by Ciara Knight
Once out of earshot, Lori leaned over the table and dropped her fist with a loud thump. “You little—”
“Careful. You might offend someone here. They don’t like your western kind of talk.” He met her lean over the table. “I heard from Ms. Gina that you were caught saying a potty word in the coffee shop the other day. Not a good way to win over the locals, you know.” He sat back and stretched as if he’d relaxed at home.
This place did feel like home. More so than his apartment in LA.
“You set me up. Okay, you made your point. You’ve risen to the challenge, and you were able to overcome your militant ways to blend in with the people while I stick out like a screaming baby in a ‘Le Pierre’ during a seven-course wine-pairing dinner.”
He scratched his chin and realized he hadn’t shaved this morning. How many years had it been since he’d skipped shaving for even a day? “I didn’t set you up, but I will confess that I enjoyed seeing you squirm.”
“Sure you didn’t. Pleeeease. I’ve known Drew Lancaster since he was fresh out of the military and ready to own the world with his wisdom and control. You’re playing. You want me to believe that you’re really falling for this town and a certain girl so that you’ll win that bet and I’ll have to call my father for that job.”
His skin heated and he lurched forward. “Shh. Don’t talk so loud.”
“What? You scared I’ll blow the bet about you going on a few dates with Carissa to score the job of your dreams?”
“Stop,” he said in his deepest, I’m-warning-you voice.
“Good morning. I’m glad I caught you both here.” A voice none other than the wannabe socialite Jacqueline Ramor jolted him to the core.
He’d been so engrossed in their conversation he hadn’t seen her approach. This woman was like fungus. Every time you thought you’d gotten rid of her, she’d reappear. Fear turned up his skin temp to fire hot. “Ms. Ramor, what can we do for you?” His tone was harsh, so he tried to soften it, but it caused his throat to tighten. “Are you ready for your international debut on Friday?”
“That’s what I wanted to speak with you about.” She slid into his side of the booth, nudging him to make room for her.
The woman was relentless. He would usually respect a person who worked and manipulated to get a job, but not now, not here. It seemed wrong in a place like Sugar Maple. How had she grown up here? And his biggest question was, had she overheard their conversation?
“Carissa’s working so hard, and I’m concerned about her.” Jacqueline tipped her chin down, allowing her hair to fall over her cheek. He’d avoided actresses after one date with one when he’d first arrived in LA. Their emotions were too much for him to handle on a day-to-day basis. Everything had to be a show.
“What about Carissa?” Lori asked, because he had no intention on engaging in such conversation.
“I’m afraid she’s working so hard to help the town she’s loved her entire life. You know she chose this town over her own family when they moved away. They’ve barely spoken in years.”
“That’s a special quality that should be respected,” Drew said in the most relaxed tone he could manage.
Shirley returned with a pot of coffee, and he scooted his cup toward her. “Yes, please.”
She poured it and curtsied again, but her eyes only skimmed Jacqueline and didn’t ask her if she wanted anything. No love lost between them, that was obvious.
Jacqueline cleared her throat. “Yes, of course, but at what expense? I mean, isn’t her health important enough for people to realize how much stress they are putting on her? I don’t want her to suffer again. Not like she did before.” Jacqueline raised one finger at the waitress and tapped her mug.
Lori took the bait. “What happened before?”
Jacqueline tucked her hair behind her ear in a Little Miss Muffet innocent way. “It’s not my place to share her darkest secrets.”
“Then you shouldn’t,” Drew snapped.
Lori traced the rim of her glass. “I understand. Of course we don’t want to pry.”
“Of course you don’t.” Jacqueline wanted to share the secrets of Carissa Donahue so badly she didn’t even let Lori nudge her to the truth. “But the town doesn’t understand by pushing her in this direction so that we can have a better future, she could have a nervous breakdown before filming ends, and where would that leave the town or your production?”
