Daisy sat in a chair in front of the window, staring at the moon through the trees. She wore a Wonder Woman nightshirt that was two sizes too big, her blond hair mussed and uncombed.
Grace had expected to find Daisy reading, but the book had been left open on her bed. “Are you okay?”
Daisy never turned her head, the moonlight giving her pale skin a bluish glow. “I’m fine.”
Grace came closer. “I was just—” She stopped. “What’s that cat doing in here?”
Killer, who’d been curled up beside Daisy, sat up and yawned.
Daisy patted him. “He was sleeping.”
“How did he get in the house?”
Killer leapt off the chair, landing on the floor with a solid thump.
“I let him in.” Daisy watched him stretch. “He likes to sleep with Mama G.”
“But we don’t have a litter box or anything.”
Daisy shrugged. “Mama G leaves her window open for him.”
“Geez. How long has this been going on?”
“I don’t know. A few weeks, I guess.” Daisy watched the cat meander out the door. “Mama G says he keeps her feet warm.”
Grace looked at the empty doorway the cat had just disappeared through. “So that’s ‘Theo.’ I thought she was imagining things.”
“Nope.” Daisy looked back out the window.
“Are you excited about your new jobs? You can start Monday, if you’d like.”
“Yeah, I guess so. It’ll be better than just sitting around here.”
That was something, at least. Grace tried to think of something to say. Finally, she slid the book over and sat on the edge of the bed. “Is something wrong? I thought I’d find you reading.”
Daisy’s gaze moved to the open book. “I thought I might like it, but—” She frowned. “It’s not really for me.”
“I used to love this book.”
“The people in the story are so different from me. I don’t have sisters or a mother or anything that they have.”
“I see.” She picked up the book, put Daisy’s bookmark in place, and looked through the familiar pages. “Don’t you think that’s the beauty of a book? It can take you places you can’t visit on your own, lets you meet people and see things you can’t in real life.”
“It makes me sad.”
Grace lowered the book. “I think we’re all a little sad right now. It’s been a crazy few months.”
Daisy looked at Grace. “Are you sad?”
“Sometimes.” What should she say now? You’ll know, Mama G had said. Well, she didn’t know. She had no idea. None. She sighed. “Daisy, you know Mama G isn’t herself. Do you know why?”
“She has Alzheimer’s. Mr. Travis told me about it. He said his father had a form of it.” Daisy pulled up her knees and tucked her nightshirt over the top of them. “Mama G didn’t know my name yesterday.”
“That’s scary when that happens, isn’t it?”
Daisy nodded. “Sometimes she calls me Hannah.”
“You look a lot like your mom when she was your age. She was just as pretty as you.”
Daisy rested her chin on her knees.
She was becoming smaller, somehow, pulling into a tight ball.
Tell the truth. “Daisy, there may come a time when Mama G doesn’t know us. Not even a little.”
Daisy didn’t move.
“It won’t happen at once. Her ability to know where she is will come and go. But it will eventually happen.”
“I know.”
“You . . . you know?”
“I’ve heard you and Ms. Linda talk. So I know.”
Grace nodded. “It’s good you understand. I just—” She held the book tighter and stood, moving closer to Daisy. “Is there anything you want to know? Anything you’d like to ask?”
For a long time, Daisy didn’t move. Finally, she said one word. “Why?” The sound was as thin as it was tiny, barely audible even in the quiet.
The pain in Daisy’s voice cut Grace like a knife. “I don’t know why.” She dropped the book back on the bed where it flopped open. “Sometimes things just happen.”
Daisy stared outside, not moving.
Grace stayed where she was, trying to find the words. “Listen, Daisy. Whatever happens to Mama G, you and I are going to handle it together. As a family.”
“We’re just two people.”
“Two is enough. And I—” She took a deep breath. “I’m new at this, so I’m learning as I go. But I care so much about you and I want the very, very best for you. Sometimes I have no idea what that is, and sometimes I’m just guessing. I need you to be patient with me and give me some time to learn. Can you do that?”
