them? They were all family and friends and seeing the pity in their faces was more than she could bear. Grace took the coward’s way out. She locked herself in the bathroom. No amount of reasoning, pleading or threats could make her come out. Finally, she had agreed to let Riley in.
And now, an hour or so later, she was still sitting here, trying to make herself stop crying. “God,” she prayed, “why did you make hearts so fragile? You must have known that we would break them.”
****
Riley hurried along the hall and back into the ladies room. He had the new box of tissues tucked under his arm. Stopping to talk to Mrs. Parker had delayed him, and he was impatient to see if Grace was all right. He didn’t stop to knock, but walked right in. “Gracie, I think you can come out now. It’s looking pretty bare in—” He stopped in his tracks. Grace had taken off her wedding dress and was wearing only her slip—which actually covered quite a lot, but just the idea—Riley gulped. “I guess I’ll wait for you outside.” He backed out as fast as he could and slammed the door behind him.
“How’s Grace?” Riley almost jumped through the roof at the sound of his brother Ian’s voice coming from behind him.
“What are you still doing here?” Riley was almost shouting.
“Well, I wasn’t lurking around the ladies’ room at least.” Ian smirked, and then his eyes changed from teasing to serious. “But really, I wanted to make sure you didn’t need any help with Grace.”
“No, I don’t need any help with Gracie. She’s going to be fine.” Then, to get back at him for the comment about lurking, Riley added, “And Lily has already left the building, so there’s no reason for you to stay behind, either.”
“Lily? What does she have to do with anything?” Ian tried to act nonchalant, but a tell-tale redness crept up on his neck. Ian and Riley looked a lot alike. Both had red hair, green eyes and a tendency to blush when embarrassed or trying to lie.
“Nothing.” Any other time, Riley would have played this to the hilt, but now all he wanted to do was get rid of Ian. “Gracie won’t come out until everyone is gone, so…”
“All right, all right,” Ian conceded. “I’m going. But Riley—”
“I know, I know. I’ll call if Gracie needs anything.”
Once Ian ambled off, Riley took a deep breath. And thought about Gracie.
“Okay, Riley,” he told himself, “get a grip. You’ve seen her wear less at the beach.”
“Of course,” a little voice—a traitorous little voice—deep inside him whispered, “she wasn’t available then.”
Steve and Gracie and Riley had been friends since grade school. Steve and Gracie had been dating on and off since high school. Gracie had always been strictly off limits. Even in those periods when she and Steve weren’t dating, Riley had never asked her out because he would have felt as if he were betraying Steve.
But now…
No, no, no. She’d just been left at the altar and totally humiliated by her fiancé. How could he even be thinking about this now? It would take time before Gracie was ready to start a new relationship.
“Okay, I’m ready now,” said Grace, coming out of the ladies room, dressed in jeans and an old shirt, carrying her dress bag over her arm. “Sorry about that. I thought I’d have plenty of time to change before you came back.”
Riley could feel the heat creeping up his cheeks and knew his face was turning as red as his hair. “No big deal,” he said, hoping he sounded unaffected. Inside his head, that little voice had become a loud voice, and it was screaming, “Big deal! Very big deal!”
“Do you want to change before we go?”
“Sure,” said Riley. “I’ll make it quick.” He ducked into the men’s room, glad to be back on familiar ground. No flowers, no ruffles and definitely no potpourri.
TITLE
Chapter Two
The town of Orchard Hill was actually a valley. The name came from the apple orchard at the top of the hill overlooking the town. No one complained about the inaccuracy. It was a nice name for a town.
On Monday morning Riley drove to work. He thought he could drive the route blindfolded if he had to. He’d spent almost every day of his adult life at O’Neil’s Handy Hardw
are and many of his childhood days, too, “helping” his dad. He turned onto Blossom Street and drove by the old fashioned town square with a park, police station, library and community building. Next came the downtown shops—Apple Blossom Realty, the Green Scene Natural Food Store, Gilding by Lily Beauty Shop, The Grace Place and finally his family’s store. He pulled around and parked in the back.
Before opening the store, he walked over, as usual, to The Grace Place. Riley knew that making coffee at home and putting it in his travel mug would have been a lot cheaper than buying it here every day. But he enjoyed stopping and seeing Grace each morning before walking back down the street to O’Neil’s Handy Hardware and opening up.
Today, he wouldn’t see Grace though. She was on vacation. Certainly not the one she’d planned, but he supposed she’d need some time off to recover from the emotional devastation of the weekend. Maybe he’d call her later and see how she was doing.
“Hi Jeff,” he called to the real estate agent from across the street. He was new in town, but already Riley liked him. Jeff was leaving the coffee shop as Riley was going in. “How’s it going?”
“Not bad. How are things with you?”
“I’m here, aren’t I? That’s about the best I can expect for a Monday.”
Jeff laughed as he slipped out the door with his to-go cup.
The Grace Place not only had excellent coffee, they also sold tea, smoothies and soft drinks. In the morning there were donuts and pastries and in the afternoon they served soups and sandwiches. To one side of the shop there was an area displaying cards and ‘gifts,’ which he thought of as useless junk, but his mother and sisters loved it, so Riley supposed Grace knew what she was doing.
He was taking out his wallet and not looking as he walked up to the counter. The sound of her voice surprised him.
“Hi, Riley. The usual?”
He snapped his head around. “Gracie? What are you doing here?”