Lori sat straight, as if hooked and being reeled in, but Drew wouldn’t allow it.
“I’m sure Mayor Horton, who took Carissa in when her parents left town, would never put her in a situation that would jeopardize her health, mentally or physically.”
The corner of Jacqueline’s mouth twitched with obvious frustration. “Yes, I agree. But she ran on a platform about improving our town circumstances by bringing in more business. She made a promise, and that was the platform she plans to continue with for her upcoming reelection—”
“Are you saying that Mayor Horton cares more about the financial situation of the town than the young woman she took in as her own daughter?”
Lori shot him a sideways, shut-your-mouth look. “I understand your concern. We’ll speak with Mayor Horton and Carissa.”
“If you think that will work, but they’ve already pushed her over the edge. I mean, she’d never agree to fly solo on this if they hadn’t pushed her into it. You want a perfect recipe. Well, you’ve got one… A perfect recipe for disaster.”
Jacqueline meant to scare them away, but his chest warmed at her words. Carissa had decided to do it? To be the heart of the first segment? He wanted to point out her cliché but decided that wouldn’t help him convince Lori that this woman was full of evil and her only intent was to thwart Carissa so that she could have the spotlight. “So to be clear, Carissa has agreed to be the star of the first segment in order to save the town?”
“Yes.”
He scooched into her, pushing Jaqueline unceremoniously out of the booth.
“Where are you going?” Lori asked.
“To find Carissa.” He dropped a twenty on the table.
Jacqueline leaned into him. “I’m sorry to be the one to have to tell you all of this, but someone had to be the voice of reason. I wouldn’t want your program to fall apart before you even filmed the first segment.”
“I assure you, Ms. Ramor, it won’t. Because we’ll have the best woman for the job on Friday when Knox Brevard arrives.”
Jacqueline puffed her hair. “Great.”
He smiled and stepped closer. “Carissa Donahue.”
Chapter Eighteen
Carissa studied herself in the mirror. The aran knit patterns on her sweater ran straight from collar to waist. The dark maroon shirt underneath had the same amount of cuff turned up over each of the sleeves of the sweater. Her hair was brushed to a shine, straight, symmetrical on both sides of her face.
She took a second to apply lip gloss the way Mary-Beth would when she gave Carissa a makeover. The clock chimed, telling her she’d spent triple her usual amount of time getting ready and probably double any other time in her life.
Two more scans in the full-length mirror hanging on the back of her door before she finally decided she was presentable enough to face Drew Lancaster. If she hadn’t already blown her chance to be the star of the first segment, then she wanted to look presentable. Beyond that, she wanted a date with him. The one he’d kept asking about since they met.
With one last twirl in the mirror that sent her ankle-length skirt into an umbrella shape, she checked her black-heeled boots to make sure there were no scuffs and then headed downstairs to her bakery.
Her stomach fluttered and her palms were sweaty, but she needed to do this. Not only for the town but for herself. It was time to live instead of hiding from the world.
A double knock at the front bakery door made her pause and eye the back kitchen door she used when stocking and receiving deliveries. It would make for a perfect quick escape, but she couldn’t do th
at. Not to anyone she cared about, which was almost everyone in town, so she snagged her coat from the rack and put it on before opening the front door.
Drew stood shivering, pink nose and cheeks, arms crossed over his chest. “Hey.”
“Hey.” She bit her bottom lip but forced herself to release it. No need to show her less-than-perfect habits before she landed a date. “What are you doing here?”
His gaze roamed to her pointed-toe boots and then back to the top button of her shirt. “I came to find you.” His teeth chattered so loud, she thought he might bust a cap. She assumed they were caps because who could possibly have perfect teeth for real?
“Why?” She was so busy attempting to look put together, she’d forgotten her manners. “Sorry. Come inside before you freeze.”
He bolted past her to the center of the room, far from the doorway. “Where were you headed?”