Daisy looked at her as if measuring her words one at a time.
Grace added, “I don’t know what to say when we talk . . . like now. But I want to do this right. I’m going to do this right. But it would help if you’d tell me what you want. What you need. I promise to listen, and I’ll never, ever leave you.”
Daisy turned to watch the tree outside her window as it waved in the night breeze. “Okay.”
Grace tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I know these past few months haven’t been easy, what with your mother dying, Mama G getting sick, and then moving here, and—”
“Why did Momma have to die?”
I wish I knew. “She didn’t make good decisions. She never did. And her death . . . To be honest, it doesn’t make sense to me, either. Mama G says it was time. Maybe that was it. I don’t know.”
Daisy threaded her fingers through her toes where they peeped out from the bottom of her nightshirt. “The girls in the book miss their father.”
“They did, didn’t they?” Grace looked over to where the book rested. “I bet I read that book a hundred times when I was your age, or a little older. Well . . . a few years older. You’re a better reader than I was.”
“I like books about families. I guess I like that book, too. It’s just hard to read sometimes.”
The wistful note in Daisy’s voice pinched Grace’s soul. She looked down at the book and her gaze locked on a sentence. “I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.”
She didn’t realize she’d said it out loud until Daisy said, “Amy said that. I love Amy.”
Grace smiled. “You look the way I always imagined she’d look, although you’re not as prissy as she was.”
Daisy straightened and put her feet flat on the floor. “I wish my mother had wanted me.”
Up until that moment, Grace had thought her heart couldn’t bear any more pain. And the growing anger she felt for Hannah flared brightly. “Daisy, I want you. I want both you and Mama G. We’re a family, the three of us. And I’ll always be here for you both, no matter what.”
Daisy didn’t say anything.
“I promise.” Grace patted the bed. “Now, come to bed. It’s late.”
Daisy sighed but she did as Grace had asked.
“You can read a little longer, if you want.” Grace tucked Daisy in and bent to give her a kiss. “It’s a good book,” she whispered against Daisy’s forehead. “And we Wheelers are going to be a great family.”
Daisy reached up and hugged Grace hard. “You might be a good mom.”
Grace had to laugh. Might. Well, that’s the beginning, isn’t it. “You think so, do you?”
“You can practice on me.”
Grace gathered the little girl closer and hugged her back, smiling through her tears.
CHAPTER 16
Sarah
Three and a half weeks later, Grace looked up from her list. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Sarah handed Grace the clipboard. “Fifty-two vendors, not counting the food and beverage area. We’ve never had so many.” They stood in the middle of McIntyre Park, the future site of the biggest Apple Festival Dove Pond had ever seen. The warm summer wind ruffled the flowers, which had settled on a lovely purple color, vivid against the grass.
Sarah eyed the flowers with a smile. They hadn’t changed colors since the day Grace suggested combining the Apple Festival with her brilliant outreach idea. And just yesterday, Siegfried had walked past the library and had only turned in a single circle. We are getting there, aren’t we?
The grassy area had just been mowed, so the scent of warm, cut grass tickled her nose. And as they watched, Lenny Smith added bags of rubber chips to the playground area so it would be extra safe for the children. Lenny saw them and grinned, showing two missing teeth. Sarah thought the maintenance man was more excited about the festival than anyone else in town.
Grace flipped through the pages on her clipboard. “Look at this list of vendors. Erma was on fire. I wonder if we should have reined her in?”
“Heck no,” Sarah said.
Grace grinned. “The Apple Festival has returned, a true two-day family event, launched with a bang thanks to Erma’s enthusiasm.”
“And Zoe and Ed have put together a masterful PR campaign, too. They’ve bought ads in every local paper within a fifty-mile radius, will be making the rounds of the local radio stations, and have flyers up in every coffee shop and library, too. Plus, almost every business and community group in town has signed up for a tent. It’s going to be huge.”
