Evie's Awakening: A Sweet, Small Town Romance (Love in Holiday Junction Book 3)

by Tami Franklin

  Evie

  Evangeline Hart, Executive Vice President

  Hart Enterprises, Inc.

  Evie closed out her email, picked up the dirty clothes, and headed down to the laundry room. If word had gotten out about the potential injunction and historical designation, the project could fall apart before it even got started. She needed to get ahead of this, and fast, or she’d lose everything she’d worked for her whole life. She stopped by Gray’s door and kicked it a few times, her hands full.

  He opened it with his toothbrush in his mouth, hair askew, and phone in hand. “You’re back,” he said.

  “Come on,” she replied. “We need to talk.”

  Evie pulled into the driveway and stared up through the windshield at Lou Chalmers’ little bungalow. It was picture perfect Americana with its wide porch, second story dormer, and bright yellow front door. Liam’s Suburban was parked in front of her, and Evie assumed he was already inside. He’d offered to give her a ride when he texted to let her know about the invitation to Sunday dinner and the Easter planning committee meeting, but Evie opted to drive herself. After the campout, she felt she should try and keep her distance from Liam Durant.

  She had to admit she had grown to appreciate Liam, even like him, but she also knew that was dangerous. The two of them were not friends, could never be friends, and to even entertain the possibility was a recipe for disaster.

  They were on opposite sides of the table, and it was important for Evie to remember that.

  She’d dropped Gray off in town to do whatever it was that Gray did. Evie didn’t really want to know, especially after their conversation the night before in the laundry room.

  “Did you know,” Gray had asked, “that the Honorable Joshua Kendricks has about a hundred grand in gambling debts?” When Evie had gaped at him in surprise, he added, “He’s on the wagon now, goes to weekly meetings, but he had to take out a second mortgage on his house to pay off the bookies.” He nodded, eyes wide.

  “And the Reyes’ have a kid in college and are barely breaking even on this place.” Gray waved a hand to indicate the Inn. “In fact, just about all the business owners in Holiday Junction are in debt.”

  “That’s . . .” Evie didn’t know what to say.

  “It’s perfect, is what it is.” Gray hopped up on the dryer as Evie added soap to the clothes in the washing machine and turned it on. “It’s simply a matter of picking and choosing who to approach. Who has the most pull when it comes to bringing the Chamber and the town council around and yanking the request for that injunction.” He had a fire in his eyes that made Evie more than a little uncomfortable.

  “Maybe we should just let it happen,” she said, unsure how the suggestion would be received. “Go to court. The judge isn’t really going to grant that injunction, is he? Do they even have a legal leg to stand on?”

  Gray leaned back on his hands, his heels beating out a rhythm on the dryer door. “There’s no way to know for sure,” he said. “I’d guess they have less than a fifty percent chance, but that’s still too much. We can’t risk it.”

  The thought made Evie’s stomach burn, and she reached into her purse for an antacid, chewing the chalky tablet with a frown. She knew what Gray was up to, that he was going to try and buy off the mayor and anyone else necessary to stop the court battle before it started. It made her feel dirty, and for the first time Evie was beginning to wonder if she really had what it took to be CEO of Hart Enterprises. This was all part of it, but the question was: Could she handle it?

  To be honest, she wasn’t sure.

  Shaking her head, she got out of the car, grabbing the paper bag containing her borrowed clothes before she headed up the front porch steps. She smoothed her linen skirt that she’d paired with a flowered blouse, but opted to leave the matching jacket in her room in an attempt to make the outfit a little more casual. A pair of hot pink kitten heels completed the look and she glanced down at them for strength before knocking on the door.

  Evie drew in a nervous breath at the sound of approaching footsteps, but forced her lips into a smile when Lou opened the door.

  “Hi, Evie, come on in,” she said, stepping back. Lou was barefoot, in a pair of jeans and a loose, pale green sweater. It made Evie glad she’d left her suit jacket behind.

  “Sorry I’m a little late,” she said, holding out the bag. “I brought back your clothes.”

