by Cindy Kirk
True to You in Good Hope
Cindy Kirk
Copyright © Cynthia Rutledge 2020
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN: 9798668662838
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Sneak Peek of Holly Pointe & Mistletoe
Also by Cindy Kirk
Chapter One
The second Piper Ambrose’s sister excused herself from their videoconference to grab a water, Piper did what she’d been wanting to do since the session started. She scooped up a handful of peanut M&M’s and munched. Washing the last of them down with a gulp of cola—also kept out of sight of the camera—Piper wondered how long until Sasha had a meltdown.
Though her sister had been pleasant for twenty minutes, Piper had been on the receiving end of Sasha’s sharp tongue and histrionics one too many times to relax.
Piper reached for more candy, but jerked her hand back when her sister’s face popped onto the screen. Sasha held a bottle of water, and her lips boasted a freshly applied cherry sheen.
In a red shirt with white piping, her sister looked as fresh and pretty as a strawberry parfait. Silvery-blond hair hung past her shoulders, and her bright blue eyes sparkled. Tall with a slim frame and delicate bone structure, Sasha was the spitting image of their mother.
Piper on the other hand, with bark-colored hair and brown eyes, took after their father’s side of the family.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Pips.” Flashing a bright smile, Sasha relaxed against the back of the love seat in her Johns Creek, Georgia, condo. “I got a text from Mom. She asked if we were still online. I told her we were. She’s on her way.”
Piper barely managed to hide a grimace. As the owner of her own boutique and wedding salon, Piper normally loved helping brides find the wedding dress of their dreams. But if history was any lesson, the tag team of Piper’s mother and sister would turn this dream into a nightmare.
She wished—oh, how she wished—she could embrace being her sister’s maid of honor and find joy in helping Sasha choose just the right gown. That wasn’t going to happen. Not with Sasha marrying Heath Hamlin.
Anyone but Heath, she thought.
The fact that today Piper would be forced to deal with her mother, well, that was a shriveled cherry atop a rapidly melting sundae.
“We need to speed this up.” Sasha’s full lips pulled into a pout. “Heath and I are meeting with several friends from Stewart Holmes this evening. I want to look perfect.”
Stewart Holmes was the advertising agency where Heath was working when Piper had first met him.
Her thoughts fought to travel down that road, but Piper was having none of it. With experience born of long practice, she shifted the direction of the conversation.
“You look pretty perfect the way you’re dressed already,” Piper commented. “Unless it’s a fancy affair.”
“Just a football party.” Sasha waved a dismissive hand. “The Bulldogs are playing.”
Piper cocked her head. “A college game on a Thursday night?”
“Don’t ask me.” Sasha lifted an unconcerned shoulder in a slight shrug. “You know how I feel about football.”
Remembering how much Heath loved the sport, Piper suspected he didn’t appreciate Sasha’s indifference. Then again, perhaps he was more understanding, more accepting, with her sister than he’d been with her.
For Sasha’s sake, Piper hoped so.
“I don’t like this style at all.” Sasha’s brows pulled together as she studied the photo of an elegant sheath. “I don’t know why you even included it.”
When Sasha had begged her to look at wedding dresses with her, Piper had reluctantly obliged. Instead of making the trek to Georgia, she’d put together a slide show of various styles she thought would suit Sasha’s willowy frame.
She could understand not wanting a sheath, but her sister had found fault with every gown she’d shown her so far.
“The lines are classic and made for someone with your slender figure.” Piper wished her sister would at least keep an open mind. “I tell brides who come into my salon that it’s important to choose a dress that flatters your body shape.”
“I agree with Sasha. That one’s a dog.” Jenn Ambrose slid onto the floral love seat beside her daughter. “Hello, Piper.”
Piper glanced longingly at the off-screen M&M’s before smiling at her mother. “I’m surprised you were able to join us. Sasha mentioned something about you having a committee meeting?”
When Sasha had told her that their mother was busy on Thursday morning, Piper had made it sound to Sasha as if this was the only morning that would work for her.
“We finished early.” Jenn’s lips curved. “Everyone was so excited when I told them I’d be looking at wedding dresses with my daughters today.”
The excited look on Jenn’s face gave her mother a youthful glow.
How did she do it? Piper wondered. The woman never seemed to age. Despite being in her mid-fifties, her hair, cut in a sleek bob, didn’t show a single strand of gray.
Piper figured the gray must have known it’d be risking its life if it dared pop up on her mother’s head. It was the same with wrinkles. Her mother’s face remained relatively unlined. Whenever Jenn and Sasha were out together, someone inevitably remarked how they could be sisters. Piper had to admit it was true. The only difference was that Jenn’s face was a little fuller than Sasha’s.
