“Sounds like a plan. Let me finish up here while you feed your dog and we’ll head that way.”
“That is not my dog.” Her dark brows arched and she seemed to try an innocent look, but the expression broke down midway and she laughed. “Okay, I’ve been feeding him.”
“I thought so.”
“I could take him to the farm but my dad told me no more strays.”
“He can stay here. We’ll build him a doghouse and put it under the stairs that lead up to my place.” He had to be crazy for offering, but he’d gotten attached to the stray and had fed it a few times himself. “You might want to name him so we can stop calling him ‘the dog.’”
“You’re a nice guy, Patrick Fogerty.”
“Don’t let it get around.”
She followed him to the stockroom. “I’m afraid people are already catching on.”
He turned to say something but she was right behind him and they nearly collided. He caught her arms to keep her from running into him and she looked up, her smile disappearing. Patrick released her slowly, a little too slowly for good sense. Her arms had been soft under his hands; her hair smelled like a tropical island.
He’d never loved the tropics, but suddenly he was tempted. It took him by surprise.
“Sorry,” she whispered and backed away a step. “I wasn’t paying attention.”
“No, me, neither.” He made a pretense of grabbing his jacket and a couple of lawn chairs. “I’ll go lock the front door.”
She nodded and hurried away. Patrick watched her go. He leaned the lawn chairs against the wall and headed back to the front door to make sure it was locked. He needed those few minutes to get his head on straight, because after years of self-control, he couldn’t afford to let go now. He needed to focus on his business and Gracie was his employee. She was also a woman who had just ended an engagement.
Good reasons for not getting involved.
The dog followed them down the block to the front of the Cozy Cup Café, where several people were sitting together. There were lawn chairs, folding tables and the bench that had been installed during the refurbishing of downtown Bygones. Melissa Sweeney, owner of the Sweet Dreams Bakery, and Brian Montclair, her fiancé, were sitting on the bench, cozy and in love. An unlikely couple, everyone had said. But Gracie didn’t think so.
She’d known Brian forever and she was so glad he’d found someone as sweet as Melissa.
She smiled at Lily Farnsworth, owner of the new flower shop, Love in Bloom. Lily had been so sweet to Gracie during the pre-wedding fiasco, which had included Trent’s mother trying to make every decision. Lily and Tate Bronson would soon be married. She wished them all the best and she could see that what they had was real and lasting.
The thought took her by surprise because it brought another thought. Had she ever felt that way about Trent? Had they looked at each other that way?
The others were gathered around. Joshua Smith, owner of the Cozy Cup Café, walked out of his store with two carafes of coffee. He handed one of the coffeepots to Allison True, owner of the Happy Endings Bookstore, and set the other on a table. He went back into the store and returned with a stack of foam cups.
Gracie unfolded her chair next to Chase Rollins, owner of the Fluff & Stuff pet shop, where she’d bought the supplies for the dog that seemed to have taken up residence at The Fixer-Upper. The dog that sadly needed a name.
“Is there anything I can do?” She looked around the group. She wasn’t a store owner, but since they’d invited her, she decided to make the most of it.
“Just relax for a while, Gracie.” Allison smiled happily as she handed out cups.
Josh poured coffee into Gracie’s. “Have you followed up with Whitney at the Gazette concerning the article about the block party and the advertising?”
“Yes. And we both agree that we should go from the angle that people in the tri-county area should support local businesses. With the price of gas, it’s cheaper to shop local, keep the money local, and support our local schools, police and fire departments.”
Chase Rollins stood and moved his chair. Gracie gave him a curious look and he pointed. She glanced back and realized he was making space for Patrick. Heat climbed up her cheeks as everyone looked at the two of them. She thought about a quick disclaimer that they weren’t a couple. She’d learned her lesson with Trent and she was officially off the dating scene for the time being.
But Patrick wasn’t Trent Morgan and to say something would be to insult his integrity. She made quick eye contact with Allison, who smiled and went back to the subject of the block party.
“I think that’s a great idea, Gracie.” Allison reached for a pastry as she spoke. “I’m glad you’re a part of this group. We need local input as well as the input of the new shop owners.”
“We have a lot at stake.” Chase leaned forward in his chair, a cup of steaming coffee in his hand. “If we don’t make it, we’ve lost two years. Or less, I guess, if we can’t make it that long. Someone invested a lot of money in this town and we owe it to them, to the SOS folks and to the community to give this our best shot.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Melissa handed her the tray of pastries from her bakery.
Gracie took one and handed the tray to Patrick. She looked up, meeting only kindness in his dark eyes. Her heart ached a little and she knew that was only natural. Less than a week had passed; she knew it would hurt for a while. Trent had stolen her trust. He had broken her heart, although that had happened long before the wedding. And now Trent looked like the victim.
Only she and her dad knew the truth. She had shared with her dad so that he wouldn’t think the worst of her and because she needed one person on her side when everyone else in town was discussing how she’d walked away from a marriage to the perfect man.