  Lou shook her head. “Oh, you hold on to those, sweetie,” she said. “I’m sure you’ll need them while you’re here, and I have plenty.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course,” Lou said, leading her through the house. “Now, come on back. Dinner’s just about ready.”

  Evie set the bag by the door and followed her into a brightly-lit kitchen with quartz countertops, and white, glass-fronted cabinets housing multi-colored dishes. The scent of tomato sauce and spices filled the air, and the room was abuzz with activity. Anne Patterson sat at the butcher block breakfast bar, next to Liam, both chopping vegetables for a salad, while Mandy Harris stood at the far counter, slicing a loaf of garlic bread, her long braids tied back with a colorful scarf.

  “Have a seat,” Lou said, waving toward the empty seat next to Liam. “It’ll be ready soon.”

  “Can I help with anything?” Evie asked, sliding onto the barstool. She was nervously aware of Liam next to her, and tried to surreptitiously scoot her stool a little to the right.

  “Everything okay?” Liam asked as he diced a tomato and tossed it into a large glass bowl full of greens.

  “Fine,” she replied, her voice a little higher than she’d intended. She cleared her throat. “How’s your forehead?”

  Liam laughed. “It’s fine,” he said. “Good as new.” He turned toward her so she could examine the spot, which was still a little pink, but not so much that you’d notice if you weren’t looking.

  “What happened to your forehead?” Lou asked as she pulled a huge lasagna out of the oven and set it on the counter.

  “Oh, just a little mishap involving a marshmallow,” Liam replied, shooting Evie a teasing glance that made her stomach flip.

  “A marshmallow?” Anne scooped a pile of cucumbers into the bowl. “I need to hear this story.”

  “Well, let’s hear it over dinner,” Lou said, shooing them into the dining room.

  To Evie’s surprise, she was able to relax while they ate. Liam told them about the marshmallow, which cracked them all up, of course. Evie had to giggle at it herself. Looking back, she could see the humor in the situation, although when she was in the middle of it, it didn’t seem as funny.

  Of course, that led to the story about falling in the mud—and dragging Liam along with her.

  “Now wait a second,” she said, raising her voice to be heard over the laughter. “You fell onto me. I was almost up and you knocked me down.”

  “I don’t think so,” Liam replied, shaking his head. “You dragged me down with you. Remind me never to get into a sinking boat with you. You’d let me drown.”

  “Why would you get in a sinking boat with anyone?” she asked, launching another round of laughter.

  Liam was deep into telling the story about the raccoon—with many necessary corrections from Evie—when the front door flew open and a blonde woman came rushing in, carrying an armful of garment bags. She spotted them at the dining room table and draped the bags over the back of the living room sofa.

  “Oh, hi everyone,” she said. “Didn’t mean to interrupt.” She came and stood next to Lou, leaning against her chair.

  “Evie, this is my daughter, Vi,” Lou said. “You’ll have to excuse her craziness. She’s in charge of the spring musical at the high school and it’s, what, six days and counting to opening night?”

  “Five,” Vi said, running a hand through her tousled blonde hair. “Dress rehearsal on Thursday and the show’s Friday night. We’re getting down to the wire. Sorry.” She huffed out a breath and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, Evie.”

/>   But Evie couldn’t shake a feeling of déjà vu. “You look really familiar,” she said.

  “You’ve probably seen Vi around town,” Liam said. “Maybe at the Chamber meeting?”

  “I guess,” Evie said, studying the woman with a furrowed brow. “But it seems like more than that. Are you sure we haven’t met before?”

  “Not that I know of,” Vi replied. Then, she tipped her head. “But now that you mention it, you seem kind of familiar to me, too.” She held out a hand, palm out. “Hold on. Wait a second. Are you grande sugar-free caramel macchiato, extra shot, extra hot?” She actually sang the last bit, ending on a high vibrato.

  “No way!” Evie shot to her feet. “You’re the Singing Barista!”

  “The what?” the rest of the table asked as a whole, but Evie was too stunned to respond.

  “You worked at Belucci’s in Midtown?” she asked, sitting back down.