She removed her coat and tossed it on the chair at her side but then retrieved it and hung it on the rack. “To find you, actually. Please, sit. I’ll make you a cup of hot tea, or do you prefer coffee?”
“I’m fine.” He set his bag down on the table, and out popped Roxy, who darted under the table and ran circles around them.
“Then why are you holding that coat like you’re about to choke yourself?”
He dropped his hands to his side and rounded the table to stand by her side. “Is it true?”
She blinked up at him. His face was tense, but his eyes were soft. “Is what true?”
“Jacqueline told me—”
“Don’t believe everything that woman says.” She tensed, her neck tight, fists clenched. “She’d do anything to be the star of Mr. Brevard’s entire show.”
“I have no doubt, and I wouldn’t normally believe a woman like that. She is more suited to Knox than me, to be honest.” Roxy decided his pant leg was a climbing pole and made it to his thigh before he retrieved her and held her to his chest.
A tickle of anticipation hopped up her spine. “I’m sure you find her attractive. Every man does.”
He patted Roxy twice, set her on the floor, and then removed his gloves and tucked them into his pocket. “Not every man. I don’t.” He took her hand in his chilly, large, firm grip. “I’m a man who likes a woman with more than just beauty and determination.”
She swore if her heart could smile, it was grinning like a kid in her bakery on free chocolate chip cookie day. “What do you look for in a woman, then?”
“I thought I looked for intelligence, beauty, and determination before, but not now. Not after I realized there were women, or at least one woman, who has so much more to offer.”
She swallowed hard and tried to force herself to listen to him, to give him a chance. Not even Roxy, who had found the one string hanging from her skirt, could distract her. “And what is that?”
“A woman who has a servant’s heart, who cares more for others than she does for herself. Still as beautiful as any woman, intelligent and capable, but more. Talented, graceful, and creative.”
Roxy abandoned the string and climbed her skirt. She reached down and carefully tugged the unruly kitten off and set her back on the floor. “You mean disorganized and imperfect.”
“I wouldn’t use imperfect to describe you.”
She worked hard to believe his words, to capture them and hold on to them until she surrendered to them, but it was harder than she thought it would be to give a man like Drew Lancaster a chance.
“Listen, I know you’ve been through a lot, but I can promise you there is nothing now, nor ever, that would make me want to be with Jacqueline. Which brings me back to what she said to me. I need to know. Are you going to do the segment? The one without Jacqueline?”
His eyes were wide, his chest puffed as if to brace for impact.
She squeezed his hand. “It’s true.”
He scooped her into his arms and swung her around. “That’s great news.”
Roxy meowed her agreement.
The room whirled around Carissa. Dizziness filled her head, and she clung to him to remain upright when her feet touched the ground again. “Does that mean I have the job?”
“Yes, the job is yours. I’ve already emailed Knox and told him that we are set, and on Friday he will see how fabulous you are.” Drew stood a breath away from her, looking at her as if she was the solution to world hunger. “You do realize all the viewers are going to fall in love with you.”
“I don’t care about that.” She shied away, unable to face such possibilities, but he caught hold of her chin and nudged her to look up at his bright, lost-in-your-gaze eyes.
“That’s what makes you perfect.” He nudged her chin higher and pulled her to him.
His full lips invited her closer, his touch warmed her body, his strength surrounded her, but her mind bolted. Bolted to a place of broken promises and lies and lost love. Love that she swore would never exist in her life again. Yet here was a crumb of possibilities that led down a narrow, winding, and complicated path.
Roxy hissed and tore across the store.
She pressed her palm to his chest. Her heart thundered, pulse hammered, breath caught. Dang, she wanted to kiss him, but she knew if she did, she’d be lost forever. Gone from the solid ground she’d stood on all these years, the one she’d built herself with the help of a dear friend on a solid foundation of trust and honesty. “We should keep this business. I don’t want to muddy the waters any further.” There. That sounded like a solid reason. She wanted to go on a date with him. To test the waters, not engage in a long journey. “You’ll be leaving.”