When she looked up, Lily was watching, her look a combination of sympathy and curiosity. Joshua moved to his seat. Gracie focused on his words as he started to speak but her attention focused on his mouth. He had one of those smiles that sometimes took her by surprise. She didn’t quite know why. Maybe because at times his smile seemed familiar.
She’d once been told she had one of those faces, the kind that often got mistaken for someone’s niece, a granddaughter, someone familiar. Joshua probably got the same comments from people.
“One key to success is to keep coming up with products our customers can’t get anywhere else, or not easily. We can also give them service that they’re not going to find in bigger department stores.” Joshua leaned forward in his chair, earnest and committed to his store and to the rest of the new businesses in town. “Like Patrick’s added handyman services.”
Gracie glanced at Patrick, wanting him to mention painting Mrs. Duncan’s home. He shifted in his chair and inclined his head in her direction.
“You tell them.” He smiled a little and lifted his cup of coffee.
“I’m not really a member of this team.”
Lily cleared her throat. “I think you’re close enough. You came up with the idea for the block party. You’re very important to us because you’re our local tie.”
“Gracie, if you’re getting us into something…” Allison, who had known her years ago, laughed a little.
“Okay, this is my thought. We’ve put a lot into refurbishing Main Street. We’re rebuilding our economy so that we can keep our school and our police and fire departments. But we’ve maybe neglected the rest of our town. Mrs. Duncan came in today. She was going to try to paint her own house because she wants it to look as nice as Main Street.” She indicated the improved downtown with the new streetlights, the potted evergreens and the pretty stores. “She’d like her house painted, a flag and maybe flowers. She can’t afford the improvements. And she obviously isn’t physically capable of painting her own home.”
“So you’d l
ike to get volunteers and funds to help with a project that would beautify some of the older homes?” Joshua nodded and looked around the group.
“I think it’s a great idea, Gracie.” Melissa clasped her hands together, obviously all in on the idea. “So how do we get the funds?”
“I can get the paint, flags and fall mums at wholesale,” Patrick offered. “We have three weeks until the block party. If we can get several groups of volunteers, we could possibly take care of four homes before the end of the month. That’s being optimistic.”
“I think optimism is what we need,” Melissa said with a smile, glancing not at the group but at Brian.
“And faith.” Lily smiled at Gracie. “It seems that lately every step we take is a step of faith. We have to believe that God brought us all together for a reason. Yes, with someone else’s money, but I think there’s a higher plan at work.”
“Of course there is.” Patrick looked around the group. “If I have your cooperation, I’ll also bring this up at church to see if we can get more volunteers. Maybe we can get more than one team and we can work on more than one house at a time.”
“I’ll mention it at my church, too,” Gracie offered. She glanced at her watch. “And now I have to go.”
Gracie picked up her chair and finished her coffee, throwing her trash in the receptacle next to the door of Joshua’s Cozy Cup Café. She looked around the group, because they were watching her, and watching Patrick, who had also stood.
“I’ll walk you to your car.” He took the chair she had in her hand. “See you all later. Let me know if there’s anything else.”
“I think we’ve taken care of a lot tonight. We’ll keep planning the block party and get a list of volunteers for the home-beautification projects. Oh, and the media idea, to see if we can get coverage for the block party. They should love a ‘small town trying to survive’ story.” Joshua stood and extended a hand to Patrick.
Gracie started down the sidewalk. The dog had been sleeping next to her chair, and he got lazily to his feet and trotted along next to her, his brown tail brushing the air. She reached down to pat his head and he looked up at her with adoring eyes, his tongue lolling from his open mouth. Adoration. A person could always count on a dog for being loyal and adoring.
“Hey, wait up,” Patrick called out.
She glanced back and watched as he caught up with long strides. He smiled an easy, open smile. Gracie turned to keep walking because her mind couldn’t process the reaction of her heart to this man. Not now, when she often felt bruised and broken.
Someday she would trust again, because she knew not all men cheated. But today felt too soon for trusting or even for what felt like a high-school crush of mega proportions. And she’d been out of high school for a long time.
“You didn’t have to leave,” she offered as they rounded the corner of the building at the end of the block. Her truck was parked in the alley behind the row of stores that faced Main Street.
“I need to get some work done.” He walked with her to her old farm truck. “Are you heading home?”
She looked at the dog, who had decided to hop onto the back of her truck. “Rufus, you can’t go with me.”
“Rufus?” Patrick smiled at the dog and then at her.
“He needed a name.” She reached up to pet the dogs wiry coat. Someone had mentioned that he looked as if he might be part Airedale. She thought he was smaller than that breed, and he was dark brown with no black or tan like an Airedale. But the wiry coat was like that of an Airedale.
Patrick reached for the dog’s new collar, and it jumped to the ground.
“I’ll keep an eye on him. Rufus.” He shook his head as he said the dog’s new name.
“Thank you. And I’m going home to help my dad with paperwork for the granary. He’s trying to get a grant that will help offset some of the loss he’s incurred in the last two years. With the drought piled on top of the economy, he’s struggling.”
