November Rains (A Year in Paradise Book 11)

by Hildred Billings

  She looked at her brother and said, “Drop it. This isn’t up for discussion. I’ll figure it out on my own.”

  He held up his hands in surrender before wandering away. Now, if only Frankie had a hope in hell that she would figure this out on her own.

  Chapter 12

  ELAINE

  I’ve done it. I’ve totally blown it.

  Elaine hadn’t heard from Fran in a few days. Unheard of in the years they had known each other, save for when one went on vacation and didn’t check their phone. Except that always came with a warning. An alert that they wouldn’t be in contact for a few days, and the other shouldn’t worry.

  This was different. Elaine knew exactly what she did to make Fran cut off all contact. Hell, she had probably blocked Elaine. Can I blame her, though? She had come on pretty strong. Probably freaked Fran out with so much personal info that wasn’t meant to be shared, or at least not until Fran was ready. To top it all off, I asked her if we should meet. That had been it, hadn’t it? The cincher. The real reason they wouldn’t be talking to one another again anytime soon.

  How could Elaine have been so stupid?

  Desperation. Whenever Elaine freaked out in real life, she tended to sabotage what she had built for herself online. Recently, the only thing she had going for her on the internet was her long friendship with Fran. The closest thing she had to a mentor, too! She had been so generous with her advice. Rarely did she meet someone who could take a little info about what some other person did and turn it into golden advice. She was the one who suggested I finagle a way for outdoor seating. When Elaine had briefly described the place she was renting for her home and business, she had mentioned there was no good place for a couple of tables outside. Fran had told her to make some space, because customers loved a chance to sit outside during nice weather. “Trust me,” Fran had said. “You’ll be thanking me later.”

  Considering she usually had someone sitting outside drinking hot tea whenever the sun came out long enough…

  So stupid. How could I be so stupid? Elaine would be kicking herself until she figured out a way to grovel to the woman who kept her privacy under lock and key.

  It didn’t help that Elaine had no one to turn to in Paradise Valley. She hadn’t really made friends yet, not that she had the time in between settling into her new apartment and, oh, opening a new business. She was due to attend a mixer for newcomers at Heaven’s that Thursday night, but Elaine had to talk herself into going. After all, she had botched her longest friendship ever. What was keeping her from making a glorious wreck of every bit of personal socialization after that?

  Yet she forced herself to take a shower and change after closing up her teashop Thursday night. A whopping seven people today. Was that good? Or bad? She still wasn’t sure what to expect in the long term, but right now, the short term wasn’t looking hot. Speaking of hot, I should fixate on how hot the tea and lattes are during these cold months. She needed to up her game if she was convincing people to haul ass out of their houses and traverse the rainy streets to her teashop.

  Is it weird if I show up at the other café to make friends? Elaine had the feeling that Fran thought her an idiot for saying she wasn’t in competition with Heaven. Every time Elaine walked in, she imagined what she could incorporate into her own shop – and what set her apart from Heaven’s Café, as if that were a proper selling point. I get it now. Anyone who is hanging out here is probably also hanging out at my teashop… assuming I get their asses over there.

  “Hey!” Heaven greeted Elaine the moment she walked through the door, careful to duck her head and not trip over her feet. Elaine was a master at grand, memorable entrances if she wasn’t careful. “So glad you could make it! I’d make a joke that it’s impressive you found your way here, but I have a feeling you’re tired of those jokes already.”

  “Main Street is only about one mile long on a good day, so…”

  “It feels like two when the wind’s blowing in your face,” said a woman in a purple headscarf. She held a hand out to Elaine on her way by. “Salama. Nice to meet you. Heaven’s been telling me a couple things about the new girl in town.”

  Elaine tentatively shook the hand held out to her. “Pleasure to meet you. Heaven’s talking about me to people, huh?”

