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Chapter One
“Thank you, Mr. Finch.” Maurie Ledbetter pressed END on her cell phone and collapsed onto the ratty floral couch. In two weeks, she’d be the new owner of the corner shop. Two weeks. Fourteen days. Three hundred and thirty-six hours, but who was counting? I am.
She dialed the number at the top of her contacts list, calling her best friend and one and only employee, Taffy.
“What’s new?” Taffy answered, not one to stall with chit chat or other conversation conventions.
“We got it! We’re about to open the bricks and mortar version of Every Occasion.” Maurie squealed as the news finally started to sink in. She rose from the couch and walked around the boxes strewn about the living room, in a daze of excitement. “And the seller agreed to close in two weeks.”
“Wow,” Taffy said. “Not that I doubted it, but this is finally happening. Who would have thought the online hobby of selling gift baskets you started a couple of years ago would turn into this?”
“I know, right?” Maurie peered out of the newly scrubbed living room window, at the quiet neighborhood of her childhood. “When are you coming? We need to get the sign ordered and decide on a grand opening date and print off a million fliers—”
“Whoa,” Taffy cut in with her bubbly laugh that seemed to complement her blonde, curly hair and energetic personality. “Last I checked Google, Pine Valley only has 1200 residents. And even with the tourist ski crowd, our customer base wouldn’t come close to a million.”
Maurie released a breath. “You’re right. I’m just up to my armpits in boxes, and I need to make a list of stuff to do now that the offer on the shop was accepted.” Outside, two little girls rode along the cracked sidewalk, one on a red bike, the other on a blue one. They were laughing at something, and Maurie felt her stomach twist. She’d once been a carefree kid like those girls, but that was before… Well, the past was going to stay in the past, where it was meant to be. And the next step in Maurie’s plan was renovating this dumpy house of her mother’s, as soon as things at the shop were organized. She’d start with ripping out the carpets, then move on to burning all the furniture. Then—
“Hello? Are you still there?” Taffy asked.
“Oh, sorry. I’m already making more lists. You know me. When are you coming?”
“I just told you,” Taffy said, indulgent laughter in her voice. “I’m packing tonight and leaving first thing in the morning. Should make Pine Valley by dinner time.”
“Perfect. I’m already washing the new guest bedroom sheets I bought. And I might even venture to the grocery store before you get here.”
“I can grab McDonald’s,” Taffy said.
“Don’t you dare,” Maurie said. “I’m trying a new chicken salad recipe I found on Pinterest.”
“You’re a nut. I mean, don’t you have enough to do? Cooking should be at the bottom of the list.”
“That’s why you’re coming to work for me,” Maurie reminded her. “To keep my priorities straight.” She turned away from the window, eyeing the boxes and a stack of wicker baskets.
“All right, boss. See you tomorrow.”
Maurie was smiling when she hung up the phone. She pressed the phone against her chest and turned back to the window. She’d done it. She’d returned to the hometown that she’d left ten years ago at the age of seventeen, moved into the house she’d inherited from the mother who’d disowned her, and now she would be an official shop owner here.
She crossed to the tiny kitchen area and fired up the laptop she’d left on the counter, to Google handyman in Pine Valley, a ski resort in Northern California. A couple of construction companies and their websites popped up. There were quite a few luxury cabins in the area, near the slopes, belonging to who’s who. These construction companies certainly catered to the wealthy if their 10,000 square foot cabins were any indication.
She hovered over one link. “Briggs Brothers. Your hometown handymen. No job is too small.”
She clicked and opened the simple website. In the top left corner was a picture of two men. Though with their ball caps on, shading their faces, Maurie couldn’t see either of them clearly. Not that she knew a lot of people in Pine Valley anymore.