“If I could help…”
She placed a hand on his arm but she couldn’t meet his gaze, because it would be tender, full of sympathy, the look of a friend. “I know. And you are helping. You’ve hired me full-time.”
“That’s a no-brainer, Gracie. You bring in customers. You have an expertise very few workers would have.”
“You’d be lost without me.” She regretted the silly words as soon as they slipped from her mouth. “I’m sorry.”
“I would definitely be lost without you.”
The air stilled and Gracie got lost for a moment in his words, in thinking what it would be like to be loved by a man like Patrick, by Patrick. A man who took care of stray dogs and volunteered to help a widow paint her home. What would it be like to have a man look at her the way Tate looked at Lily?
She knew that her raw emotions were still based on what had happened, not what was happening now.
“I should go.” She reached to open the truck door but his hand was already there. Their fingers touched and Gracie moved as he opened the door for her.
“See you in the morning.”
“Yes, in the morning.” She climbed into the truck. He closed the door and she waved before cranking the old engine to life.
As she drove away, she saw him in her rearview mirror. She watched him stand next to the stairs that led up to his loft apartment. He stood there until she reached the end of the alley and then he started up the stairs, Rufus following along behind him.
Two years ago she’d met Trent at a Bygones Community Church Christmas Bazaar. He’d sold her an old lamp and then he’d asked her out. He’d charmed her with compliments, gifts and promises of a perfect future. She’d fallen in love, or maybe she’d loved the idea of loving him.
She brushed at tears, angry that she still cried when she thought about his cheating on her. She had loved him but somewhere along the way the relationship had changed. It changed long before she knew that he cheated.
It changed because she started to realize she didn’t fit the role he needed her to play. When they attended dinners he would criticize her appearance, her hair, her lack of makeup.
The thought brought another rush of emotion, mostly anger with herself for allowing Trent to do that to her.
She drove out of town, past the granary, past fields of drying sunflowers and corn that had been harvested. A few miles more and then she turned onto the gravel road that led to her family farm. They grew corn and wheat, but they also raised cattle. Her dad had always believed in diversifying. He held on to faith, even in the toughest times. He tried to stay out of debt.
He was a good man who had stayed in church and raised his children in church. She sometimes wondered why things had to be so hard for him. In the past when she had voiced those thoughts, he reminded her that God walked with them, even in the hard times. The Lord is my Shepard. I shall not want. He had made her learn Psalm 23 and as a child they often said it together, a reminder of God’s faithfulness.
In the distance she saw her dad walk out of the barn. He took off his hat and swiped a hand across his forehead. Her brother Caleb joined him. The two talked for a minute and then Caleb headed for his truck.
She pulled her truck to a stop next to the house and got out. Their cow dog, a border collie named Sissy, ran to greet her. She ruffled the dog’s soft black-and-white fur and smiled as her dad walked across the lawn. Sissy followed, sniffing at her legs, smelling the stray dog.
“Hi, Dad.”
“Gracie, how’s my girl today?” He kissed the top of her head and she wrapped an arm around his waist as they walked toward the back door of the house.
“I’m good, Dad. Did you get those financial records for me to go over for the grant?”
“I did. But you don’t have to do that yet. We have a few weeks.”
“I can do it now. What’s up?�
�
Her dad paused at the back door of the house. He looked away and she studied his face, thinking he was still handsome and he should find someone to love. He’d been busy with his kids, he’d always said, and too busy to date.
“Dad?”
“Trent Morgan came by today.”
“What did he have to say?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t give him much of a chance to talk.” He grinned and motioned her inside. “I told him you were better off without a man that wouldn’t be faithful.”
“Dad, I really…”
“I’m your dad. I’m not going to let Trent Morgan show up here and try to pretend this is all about him. His mother has wagged her tongue all over town, talking about the money she spent. And people are talking about you running out on someone as upstanding as Trent.”
“I know.”
“But you aren’t going to defend yourself. So I’ll defend you. You’re my girl and I’m not going to let them drag you through the dirt.”
“Thanks, Dad.” She reached for his big hand and he gave hers a good squeeze. “I’ll make biscuits and gravy for dinner if you’d like.”
“Not tonight, Gracie. I have—” He turned a little red. “I have a meeting.”
“A meeting? Since when does a meeting make you turn red?”
He grinned, “The last I checked, I’m a grown man.”
“Right, of course. Enjoy your date.”
Her dad on a date. Her heart did a little lift and she smiled. Thirty minutes later, showered, changed and wearing cologne, he left and she stood at the door watching, probably the way he’d watched her go on dates over the years. She felt a little sentimental, a little worried, a little bit happy.
Emotions tumbled inside her. If things had been different, she would have been living in a pretty house on the edge of Manhattan, Kansas, not here in Bygones. She would have been Mrs. Trent Morgan. She would have been cooking dinner in her own kitchen, waiting for Trent to come home from work.
The Boss's Bride (The Heart of Main Street) Page 6