  “It doesn’t count when it’s your girlfriend.” Heaven sidled up next to the friendly woman and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. The look of sweet happiness on their faces made Elaine jealous for the slightest second. Long enough for her to remember she had mucked-up the one online relationship she had that she always wished could turn into something more. “All I’ve been telling her is that you’re the one who opened up that teashop on the other side of town. She’s been on my ass for months to add more teas to the café, but now I don’t have to!”

  Salama rolled her eyes. “She makes it sound like it would be so terrible. By the way, I’m totally coming by soon to check it out! I just haven’t had the time between helping out here and doing my own work.”

  “That’s right. My lady’s a writer. Not too bad at it, either.”

  “Not too bad? Gee, don’t mind me if I tell people you’re not too bad at what you do!”

  Elaine giggled, right on time for the door to swing open and more people to wander in. There was a young straight couple who had recently moved to the outskirts and asked three different times if they were crashing the wrong party. Then there was an older lesbian couple who also asked if this was where they were supposed to be, because they really weren’t looking for dating, and they had some funny things happen in other towns before.

  The only other singles to show up were either much too old for Elaine, or so young that she balked at the thought of going out with a co-ed. Not that she had come there to scope out the dating scene. This was, after all, meant for people new in town to meet each other without feeling like they were imposing on old, established cliques that were difficult to penetrate in rural Oregon. Nothing like meeting other newbies so you can start your own cliques, I guess. At least everyone was friendly enough. Fran had warned Elaine that being one of the only black women in town could be alienating, and while it certainly was in its own way, so far nobody had made her uncomfortable for the way she looked. For how she bumped into a table while trying to get to the bathroom, or how she nearly knocked over a plate of cookies when telling an animated joke? Oh, absolutely. Elaine was simply thankful that this side of herself didn’t really come out at work. Only when she was trying to make personal connections.

  Lord have mercy on her…

  “Where did you move from?” Salama asked her toward the end of the meetup, when other people were heading home and Heaven was cleaning dishes in the kitchen. “You don’t sound like you’re from the region. See, that’s the only thing I had going for me when I moved here. At least I spoke the Portland accent.”

  Portland has an accent? “I’m from the Midwest. Chicago area. That might be what you’re hearing.”

  “Only in how you say Chicago.” Salama grinned. “Otherwise, you’re blending in quite well!”

  “I don’t think I’ll ever say Chicago the way you all do.” Elaine giggled to hear herself say it again. “It’s Chi-cah-go or get the hell out, apparently.”

  “To be fair, the Midwest accent is pretty fun!” Heaven called from behind the counter. “I’ll take it over whatever we pass for faux-Texan around here!”

  “Can you believe her?” Salama said, lowering her voice in Elaine’s direction. “She grew up here, and she’s talking like that?”

  “I’ve noticed that the natives around here are a bit… touchy about it.”

  “Hey, I’m from Portland, and I’ve noticed the same thing about rural Oregon.”

  “What are you two whispering about over there?” Heaven asked.

  “Nothing, hon!” Salama turned her smile back toward Elaine. “I said nothing, you hear?”

  Elaine wasn’t sure what that was about, but she accepted a care package to take hom
e and was happy to have an invitation to another event happening soon. Unfortunately, the night was growing colder and slightly frosty, and if Elaine wanted to walk home in one piece, she needed to leave before it got much later.

  “Oh, hello.” She didn’t expect to bump into a familiar face at the door, right when he attempted to come into the closing café. To his credit, Dominic didn’t leap back at her presence. Not even when he practically crashed into her because he was looking over her head in search of Heaven. “Sorry. Trying to squeeze through.”

  “What’s up, Dom?” came Heaven’s voice. “Be right with you!”

  He looked between Heaven and Elaine as if it really were a choice. What could he possibly want with me? He didn’t know I was here. “It’s fine, Heav!” he called back. “Just a few minutes! It’s not that important.”

  He closed the door behind himself and Elaine, who wrapped her muffler around her throat and buried her lips into its fluffy folds. “Can I help you?” she asked the young man following her to the sidewalk.