Not that Piper would ever think to mention weight around her mother. She wished her mom were as considerate. Surreptitiously, Piper edged the candy dish even farther out of view. “I was just telling Sasha that—”
“I heard,” Jenn interrupted. “As no doubt everyone in a three-block radius did. How many times do I have to tell you to modulate that loud voice of yours?”
Criticism, par for the course when dealing with her mother, usually waited until after they’d exchanged a few pleasantries. Apparently, being pressed for time, her mother had decided to immediately spring into action.
Digging her nails into the palm of one hand, Piper kept a serene expression on her face as she moved to the next slide.
“If you go with embroidery and beading just above the hip,” Piper pointed out, “it will create a nice, curvy silhouette.”
Interest flickered in Sasha’s eyes. “Something like this might work.”
“While I can see the possibilities,” Jenn’s brows drew together as she sl
anted a glance at her youngest daughter, “you need to be careful. Curvy is one thing, dumpy quite another.”
Sasha’s cheeks flamed as if she’d been slapped.
“My sister couldn’t look dumpy if she tried.” Even across the thousand miles that separated them, Piper did what she’d done numerous times growing up. She squared her shoulders and figuratively stepped between her mother and sister.
The action deflected her mother’s caustic tongue from Sasha and offered her another target.
“Your expectations are low.” Jenn sniffed. “Which is probably why your sister, who is so much younger, has a man, and you don’t.”
The zing that shot across the miles bounced off Piper. She’d had a lot of practice over the years steeling herself against her mother’s barbs.
“Your future husband has high expectations.” Jenn sent a pointed glance at her youngest daughter, obviously not done talking. “Heath is an important businessman. No man wants a fat wife.”
A stricken look filled her sister’s eyes but disappeared so quickly, Piper might have wondered if she only imagined it.
If Piper were the type to match her mother insult-for-insult, now would be her moment. But inflicting pain wasn’t Piper’s style. Besides, she still remembered her high school years, when she had been convinced her parents were going to split up.
At the time, her mother had been fighting an extra twenty pounds and a roller coaster of perimenopause-fueled emotions, and she’d been convinced Piper’s dad was cheating with his attractive PA. Accusations Jason Ambrose had vehemently denied.
Somehow, whatever issues were between them then had been resolved by the time she graduated from high school.
They were still together, and though Piper was grateful, she’d never forgotten the way her mother had suffered when she’d thought her husband would betray her. No, no matter how angry her mother made her, Piper would never use that time against her.
“Speaking of my wonderful fiancé, I need to get ready for a party tonight.” Sasha smiled at Piper. “Thanks for getting all these together. Though I’m beginning to worry I won’t ever find the perfect dress. I mean, I liked that last one, but only with the beading and embellishment you mentioned.”
“Let me do some more looking. In the meantime, you and Mom can visit some of the bridal salons in your area. If you still come up empty, you can have someone make you exactly what you want.” Piper offered her sister an encouraging smile. “A custom-made gown is always an option.”
“That’s an excellent suggestion, Piper.”
Piper blinked at the approval in her mother’s voice.
“If Sasha is unable to find something that suits her,” Jenn slipped an arm around her daughter, “you can make her wedding gown.”
The instant the videoconference concluded, Piper finished off the bowl of M&M’s. Her stomach churned. Not from the candy, though she really did need to eat something more substantial.
Still, she knew her upset had little to do with food. She’d never been more thankful to live so far away from her family as she was at this moment.
Pushing back her desk chair, Piper stood. Since Swoon, the boutique and wedding salon she owned, was closed on Thursdays, Piper had the rest of the day free.
Her skills in the kitchen were passable, and she’d just stocked the refrigerator yesterday. She could whip up a quiche or maybe make up a charcuterie board and enjoy a glass of wine.
Right now, both seemed like too much effort.
And after that, what? Piper had nothing planned and nowhere to go this evening. She enjoyed football, but didn’t feel like watching a game by herself. She really didn’t feel like being alone with her thoughts.
She considered her options. Her two closest friends, Bea Chapin and Charlotte Vogele, would be busy with their husbands. Piper, well, she didn’t have a husband. Didn’t even have a steady guy.
Normally, that fact didn’t bother her. Tonight, she wished she had someone, anyone, to take her mind off her family.
The interaction with her mom and sister had left Piper with a slight headache. After popping a couple of ibuprofen, she parted the curtains of her apartment’s front windows to glance out over Wrigley Road.
As it was mid-November, the flock of tourists who’d come for the fall season had long since hightailed it back home.