Her mom had home schooled her since middle school, insisting that the public system was failing her child. A notion to which for a long time Maurie had allowed herself to subscribe. It wasn’t until she was removed from the home— after a raucous party her mother had thrown and was subsequently busted for— and placed in another city in foster care, that Maurie discovered she was academically nearly two years behind her peers. Her mother had gone to jail for six months for possession of illegal substances and endangering a minor. And when she was released, she’d written a letter to Maurie saying she was relinquishing parental rights to the state.
Ten years later, the memory of the letter still stung, although it had long ago been destroyed. Fortunately, Maurie had landed in a decent foster home and her foster mom, Gladys Ronning, had shown her what a real mother’s love could be like.
Maurie wiped a tear off her cheek and took a deep breath as she stared unseeing at the Briggs Brothers website. Gladys had died when Maurie was in college. A year later, Maurie had been notified by the state that her mother had died as well. Causes unknown. It had been several more months before Maurie was contacted by a Pine Valley lawyer about her mother’s estate. At first Maurie had laughed, and then she’d cried. Then, she’d called the lawyer back and told him to rent the house out. At the time she was still in college and hadn’t been ready to change her life all over again and move back to her past.
That had all changed a couple of months ago, when Mr. Right had turned out to be Mr. Completely Wrong, and Maurie needed to start her life over… miles and miles away from Irvine, where she’d been living. Miles away from Brandon.
Pine Valley had suddenly seemed like a safe haven.
“Well, I’m here now,” Maurie said aloud, knowing there was no turning back unless she wanted a lawsuit on her hands. She didn’t think the seller of the corner shop on Main would be too happy if Maurie backed out of their deal. Since the house had been paid off long ago by Maurie’s grandparents before her mother inherited it, years of rent, minus upkeep expenses, had been accumulating in an account. Eventually, it had added up to a sizable down payment for Maurie’s new beginning.
She took a deep breath and dialed the number for Briggs Brothers. A woman answered, a secretary it seemed. She took down Maurie’s address, then promised that someone would be out that afternoon to evaluate her needs and work up a bid.
“That’s quick,” Maurie said, surprised, not meaning to be rude.
“It is January, ma’am,” the woman said. “Not much construction going on in Pine Valley this time of year.”
“Oh, yeah, that makes sense.” Maurie felt chagrined and annoyed at the same time, for being called ma’am. She was only twenty-seven. But the woman on the other end of the line had no way of knowing that. How old did Maurie sound? “Thank you so much.”
When she hung up, she stood and stretched, then grabbed her notebook of lists and more lists. She turned to a fresh page and started planning for her site visit from Briggs Brothers.
Chapter Two
Grant Shelton stared at his smart phone, at the address on his emailed work order. He looked back up at the dilapidated house and the street number stenciled on its mailbox. Yep. It was the right place. Damn.
He switched to his phone’s contacts and called Julie. When his sister answered, he said, “Who called you from 462 Elmwood?”
“Uh,” she said, and it sounded like she was typing something on her keyboard. “Maurie Ledbetter.”
Grant’s jaw clenched. “Okay. Hey, this might sound really weird, but do you think Dave could do this bid?”
Julie laughed. “Grant, you’re funny. Yesterday over dinner you
told my husband that you needed more hours. Ask and ye shall receive, hon.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Grant did need the extra income. His stupid legal battle with Joy was driving him crazy.
If ever a name was an oxymoron, it was his ex-wife’s. And now Joy had revised their custody agreement so she could keep their five-year-old son, Trent, with her full time, limiting Grant’s visits to little more than holidays and summers… because she’d moved a hundred miles south with her new boyfriend, Stone. Yep. That was his name. Stone.
“Sorry about that, Julie,” Grant said. “I’m not thinking straight.”
“You’re going through a tough time.” His sister’s tone morphed from amusement to tenderness. “Keep your chin up and remember to enjoy the work.”
“Thanks, I’m trying,” he said.
His sister was right. After she’d married Dave Briggs, Grant had thought a partnership was the perfect solution to his problems. For years he’d been trying to make it solo as a carpenter, but he hadn’t been able to hold his own for bigger contracts against the elite construction companies in the area. Together he and Dave had carved out their own niche, as hometown handymen, often cleaning up the bigger construction companies’ mistakes. In between chasing her two kids around, Julie took care of their accounting and scheduling.