  “Hey, it’s a little icy on the other side of town. Let me walk you.”

  “Uh…” Elaine raised her eyebrows. “I’d say I’m good, but I have a feeling you’re gonna follow me anyway.”

  “I don’t mean to be creepy. Really. I’m not like… interested in you… uh, like.. you know what? Never mind. Let me start over.” He cleared his throat and extended his hand. “Dominic Delacour. Resident weirdo with no manners.”

  She tentatively shook his hand. “Elaine Hadley. Cautiously optimistic about every encounter she has in this town.”

  “That’s a good outlook to have, I guess.” Dominic fell in step beside her as they traversed the sidewalk lining Main Street. The streetlamps were the only things illuminating their way, but the fog settling in over the town obscured most of the glow. The only reason Elaine knew somebody walked beside her was because Dominic’s breath colored the air right before her eyes every time he exhaled. “People in this town can be weird. Most of the time they have no idea they’re being so weird, though.”

  Elaine kept one eye on him and one eye on where she placed her next step. “So, to what do I owe this gracious pleasure, Dominic? If you’re not interested in me romantically – which is good, because I don’t swing that way, nor am I interested in somebody young enough to be my own kid, technically – then what compels this act of undead chivalry?”

  He laughed, as if what Elaine had said was so damn funny. “Sorry. It’s about, uh… well, I needed to talk to you about something.”

  “Oh, no. What have I done?”

  “What? You haven’t done anything! Why would you assume that?”

  Elaine shrugged. “At some point in your life, you assume that when people want to talk to you out of the blue, it’s because of something you’ve done. Doesn’t have to be good or bad, but you assume it.”

  “I see. Uh…” Dominic wasn’t making this easier for either of them. Good Lord. “It’s about my sister. Frankie.” He jerked his thumb toward the street. “You know, runs the deli over there?”

  Elaine didn’t have to crane her head around to know what he was talking about. “Yeah? What about her?”

  “I dunno how to put this, but she seems to be under the impression that you don’t like her for some reason. Now, don’t take it personally. She was bullied a lot as a kid, so she tends to lean toward the paranoid side. If she gets a vibe off somebody, she automatically assumes the worst. Ah, now I’ve made her sound crazy, huh?”

  Maybe a little? “Frankie doesn’t think I like her? I have no idea why. We’ve only interacted a couple of times. Was it something I did when you and her came into my shop?”

  “You have to understand, I dragged her there kinda against her will. Nothing personal against you, mind. She doesn’t like leaving the house on her days off. To say she’s a hermit outside of work is an understatement. She spends half her time watching TV and texting people on her phone. Can’t do that when I drag her ass outside.”

  They reached one of the most well-guarded intersections in town. No streetlight, since that would be preposterous in a place like Paradise Valley, but one did not merely leap out into the intersection without looking both ways. Thank you, school zone. It was the only explanation, although Elaine was sure she’d learn some real, esoteric reason soon enough.

  “She sounds like a complicated person,” was all Elaine said in response to Dominic.

  “Not really complicated as much as she’s… terse. Guess that’s one way to put it. Then again, I’ve only known her as an adult. I’m sure you can’t tell, but she really is my sister. Our parents had me as a twentieth anniversary surprise.”

  “I had heard something about that. Word travels in a town this size.”

  “Hey…” Dominic took a step into the intersection as soon as the coast was clear. “You ask me, I think my sister has a crush on you. That’s why she’s so nervous around you and doesn’t get why you want to talk to her. If she has a crush on you, that means something terrible’s going to happen. In her mind, anyway.”

  Elaine almost stopped in the middle of the intersection. “She has a crush on me?” That seemed absurd, unless Frankie had a specific type she didn’t get to meet much in Paradise Valley. “Are you sure? Man, is that why you insisted on walking me home? So you could tell me you think your sister has a crush on me?”