Not that the Door County peninsula—and the town of Good Hope in particular—didn’t get a fair amount of winter visitors. Still, life was quieter during the winter months, with many businesses cutting their hours.
Most Good Hope merchants embraced the slower pace as a welcome reprieve from the craziness of summer.
Right now, Piper wished for crazy-busy. Working would take her mind off the fact that her sister was set to make the biggest mistake of her life by marrying Heath Hamlin.
There was nothing Piper could do about that, unless she told Sasha what had happened between her and Heath.
Piper pulled herself up short, appalled at the thought. She knew better, which was why she’d kept this secret so long. Even if she confided in Sasha, Sasha likely wouldn’t believe her. The smart thing to do was what she’d done since the incident. She’d keep her mouth shut.
Whirling from the window, Piper impulsively grabbed her coat and headed for the stairs. Her apartment was above her store, so she could head down the steps, and her car was parked right outside the back door.
Piper hated that there wasn’t a garage, which meant her car sat out in the weather. Still, she was young and healthy. There was no reason she couldn’t scrape the snow and ice off her windshield in the winter or race the few feet to the back door when it rained.
She hoped getting out and being around people today would help clear her head. Even if she just read her phone while she ate dinner, the surrounding noise and conversation would have to be better than a quiet apartment, where she’d be alone with her thoughts.
In less than fifteen minutes, Piper pulled into a parking space in front of Muddy Boots. Seconds later, she walked through the doors of the popular café in the center of Good Hope’s business district. Yes, getting out among the living had been a wise decision.
Warm air wrapped around her like a thick blanket as she stood just inside the door. As she inhaled the enticing aroma of frying meat and onions, Piper’s stomach growled in anticipation. The whiteboard announced the specials of the day, including her favorite dessert—cherry crisp with ice cream.
No dessert, she told herself. Not after downing nearly half of a big bag of M&M’s. Ever since Piper had learned her sister was engaged to Heath, she’d fallen off the healthy-eating wagon. For years, Piper had been serious about nutrition and exercise.
That had all ended when Sasha texted her a picture of her left hand sporting a glittering diamond. Her baby sister could be a pain, but Piper loved her. Having firsthand knowledge of Heath’s character and not sharing it was a heavy burden.
She comforted herself that Heath likely wouldn’t do to Sasha what he’d done to her. Sasha was beautiful and more the type of woman he wanted.
Piper had assumed nutritious menu planning had become a habit. She’d assumed her daily runs and cardio classes at the YMCA were pleasures she’d never give up. She’d been wrong.
“Sit anywhere.” Helen, who’d waited tables at Muddy Boots since before Piper was born, gestured with coffeepot in hand toward the half-empty dining area. “I’ve got food up. Once I get that order out, I’ll be over to get yours.”
“I’ll just have the meatloaf,” Piper told her. Comfort food was definitely what she needed tonight.
“Good choice.” Helen gave an approving nod. “Anything to drink?”
“Water is fine.”
Helen lifted a hand in acknowledgment and turned toward the kitchen.
Though it was always colder by the window, Piper liked being able to look out over Main Street. Christmas might still be six weeks away, but festive holiday flags and lights already decorated the ornamental light poles.
>
As far as Piper was concerned, all that was needed was a fluffy blanket of snow to complete the holiday picture. Piper had lived in Good Hope long enough to know snow was definitely on the horizon. And once the white stuff arrived, it usually stayed until spring.
Which didn’t bother her in the least. Piper enjoyed cross-country skiing, ice skating and all the other outdoor activities Good Hope had to offer.
Colder weather would also—hopefully—result in more women stopping into Swoon, eager for new winter wear. She could use the business. The winter months were notoriously slower, and now that her store was off the beaten track…
Sighing, Piper slipped off her coat. She dropped it onto the smooth cherry-red vinyl before sliding into the booth.
She wasn’t sure why she bothered to pick up the menu. She knew it by heart. Besides, she’d already ordered and firmly believed the daily special remained the best choice.
Setting the menu aside, Piper pulled out her phone and began to scroll. Reading articles kept her occupied until Helen brought the food.
The first savory forkful was on its way to her mouth when the bells over the door jingled.
Voices and laughter filled the relative quiet of the café. Like most of those seated, Piper shifted in her seat to check out the new arrivals.
Beckett Cross, owner of Muddy Boots, held the door open for his wife, Ami. Their youngest child—a boy—was perched on her hip. Though JT had to be close to two, Piper still thought of him as a baby.
The couple’s oldest, Sarah Rose, now nearly four, trailed behind her parents. Her little fingers were nestled in the broad hand of a tall, rangy cowboy wearing a Carhartt jacket and boots.