  “I did,” Vi replied, shaking her head in surprise. “I can’t believe it. You came in every day.”

  “Wait a second.” Mandy pointed at them each with her fork. “Are you saying you two knew each other in New York?”

  “Yes. Well, kind of,” Vi replied. “I worked at a coffee shop in Manhattan, and Evie was one of my customers.”

  “Wow, what a small world,” Lou said.

  “But we’re not addressing the bigger question,” Anne pointed out, pushing her glasses up as she peered at Vi. “The Singing Barista?”

  Vi blushed a little. “It just kind of happened,” she said. “I was bored one morning, making coffee, and someone came in and ordered this long, complicated drink. I sang it to myself to try and remember the order, but I guess I was a little louder than I thought. The next person in line asked me to sing their order, and it kind of caught on from there.”

  “I wondered what happened to you,” Evie said. “I went in one morning and you were gone.”

  “Yeah,” Vi shrugged. “I kind of got fired. Not long after that I decided to move home.”

  “You got fired?”

  “Long story,” Vi replied, waving a hand. “In the end, it all worked out for the best.”

  “But are you still singing?” Evie asked. “You have such an amazing voice.”

  “Some,” she said. “My boyfriend, Kade, is a songwriter, so we’ve been recording some of his songs.”

  “You didn’t tell me that,” Lou said, craning her neck to look at her daughter.

  Vi shrugged. “It’s really not a big deal. We’re just doing it for fun.” Her phone buzzed and she looked down at it with a frown. “Sorry,” she muttered, tapping her phone. “Great.”

  “What’s up?” Lou asked.

  “My parent volunteer in charge of the costumes has the flu,” she replied. “We still have final fittings to finish at rehearsal this week, and I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

  “Maybe we could help,” Mandy offered.

  Vi looked around the table with a sigh. “Thanks, but you guys have your own businesses to run. You don’t have time to hang out at rehearsals.” She chewed on her lip. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll figure something out.”

  Evie didn’t know what led her to say, “Maybe I could help.”

  Vi blinked at her in surprise. “You?”

  “Sure.” Evie shrugged. “My afternoons are pretty free until court on Thursday. I know how to sew, and I think it might be fun.”

  Vi stared at her for the longest time, and Evie shifted nervously. “I mean, you sound kind of desperate.”

  “I am.” Vi startled. “Sorry. I should probably beg off since you have way more important things to do, but I am desperate and you’re offering so . . . you’re hired!” She gave her a blinding smile. “Can you come by the high school tomorrow afternoon? Around three?”

  “I’ll be there.”

  “Thanks, Evie. You’re a lifesaver.” Vi’s phone buzzed again. “Gotta run. Kade’s making me dinner. You ladies have a nice meeting. See you tomorrow, Evie.”

  “Bye.” Evie watched her go, her stomach erupting in nervous butterflies. What was she doing, volunteering to help with a school play? Was she out of her mind?

  She’d been caught up in the moment, and wanted to help, but . . . why?

  Evie realized Liam was staring at her with a puzzled expression.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Nothing.” He blinked and looked away. “It’s just—that was nice of you.”

  She made a face. “I can be nice.”

  “I didn’t mean—” Liam shook his head. “Take a compliment when it’s offered, Ms. Hart.”

  “Oh, well, okay.” She blushed and took a sip of her water. “Thank you.”

  “It’s actually a good idea,” Lou said, swiping up some sauce with the last of her garlic bread. “You’re supposed to be getting a feel for Holiday Junction. Helping out with the spring musical is a great way to do that.”

  “Speaking of which,” Mandy said, “when are you going to come spend some time at the Daily Grind?”

  “And the bakery,” Anne added, holding up a finger. “I could always use some help filling doughnuts.”

  “Alice Camden wants to show you around the office at the Holiday Junction Journal, too,” Lou said. “And I think Liam mentioned that the McKenna’s invited you up to the farm?”

  By the time dinner was over and Lou brought out a warm apple pie for dessert, they’d figured out a schedule for Evie to spend some time at local businesses during the week. Then they began to map out plans for the big Easter egg hunt coming up a week from Saturday.