“Not for a long time. There are several segments to run. Things like this can take time. Lots of time.” He cupped her cheek but wouldn’t let her gaze go. “Carissa. I’m not that guy, Mark. I won’t run off with Jacqueline.”
His words meant everything, but could she trust them? Could she put herself in a situation that could break her again? And if so, would she ever be able to recover? But if she didn’t take the chance, she knew she’d be missing out on something great.
“You can trust me.” He closed the last of the distance, and his lips pressed to hers. Soft, tentative, but powerful. How could a featherlight brush cause chain lightning, energizing her overly combed hair to her booted feet? She surrendered to it. The passion, the anticipation, the possibilities.
Chapter Nineteen
“I can come to the bakery after I finish up with Knox on our afternoon call and help inspire you.” Drew rounded the corner into the kitchen of the small apartment-turned-offices to avoid Lori overhearing his conversation again. She’d enjoyed teasing him about sounding like a teenager in puppy love too many times over the last few days.
She had a point. He hadn’t ever been this giddy. Heck, he’d never even used the word giddy before.
“No, I think I need to focus, and you, Mr. Drew Lancaster, are way too distracting.”
“Oh,” he said, his tone sounding like that puppy love whine.
“It’s not that I don’t want your help. I’m afraid I can’t concentrate on my baking when I have a devilishly handsome man nearby, not to mention his insane sidekick Roxy. I might put cayenne pepper instead of sugar in my special dessert.”
Drew glanced over at the sleeping fur ball that purred and calmed him one minute and climbed the walls the next—literally. “We wouldn’t want that.”
Drew picked up Roxy and snuggled her to his neck. “I’ll stop by this afternoon. Roxy misses you, and she won’t be able to sleep tonight without seeing you.”
“Roxy, huh?” She giggled. “I want to see Roxy, too. I’ll text you later,” she said before ending the call.
He slid his cell into his pocket before taking a deep breath and following the low voices into the main room. He closed the kitchen door and set Roxy on the back of the couch, where she snuggled right back into sleep.
Lori looked up over her laptop. “I need a coffee fix.”
“I’m with you.” They both snagged their coats an
d headed to Maple Grounds on the corner. At the bottom of the stairs, Drew stopped where the elders were hanging out. Ms. Gina was working on some knitting, and Mrs. Malter was sitting with some ladies playing cards. Davey wasn’t around, though.
He waved and made a mental note to come back and ask about him. It wasn’t like Davey not to be there. They hurried out the door and up the street through the frigid air blasting between the buildings. Inside, the warmth and the smell that promised an amazing pick-me-up invited them inside.
Mary-Beth waved from behind the counter. “Sit. I’ll fix you both something and have it right out for you.”
They settled into the corner table.
“So what, you win the bet.”
“Shh. Don’t say that too loud.”
“Fine, but you do. If you’re playing me, you’re doing a good job. If not, I have one serious question for you…”
“What’s that?” He hooked his coat on the rack along with Lori’s and settled into his seat with his laptop in front of him.
Lori pushed the screen lower and leaned toward him to meet him eye-to-eye. “What are you going to do when this program is over?”
“Take that job in Los Angeles with your father you promised me.” He winked, but when her expression didn’t change from apprehensive to light, he sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re not reneging on our bet, are you?”
“No. I’m not talking about the job. A bet is a bet, and you won. I’m not talking about the job.” She shook her head. “I’m talking about Carissa, you goober brain.”
“Goober brain? I think you’ve been in this town a little too long already.” He smiled, remembering how he’d tossed and turned all night thinking about this exact subject. “Let’s face it… If Carissa is able to pull this off, she’ll be so well-known, she’ll want to move out to the coast and open another shop. I’ll be there to help. Finally, after these past few years, I’ll actually have a job I want and a girlfriend I don’t want to avoid.”