She grinned at him. “It’s my place. It says so on the door.”
“You’re supposed to be on vacation.”
Her smile faded. “Yeah, funny thing, that didn’t quite work out.”
“I know that, but you should still take the time off.”
“I would,” she said flatly. “But I happen to be short one waitress.”
Ouch. He hadn’t thought of that.
She leaned over the counter. “Tell you what, your coffee’s on the house today. Do you have time to talk to me for a minute?”
He really didn’t. There were things he needed to do before the store opened. And he could see Iris Covey sitting in her car by the curb. Riley knew she was waiting for him to open so she could buy her bulk birdseed and take it out to the nursing home, where she filled the feeders for the residents every week.
“I can talk for a minute,” he conceded.
She flashed him another brilliant smile as she filled his travel mug. “Thanks.”
“What do you need?”
Her smile faded again. “I need to know what happened.”
“What do you mean?”
Grace looked out the window, avoiding his eyes. “What happened between Steve and me? Where did it go wrong? Did you know he was dating Tami?”
“I knew he was acting strange for the last couple of weeks or so, but I thought it was just pre-wedding jitters.”
“Has he ever done this before?”
Riley didn’t want to answer that one. “Rehashing ancient history won’t help any.”
“C’mon Riley. I need to know.”
By the look in her eyes he knew she was serious. She’d never let it drop until he told her. “Okay, Gracie. Since you insist, yes, I do know of one other time. But that was a long time ago, when you were away at college and you guys were fighting.”
“Is that the time when he showed up at my dorm in the middle of the night with flowers and a black eye?”
“Ye…I mean how would I know?”
“Did you give him that black eye?”
Riley hunched his shoulders and stared into his coffee.
“You can tell me. It was a long time ago, right?”
“All right, yes, I gave him the black eye, the money for the flowers and a ride to your campus.”
Grace reached out and pushed his hair out of his eyes. “You always look out for me, Riley. You’re like a big brother.”
That was the last thing he wanted to hear. He snapped the cover onto the travel mug. “I’ve got to go Grace. And you should go home and take some time off.”
“Sorry, I can’t do that. Remember, I need a waitress. I’m going to put an ad in the paper today. I should be able to start interviewing by the end of the week, I hope.”
He remembered the last two waitresses that Grace had hired. One stole her money and the other stole her fiancé. “I’ll find you a waitress before tomorrow,” he blurted. Why did he say that? How was he going to do that?
“How are you going to do that?” demanded Grace.
“See you tomorrow,” was all he said as he headed for the door.
****
Grace watched Riley walk out, wondering what he was so upset about. She didn’t see Lily until she was at the counter.
She smiled that little half smile that Grace knew so well. “I know you probably don’t want me to ask, but are you okay?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Grace replied, glad to see her friend, even if it meant bringing up Saturday’s disaster. “If I keep busy I don’t have to think about it too much.”
“I know what you mean. Starting my own business was great therapy after the divorce.” Lily was the owner of Gilding by Lily. She reached across the counter and squeezed Grace’s hand. “In a way you were lucky, honey. You found out before you were married to him. It could have been worse. Take it from me; we’re better off without men.”
Grace managed a small smile in return. “Not that you’re bitter or anything.” She wished her friend could move beyond her own disaster. She’d never liked Lily’s husband and wasn’t surprised when the marriage didn’t work.
She laughed, but to Grace it sounded hollow. “No, not me. Now how about some coffee?” She gave her order and Grace made it up in a to-go carton. She slipped a pastry into a bag and handed it to Lily.
“What’s this?”
“Thanks for caring. I should have given one to Riley, too, but he left so quickly.”
“If only they all would,” quipped Lily. Then she made a face. “Okay, I know that one was bad, even for me. Have a good day, Grace. Call me if you need anything.”
****
Riley was a firm believer in the value of nepotism, so it was fortunate for him that he had a large extended family. He spent the better part of the morning reviewing the family roster when he should have been restocking shelves, paying bills, filing invoices or any of a number of other things that always needed doing at the store.
Finally, he thought he had the perfect candidate for waitress at Gracie’s shop. He called his cousin Judy and asked about her daughter Vanessa.
“Is this about the Sunday School Christmas program?” Judy immediately asked when she heard his voice on the phone. “Because if it is, I’ve done my share. I’ve sewn enough costumes from old curtains to clothe an army.”
“I’m not involved in the program this year,” he assured her. “I’m calling about Vanessa. Is she still looking for a job?”
“I think looking is too strong a word. It implies some action on her part.”
Riley chuckled. Vanessa had quit college a few months ago and had come home to drive her mother insane with her lack of interest in doing anything with her life. “She’s just going through a rough patch, Judy. She’ll come out all right.”
“I hope you’re right.” Judy sighed. “National Honor Society, head of the debate team, captain of the math team, and then what? College drop out. Never have kids, Riley. They just break your heart.”
“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“So, you said som
ething about a job. Do you want Vanessa to work at the store?”
“No, actually a friend has an opening at her shop.” Riley explained about Gracie needing a waitress.
“She’ll take it. What time should she be there? She doesn’t usually get up before the crack of noon these days.”
“Actually, she’d have to be at Gracie’s by six tomorrow morning. Do you think she can handle that?”
“I’ll make sure she’s there and ready to work if I have to give her coffee intravenously,” Judy promised.
Orchard Hill Volume One Page 2