  It was strange. By the time Easter rolled around, the court date would have come and gone, a decision made on the injunction, and Evie’d be back home in her New York apartment. Life would go on here in Holiday Junction, regardless of what happened in court. And after the next few days, Evie would no longer be a part of it.

  The thought left her feeling a little sad. She glanced at Liam sitting beside her and he caught her eye, his lips quirking in a little smile.

  “How about you, Evie?” Lou asked, drawing her attention. “Do you have any Easter plans, once you get back home?”

  Home. For the first time, she wasn’t sure what exactly that meant.

  “Not really,” she admitted. “I usually spend it with my brother, Niko. We make these little cheese tarts my mom used to bake and stuff ourselves with them.” She smiled, shaking her head.

  “Your father doesn’t join you?” she asked. “Or your mother?”

  Evie swallowed, suddenly choked by the memories. “No, it’s . . . it’s just the two of us.”

  Lou seemed to sense she didn’t want to talk about it and patted her hand. “Well, I’m sure you’ll have a lovely time. It sounds very relaxing, as opposed to here, where we’ll be running around like crazy trying to get everything ready.”

  “Speaking of which,” Mandy said, slicing off a forkful of pie. “Do we have enough baskets ordered?”

  Grateful for the change of subject, Evie ate her pie and listened to the discussion around her. She was very aware of Liam’s lingering gaze, but chose to ignore it.

  There were definitely things she was going to miss about Holiday Junction once she finally went home.

  And some things it was probably better not to think about.

  Later that night, after Evie and Liam finally left, Lou, Mandy, and Anne sat in the living room, sipping decaf coffee. The three of them were lifelong friends, business women, and enjoyed the occasional foray into matters of the heart.

  “Did you feel the tension between them?” Lou asked, an idea forming in her mind. One that would solve all of their problems—the town’s and Liam’s.

  “Feel it?” Mandy laughed. “You could cut it with a knife.”

  “Cut what with a knife?” Vi asked as she came into the room and plopped onto the couch next to Lou with a bowl of apple pie and ice cream.

  “Didn’t you eat at Kade’s?” Lou asked.

  She shrugged. “We didn’t have des
sert.” She scooped up a mouthful of pie and asked again, “Cut what with a knife?” before stuffing it into her mouth.

  “We’re talking about Liam and Evie,” Lou replied.

  Vi stopped mid-chew, eyes wide, then swallowed. “What about Liam and Evie?” When the three women just stared at her, she groaned. “I know that look. It’s your matchmaking look.”

  In fact, the three friends had a knack for connecting couples, and had become known around town as the Matchmaking Mamas.

  “Don’t act so high and mighty,” Lou said, tucking her legs up underneath her. “If it wasn’t for us, you and Kade never would have figured things out.”

  Vi rolled her eyes. “One of these days your meddling is going to get you all into trouble.” She took another bite of her dessert and mumbled. “Besides, I didn’t think they even liked each other.”

  “That’s not what it looked like to me,” Anne said, eyeing her fingernails.

  “Really?” Vi gaped at them.

  “Really,” Lou replied. “Think about it. Liam’s been mooning around ever since you and Kade got together.”

  Vi put her bowl on the coffee table, frowning. “He hasn’t.”

  “He has, but that’s beside the point,” Lou said. “We all know you two weren’t meant for each other, but Liam shouldn’t be alone. He’s such a nice man.”

  “And Evie’s not what I expected,” Anne said, pushing up her glasses. “She’s not as hard-nosed, stiff. Underneath all those business suits, she’s actually kind of sweet.”

  “They really are perfect for each other.” Mandy toyed with her silver hoop earring.

  “But they live on opposite sides of the country,” Vi protested.

  “For now,” Lou said.

  “And they’re fighting over this whole thing with the textile factory.”

  Mandy waved a hand. “That’s the whole point,” she said. “I think she’s coming around already. She’s starting to see what we all see in Holiday Junction. It’s only a matter of time before she realizes that this project is a huge mistake.”