“Come over for dinner tonight,” Julie continued. “You can’t work a full day on a cup of coffee.”
Grant hadn’t even had coffee that morning, and at the mention of food he realized how hungry he was. Usually, he at least grabbed a sandwich from the local deli on his way through town, but there’d been no time today. Hanging up with Julie, he climbed out of his work truck and headed up the shaded drive. With each step, all kinds of thoughts and emotions churned within him. He didn’t know if he had enough fortitude to face his past with Maurie Ledbetter.
There was no chance that she wasn’t the Maurie he’d known when they were teenagers. It had been ten years, but Grant had never gotten over the guilt he’d felt after calling the police that night— which had turned out to be Maurie’s last night in Pine Valley with her mom.
When Grant had found out that Maurie had been taken into protective custody and put into foster care, he’d been gutted. He had only wanted to protect her from her mother’s deadbeat boyfriend. Everyone had known that Joe was bad news— Joe being Grant’s mom’s cousin, so Grant had known more about him than most in town. And when Grant had seen Joe coming out of Maurie’s home one afternoon, Grant’s blood had frozen in his veins.
At the time, he’d assessed what he knew about Maurie— she’d been a couple of years younger than him, was being homeschooled, sat on her porch to watch the kids walk home after school, and had been friendly with the other neighbor girls for the most part. He’d lived down the street from her and had passed by her house often. Mrs. Ledbetter had been a single mom who lived in her deceased parents’ home. Grant had heard the talk around town about Mrs. Ledbetter’s string of boyfriends, but Joe had been the baddest yet of those bad news guys.
Grant shook the memories from his mind as he climbed the front steps to the Ledbetter house. Once he rang that doorbell, there’d be no going back. He’d have to face the woman whose life he’d changed forever.
The door swung open while Grant was still gathering his courage.
“Oh, sorry,” a female voice said, opening the screen door as well. “I thought I saw the truck out front and wondered…” Her voice trailed off as she stared at him.
Grant couldn’t stop staring back. The Maurie he remembered had been a thin, pale girl with a mop of black curls and round glasses hiding bright green eyes.
This Maurie was the same person… but grown up and transformed. It was the only way to describe her. Her dark hair was still curly, but now it lay in soft waves, skimming her shoulders. Her glasses were gone, and her eyes were just as green as ever. She was fair, yes; but not pale. In fact, her skin was more of a honey tone, as if she spent time outside. And she had a smattering of light freckles across her nose.
“Grant Shelton?” she said in a disbelieving half-whisper.
“And you’re Maurie, right?” He held out his hand to dispel the awkwardness. How much did she remember of that night? Did she hate him for it?
She took his hand, surprising him with a firm grip.
“It’s been a long time,” she continued, releasing his hand.
It was all that Grant could do to nod as he swallowed against his dry throat.
“Come in,” she said. “I didn’t mean to leave you standing on the porch.”
She was normal. Totally normal. Friendly and… beautiful, if Grant was to be honest with himself. She was taller than he remembered, only about six inches shorter than him, and as he followed her inside, he had to drag his gaze away from her curves. She’d definitely grown up from that skinny girl he remembered.
They walked into the kitchen and Grant had to force himself not to gawk. The place was a disaster. Nothing had been updated in decades, and it looked as if Maurie had moved from one of those luxury resort cabins and crammed everything into this small house.
“Here.” Maurie handed over a piece of paper. “My list of to-do’s. Just so we’re on the same page, and I don’t repeat myself.”
He looked away from the intensity of her green eyes— instead of all green, there was a fair amount of brown. So, hazel. He tried to read the list, but his thoughts wouldn’t compute. Were the two of them not going to talk about the last time she’d lived in Pine Valley? How her mother’s boyfriend had driven his car into the elm tree across the street, and how her mother had thrown beer bottles at Joe from the front porch?