“I hope so. If we need to, we can put a few vendors near the food trucks beside town hall.”
“Food trucks from Asheville.” Sarah couldn’t wait. “That was Nate’s brilliant idea.”
“The whole committee is rocking it.”
They strolled toward the sidewalk, pausing to discuss the special electrical needs of certain vendors, and trying to decide the best place to put water stations.
Sarah handed Grace a pen so she could mark their decisions on the site map, glancing up at the sun with a grimace. “It’s hot today. They say it’s going to rain, but I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Grace wrinkled her nose. “I hope it doesn’t rain during the festival weekend.”
“It could happen. It gets wet in the fall.”
“We’ll need some of the Dove family good luck to hold it off, then.” Grace finished marking the map and then she handed the clipboard back to Sarah. “Daisy can’t wait to visit the fortune-teller. Linda told her about it. But I’m most excited about Zoe’s booth.”
“Me too,” Sarah said. Zoe and Nate were hosting the “Welcome Home to Dove Pond” hospitality tent. Zoe had invited thirty-two potential business owners and investors to stop by and pick up a gift. The committee had worked long nights putting together a high-quality investor’s packet, complete with a community profile that included a list provided by Kat of the available commercial properties. Meanwhile, Kat’s mother was busy making several dozen of her famous baskets, which featured gifts and coupons donated from various businesses in Dove Pond.
If just a tenth of the invitees stopped by the booth, Sarah thought she might weep with happiness. “I think that’s it for the day. I guess I’d better get back to work.”
Grace grimaced. “Me too.”
Sarah and Grace walked up the sidewalk toward town hall.
“What’s left on our to-do list?” Grace asked.
Sarah checked the clipboard. “You need to order the banner that will hang over Main Street. When the time comes, someone needs to oversee the hanging of it. Someone other than Lenny. The last time Lenny hung a banner without supervision, it was upside down and crooked.”
“Ask Erma to see to that. She’s a perfectionist.”
“She’s doing a kick-ass job on the thank-you cards. She’s making them herself, and they’re pop-up. I asked if I could have one to keep on my fireplace mantel.”
“She’s talented,” Grace said. “What else?”
“Just two things. We’re still waiting on confirmation of an ambulance from the county; we should have one on standby.”
“That’s just a phone call.”
Sarah looked at the list. “Security. Someone needs to talk to Blake and make sure he has a map of the event and knows where the control tent is.”
Grace stopped walking. “That’s you.”
“Oh no, no. I’ll call the county EMS. You talk to Blake.”
“Nope.”
“Grace . . .” Sarah frowned. “Come on. Blake and I are . . . It’s awkward.”
“It’ll always be awkward until you start talking.” Grace tilted her head to one side. “What happened with you two?”
“It’s complicated. We’ve had this weird I-like-you-when-you-don’t-like-me sort of relationship. First he liked me but I didn’t like him, and then I liked him but he didn’t like me, and then— You know how it goes.”
“If no one liked anyone at the same time, why is it awkward now?”
“There was this one time, just a short week, when we did like each other.” Sarah paused. “Or so I thought.”
Grace winced.
“Yup, I was wrong. And I didn’t realize it until after I’d made a total and very public fool of myself.” She scowled. “Blake didn’t make it any better, either.” She hated to remember that day. Hated it, hated it, hated it. “So you can see why you need to talk to him instead of me.”
Grace shook her head. “You should do it.”
“But I just told you—”
“Sarah, aren’t we friends?”
Sarah said cautiously, “I think so.”
Grace rolled her eyes. “Of course we’re friends. If you thought I needed to do something, wouldn’t you tell me? You’d be super honest, even if I didn’t want to hear it.”
“I suppose I might.”
Grace choked. “You know you would. You’ve done it before.”
“True.”