  “She doesn’t know I’m doing this, by the way,” Dominic insisted. “In fact, she’d kick my ass across the road if she knew about it. Then she would vehemently deny she knew you.”

  “So what is the point of this, then?”

  They reached the other side of the intersection. Maybe it was only Elaine, but the temperature dropped another ten degrees in that short amount of time. Just what I need right now. The freakin’ chills.

  Dominic turned to her. “Guess I wanted to know if you did have a problem with her. That way when you tell me you don’t, I can tell her she’s crazy if she brings it up. You ask me, she’s working up the nerve to ask you out.”

  Frankie? Ask me out? Elaine hadn’t really thought about it, beyond admiring her striking beauty and envying her confidence around Paradise Valley. That was a crush. Not whatever Frankie might have felt for her, should Elaine trust Dominic. How fast did people move in this town, anyway? Was there always a U-Haul on standby? Or should Elaine expect a pickup truck to back up into her parking lot the next day?

  “I don’t have any problem with her, no.” Elaine snorted. “I don’t know her outside of a few interactions we’ve had. I only first met her at the Chamber of Commerce meeting, then when you brought her by. Honestly, I know you better than I know your sister!”

  “Like I said, she doesn’t get out much.” Yet there was something to Dominic’s voice that made it sound like his thoughts were far away, as if he were thinking about something much more important than what Elaine told him. “Anyway, sorry for bringing this up out of the blue. I probably shouldn’t have said anything, but I was coming out of the deli after running an errand for her, saw you at Heaven’s, and thought… well, dunno what I thought.” Dominic shrugged. “Want to clear the air on my sister’s behalf. If you’re not interested in her, though, I won’t encourage her to maybe ask you out.”

  “I’d have to think about it.” Elaine hesitated by the parking lot of Tea & Thyme. Dominic wasn’t going to escort her all the way to the door, was he? “Not because I have a problem with her, but because I’m a bit busy with life at the moment. Just opened a shop that sucks up all my time, you see.”

  “Ah, yeah. Sorry.”

  “But, you know, if your sister wants to come by and shoot the breeze, I may be open to it.” Elaine heaved a small sigh of relief when Dominic didn’t follow her to the door. The last thing she needed was gossip blowing up because the new lady in town was making moves on a twenty-year-old. Knowing this kind of town, they’d run with it. “Thanks for letting me know. I’ll see you around.” She slipped into the shop, closing the door firmly behind her.
She didn’t turn on any of the lights on her way to the staircase.

  Frankie had a crush on her? There was some food for thought. It couldn’t have come at a better time. After what happened with Fran – again, that coincidence was almost too much to bear – Elaine needed a romantic, or friendly, pick me up.

  She hoped she didn’t blow this one, too!

  Chapter 13

  FRANKIE

  Thanksgiving in Olympia was never meant to be such a headache.

  Oh, it had been a headache and a half before. God knew Yvette Delacour didn’t hold back on the meal preparations whenever she could handle it. She was the kind of woman who went all out as soon as Halloween faded away on November 1st and the men in her family became restless for turkey dinner with all the fixings. Frankie remembered when it was the three of them. Or, occasionally, when the grandparents and aunts and uncles were involved. Most of them lived around Texas and Louisiana, though, so there hadn’t been a proper gathering of Delacours since Dominic had a high-pitched voice and a love for Pokémon trading cards.

  Who am I kidding? He still collects those things.

  Frankie didn’t have leftovers like those from her childhood. She chalked it up to generational differences, but their mother never held back from giving Dominic a new pack of cheap trading cards whenever they went to visit. The same wasn’t true for Frankie, who took her kisses to the cheeks and liked it. Just as well. She didn’t want to return to Olympia to piles of My Little Ponys and She-Ras. Although, sometimes, she had an inkling that she should decorate the deli with them. See what the locals thought of that.

  This Thanksgiving, however, was a bit more morose than others. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but her parents hooting with laughter every time they recollected another tidbit from their journey back to Baton Rouge was not helping.