“I know there’s a lot of little things on the list,” Maurie continued, pulling Grant from his revelry. “But I’m opening a shop in town, so anything you can do here will free me up to focus more on my shop.”
Grant’s mind caught up with what she was saying. “What kind of shop?”
When she smiled, Grant tightened his grip on the paper he held. He felt that smile all the way to his feet.
“It’s a gift shop called Every Occasion. We specialize in gift baskets. I’ve been running it online for a couple of years now.” She waved a hand at all the boxes and clutter. “Orders arrive daily, and I can’t wait to move all of this to the shop. I close in thirteen and a half days.”
Grant lifted his brows. “Thirteen and a half, huh?”
Her cheeks pinked, and Grant couldn’t decide what he liked more: her smile, or her blush. Then he chastised himself for letting his mind wander to places it shouldn’t. His life already had plenty of relationship baggage. And if Maurie thought Grant was attracted to her, after everything that had happened between them, she’d probably give him a well-deserved punch.
But here he was. Grant was trying not to ogle Maurie as she led him through the house and pointed out the repairs.
“Mind if I add a few things?” Grant said, taking a pen from his pocket and writing on the note paper that Maurie had given him. “For instance, this door frame is rotting and growing mold. And instead of replacing the door, the entire frame should be changed.”
Maurie frowned.
Grant rushed to say, “If it’s a matter of cost, I could start with the repairs that are most dire, and then once you’re ready, move on to the others.”
“That’s not it,” Maurie said. “I just remembered something, that’s all.” She flashed him a smile, but it wasn’t like the genuine one earlier. “Yes, write down any additional repairs that you think are necessary. I want this place livable again.”
Her life in this house must not have been too horrible, Grant decided, if she was willing to live here. A thought that made him feel even more guilty about his role in her becoming a foster kid.
“Do you want a total bid for everything on the list?” he asked as they moved into one of the bedrooms. He assumed it was where she was sleeping. It contained fewer boxes, and the bedding was rumpled but new. “Or do you prefer it it
emized?”
“A total cost will be fine,” Maurie said. “It all needs to be done, and I’d rather have it finished sooner than later.” She pointed at the yellowed plastic blinds on the window. “Do you replace blinds, too?”
“Sure,” Grant said. “What about the carpets? It’s not on your list, but it’s pretty threadbare.”
“You noticed that, did you?” Maurie’s mouth turned up with amusement.
Grant felt his face warm for some reason. Perhaps it was because he was standing in this beautiful woman’s bedroom, or because he didn’t want her to think he was trying to get more money out of her. “One of my friends is a carpet layer.”
“Who?” she asked.
“Shawn Anders. He was a couple of years older than me in school. Not sure if you knew him.”
“Doesn’t sound familiar.”
They inspected the second bedroom— where, Maurie informed him, her friend Taffy, also Maurie’s employee, would soon be moving in.
For some reason, Grant was happy that Maurie seemed to have a close friend.
“Would you like a drink while you run the numbers?” she asked as they moved back toward the front of the house.
Everything about Maurie was unaffected. She was kind, generous, smart, and obviously talented. Not to mention gorgeous. Curiosity burned through him, and he wanted to know more about her. He wanted to know what she’d been doing for the past ten years. His answer to her question was simple, “Sure.”
Chapter Three
Maurie opened the refrigerator, trying to figure out why she’d offered Grant a drink. It would mean he’d stay longer and put his bid together right in her kitchen, instead of calling back tomorrow or the next day with the numbers. Maurie already felt like a nervous mess around him. She’d had a major teenage crush on Grant Shelton.
She’d wondered if she was dreaming when she’d first opened the door to see him standing there. How many times had she thought of him after she left Pine Valley? How many men had she compared to him? More times than she wanted to admit.
Valentine's Day Collection (A Timeless Romance Anthology Book 19) Page 6