“So I’m going to tell you this. Sarah Dove, you should talk to Blake.”
One day, Sarah would talk to Blake. She’d say something, and then he’d say something, and it would be so far away from the day they’d hurt one another that it would be easy and painless.
But now was not the time. “I’ll do it. Just not now. And hey, if we’re going to talk about needing to talk to people, what about you and Trav? I haven’t seen you talk to him since the day after Mama G’s middle-of-the-night spaghetti heist. I thought for a minute the two of you were going to jump over that fence and go to it right there in the yard and—”
“Don’t change the subject.” Grace tapped the back of the clipboard that Sarah was now holding in front of her like a shield. “It’s time you put an end to the Blake McIntyre madness.”
“I will one day.”
“Today.”
“Why today? I don’t see you jumping the fence to tell Trav you think he’s—”
“It’s not the same. I don’t think anything about Trav.”
Sarah frowned. “Really?”
Grace flushed. “Fine. I think about him a little. There’s this weird spark thing, and I— Darn it, you changed the subject again! We’re talking about Blake. That’s gone on too long. Way too long.”
“I’m not ready.”
Grace smiled. “You’d better be.”
“Why? What have you d—”
Grace took Sarah by the elbow and spun her around.
Blake stood Right There. And by Right There, she meant that if she bent her arm at the elbow and lifted her hand, she’d have touched him.
He wore his uniform, sunglasses perched on his head, and his green gaze was cautious but not unfriendly. “Grace said you all wanted to talk about the festival. What do you need?”
Sarah didn’t have to turn around to know that Grace was already gone. Some friend. Irked, Sarah opened her mouth, but no words came out. None. Not a single syllable, a sigh, not even a squeak. Just nothing.
She hugged the clipboard, closed her mouth, and turned on her heel, head down, ready to bolt.
“Hold on!” Blake used his cop voice and she instinctively froze in place. “Let me see that clipboard.”
She slowly turned around.
He reached for the clipboard, but she couldn�
��t seem to loosen her grip.
He tugged on it and then muttered under his breath, “Sarah!” His voice was warm with both exasperation and humor. “Let it go.”
She’d forgotten how his eyes crinkled when he smiled. And as he did so, she melted, her arms loosening. The clipboard clattered to the ground.
He sent her an exasperated look and then scooped it up. “Grace said you all are having quite an event.”
Right. She needed to talk to him about security. I’m going to kill Grace for this. Sarah cleared her throat. “We, ah . . . we wanted you to go over the, ah . . .” God save her from a man with green eyes. It was like trying to do complex math while your favorite song played in the background. “The security plan. I need you—I mean, we need you to sign it and let us know if you want anything changed and if we need to have more security present or if it’s fine the way it is.” She said the words so fast they might as well have been one long word.
“Do you have the festival map? I’d like to get an idea of where to put my people.”
She took the clipboard and fumbled through the pages, finally finding the one he wanted.
He looked at it. “Will there be any changes to this?”
She shook her head.
He studied it, tracing his finger across the page as he went.
She watched hungrily, mesmerized. He was so close. So, so close. Had his lashes always been so long? Where had that small scar on his chin come from? That was new. It had been years since she’d been this close to him. Her gaze moved down his chest, and she could see the outline of a bulletproof vest under his shirt. He’s being safe. That’s good. She wondered if he still wore the same cologne. God, how she used to dream about that scent. Right now, he was too far away for her to tell. Maybe if she just edged a little tiny bit forward . . .
He flipped the sheet over and pulled out his pen. “I’m going to mark a few things, but overall, it looks good.”
Sarah leaned forward even more and took a deep, deep breath. Oh my God, he is wearing it. The exact same cologne. She closed her eyes as she soaked it in.
It was lovely.
Heavenly.
Perfect.
She leaned forward a tiny, tiny bit more, and her balance, already made precarious by her nervousness, slipped. She started to rock forward.
The Book Charmer Page 28